To Sign Or Not To Sign: Bengals Outside Linebacker Manny Lawson

we can always cut him or release him… :)

And very good at stopping the run. He has given us more at the SLB than Rey ever did. I’d love us to sign him.

I really want some continuity. Sign Lawson and we have the same starting LBs from last year. That can only help now that they have an offseason.

I’d liek to explore some options to upgrade the top of the depth chart at LB, but Lawson has proven he can start, at the very least be a VERY solid backup, and should be pretty cheap. This is going to be my exact answer with just about every FA on the defensive side of the ball except for Crocker and possibly Pacman.

Ive gone back and forth on this. He played good but not great and I’d like to see what the young guys do. I also have been a Brandon Johnson fan for a while and think he should get a shot at starting. Rivers is the wild card he shows flashed but isn’t consistent enough.

Lawson and Howard are the 2 best LB’s on the team. We need them both and should go into training camp with them projected as starters until someone beats them out. Moch, Muckelroy and Rivers have to win a roster spot this summer.

I hope Muckelroy is ready to take the MLB position from Rey but that is probably asking too much — we do need an upgrade in the middle though so heopefully we get in FA or the draft. Seriously doubt Rivers can take the starting job from Howard but the competition will be good for both of them. Moch is just an experiment – at best he’ll be a situational player next season.

Brandon Johnson is a solid LB who brings a lot of passion and toughness but it seems apparent that he just doesn’t have what Lewis and Zimmer want — so I hope they cut him loose and let him find a job somewhere else where he can stay on the field.

They have River/Moch/Muckelroy coming back -

They may not have a great LB unit – but if they just improve al ittle and get one or two fo those guys back it will be a good offseason at LB

They have too many other priorities to spend much $ or draft picks on LB

But the idea of signing him and then cutting him is unlikely. His numbers show he is dominant against the run at his position. He will get looked at by other teams. He is a former first round pick and I think he will only get better year 2 in the system

Continuity counts. He believed in Zimmers system and you would expect he wants to continue with something great.

Besides, am I the only one who wants to trade Rivers for picks or players?

We need LB’s that are street fighters. Guys who fight through the blocks and make the plays week after week. If Marvin and Zim think Rivers is this kind of guy – lock him in; if not, ship him out.

who thinks that the reason Rivers or Malauga haven’t flourished yet is because of our Lb coach? arent we signing a new one this off season?/

Buts its a double edge sword.

We have Muckeroy returning
Moch to step up
Rivers returning next year

and with
Skuta
Rey
Lawson
Howard
Maulauga

thats a lot of linebackers. If we want to keep them all (some are excellent STer’s) we will have to go lite elsewhere

if we end up trading one like rivers for a DB then that might help And we still have Dequan Evans on the PS (looked good last year)

Marvin tends to prefer high-ceiling LBs: either guys that were elite pass-rushers in college (Pollack, Brooks, Moch) or guys that are athletic freaks known for their hitting ability (Odell, Rey).

Zimmer seems to prefer consistent, intelligent, Dhani-esque guys. That’s why he’s gotten a lot of production out of FA LBs that aren’t very Marvin-esque—B. Johnson, Howard. The solid-but-unspectacular Rivers has been effective in his system, as well. (Granted, Marvin was the one that drafted him, but our first-round options were limited, that year.)

As fans, we naturally want every part of our team to be explosive. But we’ve gotten top-ten defenses with “only” a solid LB corps, and most of our LB problems this year didn’t come from a lack of athleticism. They came from a lack of discipline/football IQ.

I’d rather focus on finding starters in the secondary and depth for the d-line. I’m comfortable with the LB personnel we have. Sure, if a good pass-rushing LB falls to us in the middle rounds (we don’t currently have one; Moch is still just potential), I could see us grabbing him. But I don’t think we have any issues beyond that. Rey is a wild card, but I’d like to see how Muck and Evans develop as MLB candidates.

I’m going to cry. lol. It was always my dream to get him on the team. I love his potential. I use to always trade to get him on the bengals on Madden. Please keep him