Bengals offseason praised by national media

The Cincinnati Bengals are having a great offseason.

That seems to be what the national media believes at least. While it's not the big-name signings or blockbuster trades other teams have had, the majority of the NFL's 32 clubs would love four straight playoffs trips. Though none have culminated in a playoff win, just getting to the postseason four straight years is a feat few franchises can boast of.

Geoff Hobson got several prominent media members to give their thoughts on the Bengals offseason, and the reviews were great.

"They’re having the kind of offseason that successful teams have because successful teams don’t leap to the starting line in free agency very often,’ says Peter King of the Monday Morning Quarterback. "If you make the playoffs and then you get third and fourth round compensatory picks, then you’re doing something right. If you made the playoffs, your team was not torn asunder."

Even re-signing Rey Maualuga was praised as a good move by CBS Sports' Pete Prisco, and one cannot forget the additions Cincinnati made by just getting healthy.

"Maualuga is a good guy to have in the run game, Prisco said. "They couldn’t afford to lose another linebacker with the Vontaze Burfict (injury) situation hanging over their heads. When you keep the guys you want, then bring back a guy like Johnson with whom you’re familiar, those are smart, good moves. That’s a good football team. They’re having a good offseason and let’s not discount the injured guys they’re getting back like Marvin Jones and Tyler Eifert that make it even better."

FOX Sports' Alex Marvez goes as far as to say, "The Bengals are a model of efficiency in free agency." That's a sentence that would have landed you in the loony bin just five years ago. This is the same franchise that signed Antonio Bryant and his bum knee to a $20+ million deal one offseason and let a Pro Bowl corner in Johnathan Joseph walk out the door the next year.

But today's Bengals team is run differently, and it's being run like a winning franchise should.