This time of year is always a divisive one amongst Bengals fans. With Cincinnati’s usual inactivity in outside free agency, particularly in the early stages of the process, some fans loathe the lack of news surrounding the club, while others trust the draft-and-develop strategy the team has preferred to rely on in recent years.
This week’s episode of The Orange and Black Insider happened to coincide with the first day of 2017 NFL free agency. Even though the team lost many valuable players to other teams last year, helping to lead to a 6-9-1 season, they also lost Kevin Zeitler and Andrew Whitworth on Thursday.
Still, the team was able to re-sign two valuable players on both sides of the ball in receiver Brandon LaFell and cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick. Most figured of all of the high priorities the team had this offseason those two were top ones, which helped remedy the loss of two starting offensive linemen.
The first portion of the show was dedicated to how the early days of free agency have played out. What should the Bengals do now that they are “concerned” with the losses they’ve accrued over the past calendar year? Should Cedric Ogbuehi and Jake Fisher be counted on as quality starters in 2017?
We weren’t wholly obsessed with free agency though. Two incoming draftees the team has been connected with in one form or another, Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster and Oklahoma’s Joe Mixon, had some interesting news following them around the timeline of the NFL Combine. Foster was dismissed from the festivities because of an argument with a medical assistant, while Mixon was never invited because of his past transgressions. Those issues didn’t stop the Bengals from apparently being in attendance at Mixon’s Pro Day though.
We also had some fun taking a look at who and what habits the Bengals should be giving up for Lent, as well as continuing our trend of answering fan questions. Those were interesting this week, as they ranged from more outside-the-box draft possibilities at No. 9 overall, to the future of Rex Burkhead.
Watch live here on Cincy Jungle or on our YouTube link every episode. If you can’t join us as we record, subscribe to our channels there and at SoundCloud, follow us on Twitter @BengalsOBI, find our audio on iTunes, or get in touch with via email at theobinsider@gmail.com.