Bengals: Free agency first look
February, 7, 2012

By Jamison Hensley

This week, the AFC North blog will take a look at what each team will be facing in terms of its own free agents.

CINCINNATI BENGALS

Unrestricted (20): RB Cedric Benson, WR Andre Caldwell, WR Jerome Simpson, TE Donald Lee, TE Bo Scaife, OT Anthony Collins, OL Nate Livings, OL Mike McGlynn, OT Dennis Roland, OG Bobbie Williams, DE Jonathan Fanene, DE Frostee Rucker, DT Pat Sims, LB Brandon Johnson, LB Manny Lawson, CB Kelly Jennings, CB Adam Jones, S Reggie Nelson, S Gibril Wilson, K Mike Nugent.

Restricted (3): FB Chris Pressley, LB Dan Skuta, LS Clark Harris

Need to stay: It's a long list of unrestricted free agents (which includes seven starters), but there aren't a lot of players that you desperately need to keep. Nugent should be among the priorities. He was the league's most accurate kicker until late in the season when he missed four field goals over the final three games. As far as defense, Fanene is a high-effort player who is coming off a career-high 6.5 sacks. Rucker was finally healthy and had his most consistent season. On offense, Collins is a skilled pass protector who couldn't find his way on the field behind Andrew Whitworth and Andre Smith. The Bengals could move Collins to guard if re-signed.

Likely to go: Benson is high on this list. The Bengals wanted him to break more big runs. Benson wanted more carries. It looks like this will be a mutual parting. The Bengals need to upgrade at the No. 2 receiver spot after Simpson and Caldwell failed to step up. Williams, Cincinnati's long-time guard, isn't expected to get re-signed after showing his age. The Bengals have to significantly improve at guard, where starters Livings and McGlynn (both free agents) struggled. On defense, the Bengals will also not bring back Adam Jones, who was erratic in pass coverage and made a critical error in the playoffs.

http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/...Today_Team

i say bring benson back but don't use a first round pick to get a back. nugent is a no brainer. donald lee too. fanene and rucker must stay. f*cking good riddance nelson (hopefully). mike brown probably wants simpson back. it was brown's weed.

No way do I bring Benson back if I'm the Bengals. Not only does he whine about his number of carries, he's just not that good of an RB. The Bengals desperately need a guy who can break a long run once in awhile to take pressure off Dalton.

Nelson isn't that bad. The problem is not having a capable cover safety beside him.

(02-08-2012 01:44 PM)Coopdaddy67 Wrote:  No way do I bring Benson back if I'm the Bengals. Not only does he whine about his number of carries, he's just not that good of an RB. The Bengals desperately need a guy who can break a long run once in awhile to take pressure off Dalton.

Nelson isn't that bad. The problem is not having a capable cover safety beside him.

i only say bring benson back is to not throw a rook under the fire. maybe it was just me, but nelson (while a high energy player) seemed to give up many big plays. though it could be a result of what you alluded to

I agree with coop wrt to Benson (let go) and Nelson (keep). I think Benson is in for a rude awakening if he thinks somebody is going to pay him big bucks to carry the ball more than the Bengals fed it to him. I think the Bengals will probably make a run at a RB in free agency and depending upon how that goes, pick up another somewhere in R2-R4 (unless Richardson somehow slipped to them in R1). The only way I'd consider bringing back Benson would be a fluky situation (e.g. injuries) and only at a bargain price late in the game.

As for the original article, I think the Bengals will look to keep a lot more players than it says and implies. I don't see why they wouldn't bring back Adam Jones for example given our CB situation. I also think they might bring Bobbie Williams back to compete as well as Caldwell (I know everybody was frustrated with him last year including myself, but it sounds like the Bengals found out he was actually pretty injured most of the year).

I think Jerome Simpson was already claimed by Hamilton County.

(02-08-2012 03:45 PM)QSECOFR Wrote:  I think Jerome Simpson was already claimed by Hamilton County.

Just for clarification, I think that is Kenton County.

I'm more interested in what the Bengals do in the whole free agent market. That will decide who I want to keep.

Need some WR's, DB's, and O-Line.

(02-08-2012 04:21 PM)BearChatter v2.0 Wrote:  I'm more interested in what the Bengals do in the whole free agent market. That will decide who I want to keep.

Need some WR's, DB's, and O-Line.

I think we need 1 WR, some DBs and a sh!t ton of OL.

(02-08-2012 04:21 PM)BearChatter v2.0 Wrote:  I'm more interested in what the Bengals do in the whole free agent market. That will decide who I want to keep.

Unfortunately, that's not how free agency typically works. Most players who are going to re-sign with their current team do so in the period starting later this month through the beginning of free agency on March 13.

(02-08-2012 05:07 PM)Bearhawkeye Wrote:  

(02-08-2012 04:21 PM)BearChatter v2.0 Wrote:  I'm more interested in what the Bengals do in the whole free agent market. That will decide who I want to keep.

Unfortunately, that's not how free agency typically works. Most players who are going to re-sign with their current team do so in the period starting later this month through the beginning of free agency on March 13.

Yeah, I know. If you read between the lines, I don't really care for any of our players.

If I had to choose, Fanene and Rucker would be near the top of the list. Obviously you keep Nugent. I thought TE Donald Lee was a good pickup and did a good job. If Simpson isn't in prison, you keep him.

They probably have to re-sign the DB's because they won't be able to lure any in FA. Lawson and Brandon Johnson are respectable enough for depth.

But personally I'd like to sign a bunch of free agent replacements and do a huge overhaul, but that's not going to happen for obvious reasons including money.