The Difference Between Us and The Bengals...

[powderblueboy]

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Now that the two Super Bowl teams have proved how essential FA is to building a top roster…..I’m afraid we aren’t the only ones that recognize it and like a new fad, it will be the primary focus league wide this offseason and FA cost and competition for them will explode.

Telesco will be pulling up the rear.

Tampa, Philadelphia, Denver......most recent Super Bowls winners (sans Patriots) brought in key talent in free agency.

Even the Pats seemed to bring in high round castoffs, and reclaimed former players who bombed out on expensive contracts.

[powderblueboy]

You mean the 2 players they signed last year?

They only have 5 FA who play key roles, all 5 play on D, and they signed 3 in 2020 and 2 in 2021. We signed 3 OL in 2021. it is not there FA use that makes them a better team. it is actually the opposite.

The big difference is that Cinci is one of the best teams in the NFL right now hitting on their top 3 picks. The vast majority of their starters are day 1 or day 2 picks.

All you have to do is hit on more lower-round picks (which happens all that time) and you can get around using FA.

It is also worth noting that Cinci has a ton of salary cap space available right now. Not as much as we do, but they still have a lot. And it is is in large part because they don't go spending it willy nilly.

Disagree with you Steve.

You need to hit on free agency to compete for the Super Bowl. It isn't Pittsburgh's M.O and they haven't got over the hump in a decade.
It wasn't A.J. Smith's M.O., and those great collection of drafts, and rookie free agent signings, eventually went down the toilet.
The competitive advantage some teams have in scouting doesn't last long, and then you see diminishing returns....so its really a crap shoot.

No one is saying to throw money at Albert Haynesworth types.....you can obviously make big mistakes in free agency. Many years, the top spenders
end up still at the bottom. Hitting on free agents is an essential supplement to your drafting.


Chargers hit in 2013, and it helped turn around a team on the downward slope, and almost got them to the playoffs two straight years.
Without Okung & Hayward, they wouldn't have had the success they had in the early part of Lynn's time here.
Orlando Franklin's signing did not set them back, it just did not help at all. Not much else to say except that in most years, the Chargers
have kept a low profile in free agency.....and they have had regrettable results.

Chargers were successful last year with their top two signings Lindsey & Feiler.
With lower level signings (Aboushi, Fackrell, Cook, Covington) not so much, and they will not be important components next year.

Chargers need to follow Cincy's suite and add another 3 important contributors this year. If they fail, they'll at best be an early playoff exit.

[Steve]

Disagree with you Steve.

You need to hit on free agency to compete for the Super Bowl. It isn't Pittsburgh's M.O and they haven't got over the hump in a decade.
It wasn't A.J. Smith's M.O., and those great collection of drafts, and rookie free agent signings, eventually went down the toilet.
The competitive advantage some teams have in scouting doesn't last long, and then you see diminishing returns....so its really a crap shoot.

No one is saying to throw money at Albert Haynesworth types.....you can obviously make big mistakes in free agency. Many years, the top spenders
end up still at the bottom. Hitting on free agents is an essential supplement to your drafting.


Chargers hit in 2013, and it helped turn around a team on the downward slope, and almost got them to the playoffs two straight years.
Without Okung & Hayward, they wouldn't have had the success they had in the early part of Lynn's time here.
Orlando Franklin's signing did not set them back, it just did not help at all. Not much else to say except that in most years, the Chargers
have kept a low profile in free agency.....and they have had regrettable results.

Chargers were successful last year with their top two signings Lindsey & Feiler.
With lower level signings (Aboushi, Fackrell, Cook, Covington) not so much, and they will not be important components next year.

Chargers need to follow Cincy's suite and add another 3 important contributors this year. If they fail, they'll at best be an early playoff exit.

Again, look at the FA lists year after year, the odds are against you finding much, if any help in FA. Everyone can point to it, but unless you can show the overall numbers, FA is simply more of a waste than a help.

For every season where we (or the Bengals, or whoever) have a successful year, there are more down and neutral years and a lot of cap space spent, so we don't get ahead, and often are set back when we are stuck dumping the player before we are ready to. The majority of early FA signings (early or late) just don't work. You don't get the players that you think you are getting, most of the time.

[Classic]

Better GM and Better Coaching are why the Bengals are better than the Chargers

[Boltgang74]

Look at both teams in the Superbowl.They both hit on FA and the draft.We have Herbert.If the Spanus clan cant even get us an appearance in the big game with arguably the best young QB in the league they should be forced to sell and we as fans should protest their continued ownership until they do.Me personally this is a breaking point.You have Herbert gosh dammit.Ya friggin morons,make it work or sell the team.Enough is Enough already.F#$k next season.

[powderblueboy]

Again, look at the FA lists year after year, the odds are against you finding much, if any help in FA. Everyone can point to it, but unless you can show the overall numbers, FA is simply more of a waste than a help.

For every season where we (or the Bengals, or whoever) have a successful year, there are more down and neutral years and a lot of cap space spent, so we don't get ahead, and often are set back when we are stuck dumping the player before we are ready to. The majority of early FA signings (early or late) just don't work. You don't get the players that you think you are getting, most of the time.

I don't agree with this at all...some teams are finding quite a bit of help, and it is taking them deep into the playoffs.
There are more losers than winners, but you can say the same thing about the draft: the majority of draft picks (day 2-3) just don't work out.

Just replenishing your roster with draft picks that you resign is not getting any team to the Super Bowl......Pittsburgh being the poster child for that strategy.

The question is not whether a team should participate in free agency, its how aggressive should a team be?

Cincy was very aggressive this year; Tampa Bay was very aggressive last year; the Chief's had two big money free agent signing on their Super Bowl roster, and where would New England have been without the expensive addition of Stephon gilmore? Then there was Philadelphia, Denver, .......some teams are succeeding.

[foreigner]

The problem is on the GM position....

[AL9000]

The only difference is the Bengals have a pretty great defense and are special at making half time adjustments. Keep in mind we didn't have the personnel to properly run this defense the way Staley wants to. I believe big changes will take shape this offseason on that side of the ball. Need a great run stuffing DT and lock down corner if possible.

[richpjr]

The only difference is the Bengals have a pretty great defense and are special at making half time adjustments. Keep in mind we didn't have the personnel to properly run this defense the way Staley wants to. I believe big changes will take shape this offseason on that side of the ball. Need a great run stuffing DT and lock down corner if possible.

The Bengals did not have the personnel in Taylor's first two years either and they sucked. If some of the Staley bashers here were running the Bengals, he'd have been fired after his first season where they won 2 games and started over.

[Cdn Bolt]

I don't agree with this at all...some teams are finding quite a bit of help, and it is taking them deep into the playoffs.
There are more losers than winners, but you can say the same thing about the draft: the majority of draft picks (day 2-3) just don't work out.

Just replenishing your roster with draft picks that you resign is not getting any team to the Super Bowl......Pittsburgh being the poster child for that strategy.

The question is not whether a team should participate in free agency, its how aggressive should a team be?

Cincy was very aggressive this year; Tampa Bay was very aggressive last year; the Chief's had two big money free agent signing on their Super Bowl roster, and where would New England have been without the expensive addition of Stephon gilmore? Then there was Philadelphia, Denver, .......some teams are succeeding.

I agree. You can add the Bills to that list too. They made a huge jump when they signed WRs Stephon Diggs and Cole Beasley. Other FA who boosted their D were both S, Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde, DE Jerry Hughes , DTs Star Loutelei and Vernon Butler for depth.

Telesco has mainly just backfilled FA losses and rounds the roster depth out w UDFA scrubs. We never get any better though he finally went out and brought in an OL after many years of mediocrity.

[equivocation]

The Bengals did not have the personnel in Taylor's first two years either and they sucked. If some of the Staley bashers here were running the Bengals, he'd have been fired after his first season where they won 2 games and started over.

Fire the coach and start over every year!

[equivocation]

I agree. You can add the Bills to that list too. They made a huge jump when they signed WRs Stephon Diggs and Cole Beasley. Other FA who boosted their D were both S, Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde, DE Jerry Hughes , DTs Star Loutelei and Vernon Butler for depth.

Telesco has mainly just backfilled FA losses and rounds the roster depth out w UDFA scrubs. We never get any better though he finally went out and brought in an OL after many years of mediocrity.

Our worst players this year were either 1st round busts or high price FA busts.