Cincy's Potential Free Agents

[Trademark]

I think Scott & Maulalugah are as good as gone, in my opinion they'll resign MJ and maybe franchise tag Smith if they can't get a deal

[Brunz]

Originally Posted by maverick0499

Thoughts on the upcoming free agents for the bengals. will we pay the money to keep some of the names around?

At RB we have B.Scott, with him on IR this year and already at 28 yrs old, I can see the bengals trying to keep our former 6th round pick around a little bit longer just for the fact we have a serious lack of depth, his role will be a spell at best for whoever we get to replace BJGE(we better replace BJGE)

RT A.Smith, our former 6th overall pick that we grabbed hasn't exactly lived up to expectations, but i do think he has panned out better than former #2 overall jason smith, and has outperformed the other two in eugene monroe and micheal oher from his draft class. its just the thought of the bengals paying to keep him around.

LB Rey Maualuga, taken in the beginning of the second round out of USC, its obvious who-dey nation isnt happy with his production or lack of it thus far into his early career. Vontae is a true MIKE and Maualuga hasn't exactly played tough enough to take over at SAM for Thomas Howard for when he returns. A quote I found interesting was that he said sunday after the loss on Lewis's comments on his needing to become more of a leader was "we dont need coach lewis telling us to step it up, he doesnt need to say it, we already know that we need to play better, but we dont need him telling us...." thats the first step in walking out the door of cincy, goodluck in Detroit maualuga.

DE Micheal Johnson, at 6-7 and 270 he is physical freak and better be our vocal point when it comes to keeping guys around. We let JJ slip away to houston and we cant afford to lose MJ either to free agency. He has the potential to be one of the top pass rushers in the NFL, with us trying him out at WILL set him back a year as far as developing, he has that raw talent and is getting better every game. This guy is a MUST for us to keep him around on our underachieving defense if we plan on contending anytime soon.

Knowing that Mike Brown wont pay top dollar to overpay in free agency it seems like if we let half these guys go we wont find the talent equal to their value. That's just my opinion, what do you all think?

Gilberry>MJ

Burfict>Sloauluga

Scott<Draft Fast RB

Smith<FA or Draft (He looked REAL BAD second half of the season)

[urinalcake]

Originally Posted by Brunz

Smith<FA or Draft (He looked REAL BAD second half of the season)

Andre's been constantly rated as one of the top RT in the league this year.

[BengalFanNJ]

I think they will sign either Smith or Johnson and let the other one be a franchise player. If they have plans on letting Johnson go, they HAVE to re-sign Gilberry. He was a great pickup will absorb the loss of Johnson while costing less money. Perhaps letting Geathers go will save money to put towards Johnson. Not a big Geathers fan.

I think Sims is gone unless he takes the same deal he did this year. I think the Bengals are better prepared for his loss with Devon Still and Brandon Thompson ready to take his place.

As a Rutgers fan, I'm sad to see Leonard go, but understand it. He didn't have a great year this year and they may move on. Thanks for the greatest 4th down conversion in Bengals history Brian!

Let Maualuga walk.

Keep Howard, Huber, Pacman, Josh Brown, Skuta, Harris, Hawkins. The rest can go unless they take a cut in salary.

BTW, did Jason Allen play one snap this year??

[UD5soul]

Keep Rey so we have someone to blame for our struggles and deficiencies.

[THE PISTONS]

They will probably franchise Nugent again. Lol

[eric.mcgee]

I think they will let Geathers go, and we will draft another DE in round 2 or 3.

We will re-sign Johnson to a long-term contract, but to a reasonable amount because I believe he wants stay.

I think they will let Sims go since they have Still and Thompson. I think Maualuga is gone and we re-sign Howard, and draft a new OLB. I think Burfict plays MLB next year.

On offense, I think Scott is gone and draft a new RB in round 2 or 3. I think we re-sign Andre Smith.

[THE PISTONS]

Originally Posted by eric.mcgee

I think they will let Geathers go, and we will draft another DE in round 2 or 3.

We will re-sign Johnson to a long-term contract, but to a reasonable amount because I believe he wants stay.

I think they will let Sims go since they have Still and Thompson. I think Maualuga is gone and we re-sign Howard, and draft a new OLB. I think Burfict plays MLB next year.

On offense, I think Scott is gone and draft a new RB in round 2 or 3. I think we re-sign Andre Smith.

There are no reasonable contracts for 23 year old DEs with 10+ sacks who hit free agency. He will cost a lot.

[eric.mcgee]

True...I'm just saying if he really would want to remain here, then he may sign for a bit less here than he would somewhere else, but then again the most money offered by a team usually prevails.

[THEBURG]

Originally Posted by THE PISTONS

They will probably franchise Nugent again. Lol

Can't

[TheLeonardLeap]

Originally Posted by BengalFanNJ

I think they will sign either Smith or Johnson and let the other one be a franchise player. If they have plans on letting Johnson go, they HAVE to re-sign Gilberry. He was a great pickup will absorb the loss of Johnson while costing less money. Perhaps letting Geathers go will save money to put towards Johnson. Not a big Geathers fan.

BTW, did Jason Allen play one snap this year??

Replacing Michael Johnson with Wallace Gilberry is like replacing a Dodge Challenger with a Ford Focus.... sure they might both be cars, and sure the Focus is probably cheaper.. but it's not really a pleasant idea.

Also, yes, Allen had a penalty on Adam Jones' punt return that cost the Bengals 72 yards in field position. Outside of that, I can't recall the guy actually existing.

[BengalFanNJ]

Originally Posted by TheLeonardLeap

Replacing Michael Johnson with Wallace Gilberry is like replacing a Dodge Challenger with a Ford Focus.... sure they might both be cars, and sure the Focus is probably cheaper.. but it's not really a pleasant idea.

Also, yes, Allen had a penalty on Adam Jones' punt return that cost the Bengals 72 yards in field position. Outside of that, I can't recall the guy actually existing.

You really think Johnson is that much better than Gilberry? While I think that Johnson is better, I don't think there's a huge gap between him and Gilberry. I want Johnson to stay firstly, but if he goes they need to replace him with Gilberry who has had success himself here and KC. Guy had 6.5 sacks with very little playing time. My point was if Johnson should go, Gilberry is more than adequate. He's certainly better than Geathers in my opinion.

[ExtraNirvana]

Originally Posted by Interceptor

We will lose whoever is the best of this lot.

Just like Reggie Nelson.

[ExtraNirvana]

Originally Posted by finso

I wouldnt be upset if they all moved on.

I try not to be derogatory but your just an idiot.

[Mike M (the other one)]

Originally Posted by NATI BENGALS

I'll take a shot a predicting the money. We are projected to have 40 mil in cap space next year. Cutting Jason Allen could save us some, maybe 3 mil.

In order of importance

MJ - 6 year/50 mil 12.5 next year
Andre - 5 year/40 mil 12.5 next year
Sims - 3 year/9 mil 3.5 next year
Pickman - 3 years/6 mil 3 next year
Newman - 2 year/3 mil 2 next year
Gilberry - 4 year/10 mil 2.5 next year
Huber - 4 year/10 mil 2 next year
Brown - 2 year/3 mil 1 next year
Howard - 1 year/1 mil
Maualuga - 2 year/5 mil 2.5 next year
Hawkins - 1 year tender <1 mil next year
= 43.5 mil next year

It really could be possible that we lock up a lot of our own free agents. I think we would be lucky to keep all those guys, we wouldn't have much to work with as far as signing outside free agents. But front loading this years crop would keep our team together and open things up for big contracts to guys like Atkins, Dunlap, Dalton, AJ and Gresham in the future.

The 2013 cap is set for $121 million. We will also probably be rolling over some more money that was left over from this year into next year's cap count. So that will give us even more money to play with.

[CoreyKlein7322]

In order of importance

MJ - 6 year/50 mil 12.5 next year
Andre - 5 year/40 mil 12.5 next year
Sims - 3 year/9 mil 3.5 next year
Pickman - 3 years/6 mil 3 next year
Newman - 2 year/3 mil 2 next year
Gilberry - 4 year/10 mil 2.5 next year
Huber - 4 year/10 mil 2 next year
Brown - 2 year/3 mil 1 next year
Howard - 1 year/1 mil
Maualuga - 2 year/5 mil 2.5 next year DON'T RESIGN
Hawkins - 1 year tender <1 mil next year

I agree with previous post, except dont resign Mualuaga.

We need to draft RB - SAFETY - LB ( no particular order) with first 3 picks and all 3 need to become starters or get significant playing time next season. Taylor Mays should be moved to Nickel LB and/or also see PT as Short Yardage/GL Safety. Or lets just finally give him a serious opportunity to play in the box SS in single high Safety Defenses.

[TheLeonardLeap]

Originally Posted by BengalFanNJ

You really think Johnson is that much better than Gilberry? While I think that Johnson is better, I don't think there's a huge gap between him and Gilberry. I want Johnson to stay firstly, but if he goes they need to replace him with Gilberry who has had success himself here and KC. Guy had 6.5 sacks with very little playing time. My point was if Johnson should go, Gilberry is more than adequate. He's certainly better than Geathers in my opinion.

Johnson = 25 year old 15 game starter with 11.5 sacks and is a 3 down DE.
Gilberry = 28 year old 0 game starter with 6.5 sacks and is at best a role player.

Yes, yes I do think there's a big difference, a huge difference. Those stats aside, Gilberry is who he is, he won't get any better at this point. Only worse in another 1-2 years... Johnson is actually still getting better.

More playing time doesn't mean more sacks. It means he'll have to spend energy actually stopping the run, which will give him less energy for pass rushing. Ask Carlos Dunlap how more snaps helped him after his rookie year.

[degolfisfun]

This "franchise" talk is ridiculous. You would only "franchise" someone who you believe is in the top 5 or so of the the entire league at their position and who you eventually believe you can/will re-sign. Michael Johnson is NOT in this category. Possibly top 10-20 and worthy of top 20 money. Andre Smith is closer on all counts and will be an interesting call. HE may not personally desire the "franchise" tag as he may see a long term contract more in his interest than a 1 year haul of top 5 money. Too, and I'm not certain of this, but I think RTs are in the same "franchise" category as LTs. So the "franchise" bonanza there would be huge and certainly something the Bengals will NOT easily swallow. Watch this one closely. It could be that the Bengals will have to make Andre the highest paid RT in the game to hold on to him. Or someone else will. Then you will have the JJo crowd in hysteria on why you are not paying your top talent. (JJo should have been franchised IMO. He was Top 5-ish talent.)

My personal bet is that we don't franchise anyone ..... possibly excepting Huber.

I also think the Bernard Scott thing is not a slam dunk situation. Bengals staff was so high on him the past few years that we have not drafted a backup RB. Does an injury totally change this thinking? I tend to think mostly Yes, but I wouldn't rule out a modest contract for Scott and a mid-round Draft choice.
I don't have the medical/career prognosis but if a full return is a reasonable possibility, then I think we may resign him for 1 year on the cheap.

[GreenDragon]

Re-Sign in BOLD

Unrestricted FAs

3 Josh Brown K
22 Nate Clements CB
33 Chris Crocker SS
91 Robert Geathers DE
95 Wallace Gilberry DE
7 Bruce Gradkowski QB
46 Clark Harris LS
53 Thomas Howard OLB
10 Kevin Huber P
93 Michael Johnson DE
24 Adam Jones CB
99 Manny Lawson OLB
40 Brian Leonard RB
58 Rey Maualuga MLB
23 Terence Newman CB
74 Dennis Roland OT
28 Bernard Scott RB
90 Pat Sims DT
51 Dan Skuta OLB
19 Brandon Tate WR

Restricted FAs

45 Jeromy Miles SS
30 Cedric Peerman RB
89 Richard Quinn TE

Exclusive-Rights FAs

16 Andrew Hawkins WR
57 Vincent Rey OLB