NFL offseason wish list: Cincinnati Bengals

Welcome to our fantasy football wish lists, where we’re going through each NFL team and listing three things we’d love to see them do this offseason for fantasy reasons (but also real football reasons).

The Bengals are stuck in a tough rebuild right now. After making the playoffs for five consecutive years (2011-2015) they are now three years removed from making the playoffs and remain in Jeff Fisher purgatory, finishing 6-10 and 7-9 which puts them in a tough draft pick area. A changing of the guard from head coach Marvin Lewis (since 2003) will be a major change for the team who has held the same QB and coach for seven years now. Marvin is 21^st in games coached and 24^th in games won, that is not something to easily replicate.

Sign George Fant or Jared Veldheer

It wasn’t too long ago the Cincinnati had an amazing offensive line boasting Andrew Whitworth (starting tackle for Rams making $8MM per year), Cedric Ogbuehi (still with Bengals), Clint Bohling (still with the Bengals), Kevin Zeitler (starting guard in Cleveland making $10MM per year) and Russell Bodine (backup in Buffalo making $1.1MM). As you can see some big paydays stripped two of them leaving the Bengals struggling to backfill some solid positions. Billy Price was drafted out of Ohio State last year and while he is solid, penalties showed area for improvement in his game. Clint Bohling is still at Left Guard, Cordy Glenn, Alex Redmond and Bobby Hart round out the two tackles and right guard position. Profootball focus ranked them as the 25^th worst offensive line half way through 2018 with some notable lapses from Cordy and Clint on the left side. If Price stays at Center and backup Christian Westerman moves to right guard bumping Alex Redmond than the focus goes to Bobby Hart at right tackle. Pursuing Jared Veldheer or George Fant would be a step up without breaking the bank.

Let Tyler Eifert hit free agency & resign CJ Uzomah

I don’t think many would doubt that he is a very talented TE. The issue is his availability which he has only played over nine games two times in his first six seasons in the league. After he broke his ankle a few games into last year CJ Uzomah filled in admirably with 439 yards (good enough for 15^th best among TEs) and 3 touchdowns (17^th among touchdowns). I fear for how much Tyler is going to be asking since he was a the 17^th highest paid TE going into Free Agency this year at $5.5MM per year vs. CJ who was $600k. I feel like CJ should be able to sign for $3-$4MM per season and save some cap room for Cincy.

Photo by John Grieshop/Getty Images

Do NOT drop Andy Dalton

I know in this day and age the cry to find a new young quarterback who will lead you to the promise land is tempting. Seeing Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Mitch Trubisky can put stars in the eyes of fans; however, for everyone of those players there is a Nathan Peterman, Blake Bortles, Nick Mullens, Cody Kessler or Brock Osweiler who had people believing only to disappoint them. The Bengals save just over $16MM if they cut him prior to June which is a decent amount but while it’s great to play the “QB is greener on the other side” game, I don’t think the Bengals franchise QB is available right now. Take solace in the fact that his $16MM next year puts him as the 20^th most expensive QB contract next year. Sit on Andy for a year and see what else comes out for your team (unless some amazing QB is available at the 11^th spot in the draft this spring). Ride this out for another year, there will be enough change occurring with a new head coach and I want to see how Andy and Zac Taylor work together.