Bengals, Jesse Bates, Trey Hendrickson discussed on Bet The Board

Bet The Board
|

Automatic TRANSCRIPT

Like you're going to be disappointed pain that you're going to not get as much AP right out there on third down or if you believe everything you're reading from Bengals can't that Chris Evans is suddenly going to have a massive role in terms of everything that the Bengals want to do. You of course mention mix in who did have a career, your third in rushing yards fourth and touchdowns and incredibly high usage rate. His raw numbers though did definitely look a heck of a lot better than some of his efficiency metrics and a lot of that, of course, can be attributed to an offensive line that you well chronicled. I'll left a lot to be desired when you look at how it finished in the Super Bowl. As far as this team defensively, Lou Anna rumo probably did an underrated job getting them to play up to their potential and arguably exceeding expectations. You look at what they added this off season, mainly in the draft Dax sale and cam day cam Taylor Britt to kind of fortify that secondary. You do lose Larry ogan Joby up front. The impending drama is the uncertain contract situation around Jesse Bates, will he or won't he be out there when they start playing meaningful football. When you look at this bangles team, they obviously need BJ hill and DJ reader to hold up against the run with big bodies on the interior. Trey hendrickson was an expensive deal going into last year, but clearly upgraded what this team was able to do in terms of bringing pressure. His quarterback hits his sack contributions hard to truly quantify exactly what he meant to that defensive unit overall. But you look at the bangle stop group and there's no doubt they overachieve last year. Are they able to do so again this season? You know, that's the interesting debate. Because I know Bengals fans were upset with us, but as I, here's the thing is like even you right there, you think they overachieved last year. They had the third most expensive defensive line, their third most expensive secondary. When you put it in that context, you should expect good play. And I just, that was the problem when we would assess the bangles last year. It's like when you put it in this context, they're not as good as you think. I will say this though, right? Everyone was focused on Joe burrow and how electric their weapons were. The Bengals defense was quietly respectable, right? They did. They made the leap from 27th to 19th and year over year schedule adjusted defensive efficiency. But again, you put it in the context of what was spent financially to get there. And it's not as impressive. And as these offensive players need new deals, you know what that means to defensive spending. We're seeing it with Jesse Bates as you alluded to. There's a reason they went out and got Dax hell in the first round. This is Jessie Bates last stand for leverage knowing that they want to compete for Super Bowl this year. It has to be done. Let's see how long he holds ground. One thing is crystal clear of last season's Bengals defense though. Any question we had about their unit? It got answered in a positive manner. We weren't sure what luanna rumo was as a defensive mind. Well, even though he hadn't really shown to any point in his career that he was excellent, he did prove to be a damn good game planner and fantastic within game adjustments down the stretch Super Bowl run. So you get like a check mark there. Then we looked at Trey hendrickson. We know the money they spent. And the question we had was, could he get after the passer at the same rate in an expanded role as what he showed as a well rested situational rusher in New Orleans. Yes, holy cow. And hendrickson had a 16% pressure rate on pass rush snaps finished top ten in pass rush win rate accounted for 41% of the bangla sacks. Like check mark. And then we were like, how are the Bengals linebackers going to hold up knowing they don't really allocate resources there? And even though the linebacker play wasn't good, both Logan Wilson and Jermaine Pratt simultaneously had their best season in the league effort. A relative check mark there. And then the cast of inexpensive secondary misfits with shinobi Wu Z von bell and Mike Hilton, they weren't wanted in their previous home, formed a really respectable secondary. Each of those guys far exceeded their contract value. Each of those guys simultaneously graded out as having their best seasons ever. In a season in which they eclipsed at least 900 snaps, so you get a check mark there. Every question marked the Bengals defense had last season. Had a positive answer. Now I'm interested to see how that gets followed up this season. Cincinnati has the fourth most expensive defense. You make a Super Bowl run. You have to be better than below average in 2022. Fortunately, the schedule of opposing offense is dipped slightly. Bengals face an average schedule of offenses. That's not too daunting for playing in the AFC when you put it in that AFC context. And certainly that can become easier if roger extends Watson suspension, knowing both those games against Cleveland are in late October in the middle of December. I do like some of the young depth pieces added, right? Dax hill is savvy. He can play in the slot or safety cam Taylor Britt you mentioned has a load of talent, let's see if you can put that together.

Coming up next