“I don’t want to pay more money for the same team”

[*ochocincos*]

(08-07-2025, 04:39 PM)Whatever Wrote: Slaton I think is a pretty undervalued addition. Hill played a ton of snaps out of position as the NT last year.  Getting a true run stuffing NT puts Hill back as the 3 tech, where he'll see more single blocking.  While Hill is by no means an elite pass rusher, he is solid and if Jenkins has improved as Golden has claimed, we might have a decent 1-2,  there.  Jackson showed some pass rush ability last year, as well.

Stewart and Knight have both been extremely impressive in camp, and let's face it, it wouldn't be too much of an accomplishment to play better than Hubbard and Pratt last year.  

Cappa, out of 136 qualifying G's, gave up the most pressures(51), 11th most hits(7), and the 2nd most sacks.  Dude was an absolute turnstile out there.  Not saying Patrick is good, but it would be tough for him to be that bad.  Fairchild I don't see being a big immediate upgrade, but should pay dividends in a year or two. 

I get all that, but this was just a 9-win team last year.
It does matter HOW MUCH better the replacements for Hubbard, Pratt, and Cappa (and Volson) will be this year to determine how high Bengals will seed and if they really will be good enough to get where we want (expect) them to get.

And to be honest, I don't really care how someone looks at camp. I care about how they perform during the regular (and post) season and whether the Bengals win or lose. There have been plenty of dudes who have looked good at camp and floundered once the season started.