The Bengals appeared as spectators for most of Monday, when the unrestricted free agency began to be tampered with. They were able to come to terms with the defensive side Trey Hendrickson last night, but the position they need to attack more than any other, the offensive line, was chosen quite consistently from the start.
One name that many fans were excited about was former Bengal point guard Kevin Zeitler, who became available after being defeated by the New York Giants. However, he and the Baltimore Ravens quickly reached an agreement on Monday morning. It turns out that it was not for lack of attempts on the part of Cincinnati.
THE #Bengals tried to bring back guard Kevin Zeitler, but their offer was not close to the $ 22 million Baltimore three-year deal, including $ 16 million fully guaranteed, by sources.
– Tyler Dragon (@TheTylerDragon) March 15, 2021
It seems that the Bengals did not want to overpay at first for a guard who may end up being just a little better than a player than he can get in the next few days via a free agency.
It can be very frustrating for Bengals fans to watch this game before the official free agency starts (as far as the NFL office is concerned). However, even last year the team waited until the second day to start making plays. The reality is that there are still many veteran offensive line options for the team to add. It remains to be seen which attackers the team is actually talking to, as this is the first time that we have actually heard of them making an offer to a player so far.
The Cincinnati board and coaches have emphasized the need to improve the state of the offensive line in this off-season, but so far fans have seen the big names get caught early. The team certainly would have benefited from hiring any of these players, but the off-season is far from over, and they can still add several veterans. They have more space to do that without committing a ton of money to a big name.
Patience can only be preached for a certain time, and this franchise has not gained much benefit from the doubt in recent seasons, and they have not done themselves any favors by betting on a bad offensive line to improve after plotting the future of the franchise. The result predictably ended with Joe Burrow suffering a serious injury.
The fact is that Cincinnati has to add some veterans to his offensive line and then use some of his choices in the highest draft to improve it as well. Fans have not seen much evidence that they are doing this, but losing a player that many fans were excited about is no reason to call him a failure.