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Cincinnati Bengals: The team has a strong group of young players to build around defense, which puts them in a unique position even though their defense finished near the bottom of the NFL last season. This means that even though the team underperformed dramatically, they don’t have any dramatic needs on the defensive side of the ball, which gives this talented but underperforming unit the opportunity to make a splash in free agency with $41 million of cap space still available to the team.
A franchise is far more free to go out and make an impact on elite talent when they have money to spend and few defensive flaws. Despite having two young, skilled safety, that is one position where a superstar player might not have to cost a fortune to sign. Luckily for Cincinnati, the team lost two outstanding players to free agency who might have a significant impact on the roster.
The first significant player who was recently cut by the Denver Broncos is Justin Simmons, a free safety who has been an All-Pro four times. It was shocking that Denver was ready to sever relations with Simmons so soon, given he has been widely regarded as one of the top center fielders in the whole NFL. Sadly, Denver has resort to these kinds of drastic measures in order to conserve money after accepting a record-breaking $85 million salary cap hit following the firing of great quarterback Russell Wilson.
In terms of scheme, Simmons would easily takes job at free safety as a third-year player. There is already conjecture that Hill is not performing at his best and should go to a slot cornerback position in 2025 following the likely exit of standout player Mike Hilton. Even though Simmons would probably cost the organization $15 million a year, the long-term savings from cutting Hilton roughly made up for the 30% loss. A young secondary that comprised D.J. Turner and Cam Taylor-Britt, two outstanding second-round picks, would benefit greatly from Simmons’ development.
Superstar strong safety Jamal Adams, who was released by the Seattle Seahawks earlier this week, is the second potential addition. Despite having a reputation for being worse in coverage, Adams has excelled as a blitzer off the edge and inside the tackle box. The issue with Adams is that Jordan Battle, a standout rookie from the previous season, would have to wait to sign. Despite the potential for talent overlap, using both players might provide this defense much-needed versatility.
For instance, in third-down scenarios, the team might insert Adams in as a linebacker and practically use him as a joker, allowing him to move freely throughout the field. The issue with this notion is that it’s difficult to defend spending a significant amount of money (probably at least $15 million annually) on a player and not giving them the same priority as the other players on the team. The choice to sign Adams would probably impede Battle’s progress toward becoming a highly skilled box safety specialist.
Without a doubt, Simmons would be the team’s simpler plug-and-play option with the least amount of tweaking. Having said that, here’s what it takes to get a decent club to the Lombardi Trophy: Cincinnati must take advantage of cap casualties as a practical and affordable means of adding exceptional talent to a strong squad. All dynasties in history have found methods to succeed, and Cincinnati will need to do this if it hopes to establish a dynasty strong enough to rival Kansas City.
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