Alright, pencils down. 

NFL free agency is technically far from over. Season-impacting signings can happen anytime after the league year begins.  

But you're focused on the NFL Draft. I'm focused on the NFL Draft. We're all focused on the NFL Draft.

The Cincinnati Bengals made a handful of moves following the first week of free agency. Let's grade their final transactions and this period of roster turnover as a whole.

For a look at how we graded the Bengals' initial moves, click here.

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Re-signed G Max Scharping
One year, $1,280,000
2023 cap spend: $1,280,000

The needle couldn't have moved less. Scharping got his chance to play in the postseason and was mostly a liability. A spot starter is who he is on his best day, but he's got a year in the system and is at least depth behind Alex Cappa and Cordell Voslon. 

Cap space was barely impacted by this signing thanks to the top-51 rule. We'll see if he lasts all the way until September.

Grade: C

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Signed TE Irv Smith Jr.
One year, $1,750,000
2023 cap spend: $1,750,000

Hayden Hurst leaving for a notable pay raise became expected as free agency drew closer. What wasn't expected was how long it would take before the Bengals signed a replacement. 

Aside from bringing in Foster Moreau for a visit, Cincinnati appeared to be pretty dormant in the tight end market. Moreau's announcing of his Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis out of the blue gave added credence to the club not adding a veteran at the position before the NFL Draft.   

Little did we know they had their eyes on the best option still available in Smith.

While he's dealt with injuries the last two years, Smith is talented enough to handle starting duties in an 11-personnel offense. His combination of yards after catch ability and blocking competence makes him an ideal prove-it deal star. The Bengals are paying him pennies in the hopes of getting racks in return.  

Grade: A-

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Signed CB Sidney Jones IV
One year, $1,080,000
2023 cap spend: $990,000

About 12 hours after Smith agreed to terms, the Bengals had Jones in the building to sign an even cheaper one-year deal. Injuries have also played a part into why Jones' career hasn't taken off like it was expected to when he entered the league six years ago, but adding him to the cornerback room is wise.

There's a good amount of uncertainty in the Bengals' secondary as a whole. The five projected starters are in place, but Chidobe Awuzie is in the process of recovering from a torn ACL. Behind him was Eli Apple, who remains unsigned. Replacing Apple with Jones makes sense from a schematic and financial standpoint. 

Jones is best utilized playing zone coverage, which is where Apple's shortcomings came from on the field. Apple made just under $3.5 million in 2022. Jones is scheduled to make less than a third of that, with no guaranteed payment due.

Grade: B

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Signed ED Tarell Basham
One year, $TBA

Joe Burrow may be known as the kid from southeast Ohio, but Basham represents Ohio University as an alum and the program's all-time leading sack artist. His NFL career hasn't been as illustrious after entering the league as a third-round pick. Now 29 years old, Basham returns to Ohio to play with the son of his former college defensive coordinator and for a new DC that gets ultra-creative with his pass-rushers.

Training camp and preseason action will let us know where Basham finds himself in the edge defender rotation behind Trey Hendrickson, Sam Hubbard, and Joseph Ossai. The seventh-year player figures to compete for one of the last spots on the defensive line. 

At this point in free agency, you can hardly do better to bolster depth at an important position. Defensive line coach Marion Hobby has also proven to maximize the talent of his position group, which bodes well for Basham to spark his career back to life. Basham's exact deal is unknown as of this posting, so we'll treat it like a vet-minimum deal. 

Grade: B

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Overall Free Agency Grade

Gained:
LT Orlando Brown Jr. (A)
S Nick Scott (B+)
RT Cody Ford (C)
TE Irv Smith Jr. (A-)
CB Sidney Jones IV (B)
ED Tarell Basham (B)

Retained:
LS Cal Adomitis (B)
LB Joe Bachie (B)
CB Jalen Davis (B)
S Michael Thomas (B)
LB Germaine Pratt (A-)
RB Trayveon Williams (B-)
WR Trent Taylor (B-)
G Max Scharping (C)

Lost:
S Vonn Bell
S Jessie Bates III
TE Hayden Hurst
RB Samaje Perine

The departures of Bell and Bates standout as the defense looks to move forward with cost-effective replacements at both safety spots. Dax Hill and Scott should work fine as a newly-formed duo, but the talent there has been downgraded for now.

It's a reality the Bengals had to accept somewhere now that they have aspirations of signing Joe Burrow and Tee Higgins to long-term extensions. They've done well to maintain the overall talent on their roster with those contracts on the horizon. 

Brown's arrival provides an upgrade at left tackle, and the team will hope to reconcile with Jonah Williams and play him at right tackle. If that transition goes smoothly, this will be the best offensive line Joe Burrow will have had in his young career. 

Williams' stance on being dealt away to a left tackle-needy team hasn’t wavered, but the Bengals hold the cards to his future. If they land a first-round tackle to start right away to bookend Brown, the likelihood of a Williams trade occurring increases tenfold. If the first round doesn’t turn out that way…he better start re-learning how to kick-slide to the right. 

Swapping Hurst for Smith at tight end is a wash at minimum factoring in both money and durability. It doesn't change the club's interest in a stacked crop of incoming rookies. The exact same can be said at cornerback with the signing of Jones and leaving Apple out for the taking.

The biggest remaining variable is at running back. The team will be targeting one early in the NFL Draft in hopes of finding a long-term replacement for Joe Mixon. But if they land one early enough, will he just take Mixon's job immediately? That seemed to be the plan before they lost Perine to the Denver Broncos. The position group will greatly welcome an injection of youth regardless.

Ifs are a scary proposition for a contending team staring a Super Bowl window in the face. The Bengals aren't set up to go completely buck wild in the Draft, but they put in enough work to not sweat major bullets at any position. That's worthy of passing marks.

FINAL GRADE: B