Bengals are on the clock to address two positions of need
Action is picking up in Week 2 of NFL free agency, and the Cincinnati Bengals still have holes to fill. There's a major vacancy at tight end with Hayden Hurst gone and Mitchell Wilcox and Drew Sample unsigned. Running back has also not been addressed aside from Trayveon Williams coming back on a cheap one-year […]
Action is picking up in Week 2 of NFL free agency, and the Cincinnati Bengals still have holes to fill.
There's a major vacancy at tight end with Hayden Hurst gone and Mitchell Wilcox and Drew Sample unsigned. Running back has also not been addressed aside from Trayveon Williams coming back on a cheap one-year deal.
Both positions need to be addressed, and options are getting thin on the market.
Tight ends O.J. Howard, Dalton Schultz, and running backs Devin Singletary and Damien Harris have all found new teams Monday afternoon. Howard is the newest member of the Las Vegas Raiders, and Schultz and Singletary are hopping aboard the Houston Texans rebuild. Harris signed with the Buffalo Bills right after Singletary left, and tight end Austin Hooper is also taking a visit with the Raiders.
Whether or not the Bengals had interest in any of them doesn't matter. What matters is what's left.
There's still Foster Moreau, the fifth-year tight end with a tantalizing athletic profile and a brief history with quarterback Joe Burrow. He took a visit with the team on Friday before doing the same with the New Orleans Saints on Saturday. That's noteworthy considering Moreau is a Louisiana native and played college football at LSU.
Tight ends like Howard and Schultz signing creates added price points for his negotiations with the Bengals, Saints, and any other team out there interested in his services as arguably the best remaining player at the position.
If Moreau decides to go back home and join the Saints with his other former quarterback Derek Carr, the Bengals would essentially be left with stop-gap options at the position. The need to address tight end in the draft would skyrocket more than it's already at. That it's a good class to draft one or two is ultimately countered out by the added necessity.
You can make a similar case for running back. The Bengals haven't shown much interest in any available option, like Singletary and Harris were before today, and maybe that's been by design. There's heavy speculation that the team will draft one within the first 2-3 rounds in April, and that investment will lead to an immediate impact role for the eventual draftee this year.
But you can't just lean on one or two rookies in an offense that requires major pass protection responsibilities. That reason alone is why Joe Mixon isn't long to stay on the team, at least at his current salary. Samaje Perine's surprise departure hasn't spurred any action…yet. Notable options such as Kareem Hunt and Jerick McKinnon remain unsigned.
There's no panic in the Bengals' front office. They don't operate that way. The personnel department has a list of targets and prices attached. You just have to wonder how many targets have been crossed off the board at this point.
Something will happen soon, whether that's the Bengals filling roster holes, or realizing they’ll need to knock the NFL Draft out of the park.
