The Bengals, after several underwhelming seasons, surprised many and made it to the Super Bowl. A healthy Joe Burrow and the addition of Ja’Marr Chase certainly played a big role, as did a much improved defence. As the team looks to gear up for another run at it, four starters from that great season remain on the open market. Now, they were obviously looking to upgrade some spots, and they did so with guys like La’el Collins, Alex Cappa, and Ted Karras. However, could it still be beneficial to bring back any of those guys who started on their AFC Championship winning team?
The biggest name of the remaining four is DT Larry Ogunjobi. He actually had a big deal lined up with the Chicago Bears early in free agency, but his failed physical caused them to back out. At this point in the offseason, you could argue that 3T is the team’s biggest weakness. To the Bengals’ credit, they did bring back BJ Hill and select Zach Carter in the 3rd round of the draft. However, there is no denying that, after the amount of splash plays he put on tape last year, it would be nice to have Ogunjobi for another season.
Next up is Quinton Spain, who started at LG for the Bengals last year. Many have soured on him after he allowed Donald to pressure Burrow on the Rams’ Super Bowl winning play. However, in the grand scheme of things, he had a pretty solid season. Going into next year, 2021 2nd round pick Jackson Carman seems to be the favourite to start at the position. But he is still largely unproven at this point. Retaining Spain would give the Bengals a fallback option if Carman hasn’t progressed as much as they need him to. If nothing else, he would be great depth.
Riley Reiff, after starting at RT for most of the season, hasn’t had much of a market. Although he did just visit with the New York Jets recently. The Bengals wouldn’t need him to start, as they made a high profile addition in La’el Collins. However, going back to last year, specifically after Rieff got hurt, they relied on Isaiah Prince to take over. Prince had his share of struggles and, should Collins go down, the Bengals would be right back in the same spot. Reiff would need to be willing to take a backup role, but if the Bengals could bring him back for one more year, it would be big for their depth.
Rounding out the list is Trey Hopkins, who had been the team’s starting C. Unlike the others, Hopkins is on the open market after being released to create cap space. Ted Karras was brought in to be the new starter at C. But beyond him, the depth is thin. Trey Hill saw limited action as a rookie last year, and I didn’t find him to be all that impressive. Lamont Gaillard has only been a practice squad stash and camp body. He struggled quite a bit in the preseason last year. Ben Brown, meanwhile, is a rookie UDFA. Should Karras go down, C will likely be a major weakness for the Bengals. Bringing back Hopkins on a cheap deal should be considered.
After going on a big run in the playoffs, the Bengals did well to upgrade some of their weakest spots from last year. That said, the starters from that team that remain unsigned each would bring value, even if not as a starter. While it is unrealistic to expect them all to come back, the Bengals should be looking at keeping at least one or two of them as they look to get back to the big game.
