In a few days, the NFL's Free Agency period. This weekend, player agents can negotiate contracts with teams but are not allowed to set up meetings between players and teams. So if a team decides to agree to a contract with a player, they must do so "blind." Also, any contract agreements cannot be finalized until Tuesday, when Free Agency officially begins. However, teams can sign their own pending free agents to deals.
This is also a way for teams to learn the market value for their free agent players and can then offer a contract accordingly, or choose to let a player walk because they feel that they can't pay the player an amount to keep him.
Free Agency is more than just an opportunity to sign proven players from other teams. It also shapes the NFL Draft. If you have a need at WR and sign a top guy at that position in Free Agency, then you can focus on another need in the draft.
So here is my offseason look at each team of the AFC North. I will look at their needs, their top Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA), record from last season, and where they will be drafting. I will also look at possible first round draft selections for each team.
Pittsburgh Steelers (8-8 last season, missed playoffs)
The Pittsburgh Steelers have never been big players in Free Agency. They don't sign the huge names, other than keeping their own players when they want/can. So I do not expect them to go after any big names, other than possibly attempting to resign Mike Wallace. The free agent I think they most need to resign is Keenan Lewis, who had an excellent season in his first as a starting cornerback.
The big question mark for the Steelers this offseason is what happens with OLB James Harrison. They want to renegotiate his contract and he won't take a pay cut. Harrison is 35 years old, and has had knee and back issues the past few years that are likely to just get worse instead of better. There is a chance that the Steelers end up just cutting Harrison.
Top UFA's:
Keenan Lewis, CB
Mike Wallace, WR
Rashard Mendenhall, RB
Max Starks, OT
Plaxico Burress, WR
Draft Position: 17th
First Round possibilities:
Jarvis Jones, OLB/Georgia
Manti Te'o, ILB/Notre Dame
Kenny Vaccaro, S/Texas
Alec Ogletree, LB/Georgia
Eddy Lacey, RB/Alabama
Kevin Minter, ILB/LSU
Jonathon Hankins, DT/Ohio State
Jonathon Jenkins, DT/Georgia
Needs:
Outside Linebacker
Inside Linebacker
Running Back
Baltimore Ravens (10-6, won Super Bowl)
After winning the Super Bowl, the Ravens front office didn't have much time to celebrate. They had to get the team under the cap, resign free agent quarterback Joe Flacco to a long-term contract, and figure out their goals in free agency and the draft.
The Ravens locked up Flacco, and are focusing on Dannell Ellerbe over Paul Kruger. Ellerbe played as Ray Lewis' replacement when he injured his arm during the season, and the Ravens would like to keep him. Kruger had his best season ever, and is expect to sign for more money somewhere else than what the Ravens can give him, not to mention the drafted Courtney Upshaw in last year's draft so they likely feel they have a decent or better replacement for Kruger.
Top UFA's:
Paul Kruger, OLB
Dannell Ellerbe, ILB
Ed Reed, S
Cary Williams, CB
Draft Position: 32nd
First Round possibilities:
Jonathon Hankins, DT/Ohio State
Manti Te'o, ILB/Notre Dame
Jonathon Cyprien, S/Florida International
Jonathon Jenkins, DT/Georgia
Needs:
Inside Linebacker
Offensive Tackle
Safety
Cincinnati Bengals (10-6, eliminated in first round of playoffs)
This team is hard to predict, for me at least, because Mike Brown sometimes makes moves that leaves you scratching your head. He let Jonathon Joseph walk away without making any real attempt at keeping him. Mike Brown has the smallest scouting staff in the National Football League and doesn't have a general manager, nor a personnel man at his side to lean on.
The Bengals are a young team. However they will be looking to upgrade a defense that was pretty good last year and they will also be looking to add a bell cow type of running back to their offense to give their passing game some help.
Top UFA's:
Robert Geathers, DE
Pat Simms, DT
Andre Smith, OT
Rey Maualuga, LB
Draft Position: 21st
First Round possibilities:
Kenny Vaccaro, S/Texas
Eddy Lacey, RB/Alabama
Xavier Rhodes, CB-S/Florida State
Needs:
Safety
Offensive Tackle
Defensive Line
Running Back
Cleveland Browns (5-11, missed playoffs)
The Cleveland Browns have made some big changes in this offseason. I honestly could have written an entire article just on them. New owner Jimmy Haslam fired the previous coaching and front office regime. New head coach Rob Chudzinski brought in Norv Turner to be the offensive coordinator. Mike Lombardi was hired as the Vice President of Player Personnel and this past week was promoted to General Manager.
Chudzinski worked with Cam Newton in Carolina the past few years, but the Browns currently have last year's starter at the position in Brandon Weeden. Weeden has the arm to make the downfield throws that are often staples in an offense ran by either Chudzinski or Turner, but he doesn't have the running ability of a Cam Newton. So the Browns might be looking to change quarterbacks, seeing how they have yet to show any type of commitment to Weeden.
The Browns also hired Ray Horton as defensive coordinator who will be running a "hybrid" 3-4/4-3 defense but I expect to see the Browns mostly in a 3-4 look.
Top UFA's:
Josh Cribbs, WR
Phil Dawson, K
Draft Position: 6th
First Round possibilities:
Ezekiel Ansah, DE-OLB/BYU
Dion Jordan, DE-OLB/Oregon
Dee Millner, CB/Alabama
Geno Smith, QB/West Virginia
Jarvis Jones, OLB/Georgia
Needs:
Outside Linebacker
Tight End
Quarterback
Inside Linebacker
And that is my preview for the AFC North's offseason. Later this week I will be positing my first mock draft for the first round.
Showing posts with label Bengals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bengals. Show all posts
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Sunday, May 13, 2012
AFC North Camp Battles
This weekend the NFL has 20 rookie mini-camps going. The Pittsburgh Steelers held theirs a couple of weeks ago.
Rookie mini-camps are held for multiple reasons. They are for drafted players, undrafted free agents, and first year players with that team that are trying to gain a training camp invite. There are no team veterans there, so this allows the rookies and first year players to actually get practice reps and coaching focused on them.
In the coming two months there are going to be full team mini-camps and organized team activities. A lot of these are going to be "voluntary," but it will be nearly full team participation. These are why the rookie camps are so important, once the team vets come in a lot of the rookies fall to the wayside. First and second round picks, the ones expected to start or make major contributions will get individual coaching. However the guys that have to make the team by showing that can be special teams monsters, they won't get that type of tutoring.
So with most teams' rookie camps coming to a close today, here is a list of what I feel the most compelling camp battles involving rookies will be in the AFC North.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Offensive Line Battles: David DeCastro, the Steelers first round pick, is projected to start the season at one of the two offensive guard spots. However, which one the Steelers are going to plug him in at, nobody is sure of yet. At Stanford, he played right guard but the Steelers could easily plug him in at left guard. The two incumbents at the guard spots are Ramon Foster and Doug Legursky. One of them would be losing their starting jobs, so I am sure both are going to do their best to not let that happen. However it will, that's a fact.
The other, and to me more interesting battle on the offensive line, will play out at the tackle positions. Right now, it looks like it's going to be Marcus Gilbert on the left side and Willie Colon on the right side. The monkey wrench thrown into this plan is that in the second round, the Steelers took Ohio State's Mike Adams who most teams gave a first round grade. It will be these three players competing for two positions.
Throw in there that last year Gilbert started at right tackle due to Colon going down for the season with an injury and was told over the offseason that he would be the left tackle, and then the team drafted Adams who exclusively played left tackle in college. Many believe that Adams is the left tackle of the future which would put Gilbert back on the right side in the near future.
As long as Colon can stay healthy, which hasn't happened in the past two seasons, I expect him to start t right tackle with Gilbert starting at left. However I think Adams will be starting on the line by the end of the season either due to a Colon injury or just by being the better player overall eventually.
Baltimore Ravens
Outside Linebacker/Offensive Guard: The Baltimore Ravens, for the most part, have their roster set.
However, there will be a battle at outside linebacker. With last year's Defensive Player of the Year Terrell Suggs currently out with a "small" tear in his ACL, it's almost guaranteed that second round pick Courtney Upshaw out of Alabama is going to start at outside linebacker this season. However, if Suggs comes back, will he still be starting? And if Suggs can start the season, will Upshaw be able to lock down the outside linebacker spot on the other side? His competition is going to be Paul Kruger, who has been a backup for most of his career.
The Ravens lost Ben Grubbs to the Saints and failed to find a suitable replacement in free agent. With their other second round pick, they selected Kelechi Osemele and he's going to challenge Jah Reid for that starting left guard spot. I truly think that Osemele can win that battle, but it should be a fun one to watch.
Cincinnati Bengals
Starting Cornerback: The Bengals drafted Dre Kirkpatrick in the first round of last month's NFL Draft, and part of that is because of the issue at corner.
Assuming that Kirkpatrick isn't penciled in as a starter, the two starters would be Nate Clements and Adam "Pacman" Jones. Leon Hall is currently recovering from an injury which might keep him from being ready to start the season.
So at the moment, Kirkpatrick needs to only unseat one of the two aforementioned players to start at the beginning of the season, and that's a real possibility. The problem will be when Hall will be ready to come back, does Kirkpatrick start across from Leon Hall or does he move to the nickel role because either Clements or Jones will be one of the starting two.
This is going to be a pretty interesting battle because Clements has tons of experience but is getting up there in age for a starting corner, and Jones has regressed over the past couple of seasons. Last season, Jones only played in eight games and didn't record an interception.
The wild card in this battle is Terrance Newman, signed as a free agent this past offseason after being cut by the Dallas Cowboys. Often thought of as old and lost a step, he could wrestle away a starting job from Kirkpatrick.
Cleveland Browns
Quarterback Competition: In last month's draft, the Browns drafted 28 year old quarterback Brandon Weeden out of Oklahoma State late in the first round. He wasn't drafted in the first round at his age to sit for a season or two, he was drafted to play soon.
However, the Browns refuse to just flat-out say that Weeden is the guy they want to start the season like the Colts and Redskins have already said about their first round quarterbacks. But from the sounds of it, the starting quarterback job is Weeden's to lose.
His competition is former third round pick and last season's starter Colt McCoy, and career backup Seneca Wallace.
While I expect Weeden to end up with the job, I think McCoy does however have a chance to keep his grasp on the starting spot because he already has experience in the West Coast Offense and has seen a lot of NFL defenses in his two seasons.
But you know what they say about thinking you have two quarterbacks, if you think that, you really have none. In the end, a QB competition throughout camp could hurt the Browns more than helping them by not allowing a QB to get into a rhythm with his receivers and get as many first team practice snaps as possible. But Weeden's cannon of an arm should hopefully wrap this competition up quickly, allowing the Browns to settle on a QB sooner rather than later.
Rookie mini-camps are held for multiple reasons. They are for drafted players, undrafted free agents, and first year players with that team that are trying to gain a training camp invite. There are no team veterans there, so this allows the rookies and first year players to actually get practice reps and coaching focused on them.
In the coming two months there are going to be full team mini-camps and organized team activities. A lot of these are going to be "voluntary," but it will be nearly full team participation. These are why the rookie camps are so important, once the team vets come in a lot of the rookies fall to the wayside. First and second round picks, the ones expected to start or make major contributions will get individual coaching. However the guys that have to make the team by showing that can be special teams monsters, they won't get that type of tutoring.
So with most teams' rookie camps coming to a close today, here is a list of what I feel the most compelling camp battles involving rookies will be in the AFC North.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Offensive Line Battles: David DeCastro, the Steelers first round pick, is projected to start the season at one of the two offensive guard spots. However, which one the Steelers are going to plug him in at, nobody is sure of yet. At Stanford, he played right guard but the Steelers could easily plug him in at left guard. The two incumbents at the guard spots are Ramon Foster and Doug Legursky. One of them would be losing their starting jobs, so I am sure both are going to do their best to not let that happen. However it will, that's a fact.
The other, and to me more interesting battle on the offensive line, will play out at the tackle positions. Right now, it looks like it's going to be Marcus Gilbert on the left side and Willie Colon on the right side. The monkey wrench thrown into this plan is that in the second round, the Steelers took Ohio State's Mike Adams who most teams gave a first round grade. It will be these three players competing for two positions.
Throw in there that last year Gilbert started at right tackle due to Colon going down for the season with an injury and was told over the offseason that he would be the left tackle, and then the team drafted Adams who exclusively played left tackle in college. Many believe that Adams is the left tackle of the future which would put Gilbert back on the right side in the near future.
As long as Colon can stay healthy, which hasn't happened in the past two seasons, I expect him to start t right tackle with Gilbert starting at left. However I think Adams will be starting on the line by the end of the season either due to a Colon injury or just by being the better player overall eventually.
Baltimore Ravens
Outside Linebacker/Offensive Guard: The Baltimore Ravens, for the most part, have their roster set.
However, there will be a battle at outside linebacker. With last year's Defensive Player of the Year Terrell Suggs currently out with a "small" tear in his ACL, it's almost guaranteed that second round pick Courtney Upshaw out of Alabama is going to start at outside linebacker this season. However, if Suggs comes back, will he still be starting? And if Suggs can start the season, will Upshaw be able to lock down the outside linebacker spot on the other side? His competition is going to be Paul Kruger, who has been a backup for most of his career.
The Ravens lost Ben Grubbs to the Saints and failed to find a suitable replacement in free agent. With their other second round pick, they selected Kelechi Osemele and he's going to challenge Jah Reid for that starting left guard spot. I truly think that Osemele can win that battle, but it should be a fun one to watch.
Cincinnati Bengals
Starting Cornerback: The Bengals drafted Dre Kirkpatrick in the first round of last month's NFL Draft, and part of that is because of the issue at corner.
Assuming that Kirkpatrick isn't penciled in as a starter, the two starters would be Nate Clements and Adam "Pacman" Jones. Leon Hall is currently recovering from an injury which might keep him from being ready to start the season.
So at the moment, Kirkpatrick needs to only unseat one of the two aforementioned players to start at the beginning of the season, and that's a real possibility. The problem will be when Hall will be ready to come back, does Kirkpatrick start across from Leon Hall or does he move to the nickel role because either Clements or Jones will be one of the starting two.
This is going to be a pretty interesting battle because Clements has tons of experience but is getting up there in age for a starting corner, and Jones has regressed over the past couple of seasons. Last season, Jones only played in eight games and didn't record an interception.
The wild card in this battle is Terrance Newman, signed as a free agent this past offseason after being cut by the Dallas Cowboys. Often thought of as old and lost a step, he could wrestle away a starting job from Kirkpatrick.
Cleveland Browns
Quarterback Competition: In last month's draft, the Browns drafted 28 year old quarterback Brandon Weeden out of Oklahoma State late in the first round. He wasn't drafted in the first round at his age to sit for a season or two, he was drafted to play soon.
However, the Browns refuse to just flat-out say that Weeden is the guy they want to start the season like the Colts and Redskins have already said about their first round quarterbacks. But from the sounds of it, the starting quarterback job is Weeden's to lose.
His competition is former third round pick and last season's starter Colt McCoy, and career backup Seneca Wallace.
While I expect Weeden to end up with the job, I think McCoy does however have a chance to keep his grasp on the starting spot because he already has experience in the West Coast Offense and has seen a lot of NFL defenses in his two seasons.
But you know what they say about thinking you have two quarterbacks, if you think that, you really have none. In the end, a QB competition throughout camp could hurt the Browns more than helping them by not allowing a QB to get into a rhythm with his receivers and get as many first team practice snaps as possible. But Weeden's cannon of an arm should hopefully wrap this competition up quickly, allowing the Browns to settle on a QB sooner rather than later.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
The Division is Still Attainable
A week ago, after getting beat badly by the San Francisco 49ers 20-3, many members of Steeler Nation were thinking that we are looking at likely the #5 seed in the AFC Playoffs. The night before, the Baltimore Ravens were blown out by the San Diego Chargers, and if the Steelers could just beat San Francisco; they would be in the driver's seat for not only the AFC North crown, but also the #1 seed in the AFC playoffs.
Big Ben Roethlisberger was hobbled, almost a one-legged quarterback. There wasn't enough zip on his throws and the ball sailed, causing him to throw three interceptions. He also fumbled the ball while being sacked, unable to be as mobile as normal due to a high ankle sprain.
On Christmas Eve, Ben rested. Charlie Batch started at Heinz Field against the St. Louis Rams. I was confident we could win this game with Big Ben, I was just hoping Batch could get through the game without breaking like a fine piece of china. I got my wish, and the Pittsburgh Steelers shut out the Rams 27-0.
The Baltimore Ravens also won their game against the Cleveland Browns. However the Ravens allowed the Browns to come back from a 20-0 hole in the second half and get the score to 20-14. On fourth-and-two, the Ravens lined up as if they were going to run a play in hopes of getting a Browns player to jump offside. The entire world knew that Baltimore was not going to run a play, but rookie first round draft pick Phil Taylor jumped offside anyhow, giving the Ravens a first down and allowing them to run out the clock since Cleveland was out of timeouts.
Both the Steelers and the Ravens hold an 11-4 record going into the final week of the regular season. Due to a season sweep of the Steelers, the Ravens hold the tie-breaker and technically have the division lead. The only way the Steelers can take the division would be for the Steelers to win and the Ravens to lose in the final week of the season.
The Steelers play the Browns. Even without Roethlisberger, the Steelers can beat the Browns next week. The Ravens play the Cincinnati Bengals, a team who is still fighting for a Wild Card berth in the AFC playoffs. The Bengals are playing very good football, and I think they have a great shot at beating the Ravens which would put the Steelers into the playoffs as the AFC North Champions and the #2 seed in the AFC.
Steeler Nation, it is still a possibility that the Steelers end up with a first round bye. While we do not control our own destiny, we have to rely on the Bengals of all teams to get us the AFC North crown. Otherwise, we've clinched the fifth seed and will likely not see a home playoff game in the playoffs.
Get those Terrible Towels waving, the Steelers could walk off of the field in Cleveland next Sunday AFC North Champions!
Big Ben Roethlisberger was hobbled, almost a one-legged quarterback. There wasn't enough zip on his throws and the ball sailed, causing him to throw three interceptions. He also fumbled the ball while being sacked, unable to be as mobile as normal due to a high ankle sprain.
On Christmas Eve, Ben rested. Charlie Batch started at Heinz Field against the St. Louis Rams. I was confident we could win this game with Big Ben, I was just hoping Batch could get through the game without breaking like a fine piece of china. I got my wish, and the Pittsburgh Steelers shut out the Rams 27-0.
The Baltimore Ravens also won their game against the Cleveland Browns. However the Ravens allowed the Browns to come back from a 20-0 hole in the second half and get the score to 20-14. On fourth-and-two, the Ravens lined up as if they were going to run a play in hopes of getting a Browns player to jump offside. The entire world knew that Baltimore was not going to run a play, but rookie first round draft pick Phil Taylor jumped offside anyhow, giving the Ravens a first down and allowing them to run out the clock since Cleveland was out of timeouts.
Both the Steelers and the Ravens hold an 11-4 record going into the final week of the regular season. Due to a season sweep of the Steelers, the Ravens hold the tie-breaker and technically have the division lead. The only way the Steelers can take the division would be for the Steelers to win and the Ravens to lose in the final week of the season.
The Steelers play the Browns. Even without Roethlisberger, the Steelers can beat the Browns next week. The Ravens play the Cincinnati Bengals, a team who is still fighting for a Wild Card berth in the AFC playoffs. The Bengals are playing very good football, and I think they have a great shot at beating the Ravens which would put the Steelers into the playoffs as the AFC North Champions and the #2 seed in the AFC.
Steeler Nation, it is still a possibility that the Steelers end up with a first round bye. While we do not control our own destiny, we have to rely on the Bengals of all teams to get us the AFC North crown. Otherwise, we've clinched the fifth seed and will likely not see a home playoff game in the playoffs.
Get those Terrible Towels waving, the Steelers could walk off of the field in Cleveland next Sunday AFC North Champions!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)