Cincinnati Bengals: Why so high on Vincent Rey?
The Cincinnati Bengals have a number of key impending free agents, and if you told me that they were making a serious push to re-sign one of them, my first guesses would be players like George Iloka, Reggie Nelson, Marvin Jones, and Mohamed Sanu.
Instead, the first report we’ve heard this offseason about the Cincinnati Bengals making a push to re-sign one of their own focuses on a player who is seen by some as a backup-quality linebacker. Just two days ago, the National Football Post’s ultra-reliable Aaron Wilson reported that the Bengals “are expected to make a major push” to re-sign Rey. Wilson wrote that Rey has a “strong reputation” in the NFL, and it seems like most of that reputation deals with his character and leadership qualities.
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If tackle counts and leadership are a linebacker’s most-praised traits, then that sets off a red flag in my head. Racking up empty stats doesn’t necessarily impress me, and neither does leadership as a stand-alone, which shouldn’t be the primary reason why you choose to keep a player, especially when you have better impending free agents and much more important positions of need.
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Maybe the Bengals are so interested in keeping Rey because they know re-signing him will be easy. Not even the zaniest front office suit would throw real money at a two-down linebacker who is an average starter at best, and while Rey has put up five passes defended in each of the past three seasons with 122 and 98 tackles, respectively, he hasn’t been an impact linebacker.
In fact, you can argue that only the benched Emmanuel Lamur is a worse LB on the Bengals roster, so Rey is someone the team should be upgrading. With the talented Vontaze Burfict suspended and as volatile as ever, you can understand why the Bengals would like to help keep that “reckless” narrative away from their defense by re-signing a “good guy” like Rey, but the fact of the matter is that the Bengals need to get faster at linebacker.
They have approached the position incorrectly by mostly adding unathletic plodders, as Rey is more dynamic than the likes of Rey Maualuga and A.J. Hawk (though debatably worse than the veteran duo). The Bengals could have some funds to work with if enough of their free agents walk, and if that ends up being the case, they need to add another linebacker capable of making plays to off-set the injury and character issues Bufict struggles with.
I don’t have any inherent issues with Rey as a football player, since he hasn’t been terrible ever since bursting onto the scene with four sacks and five PDs in the 2013 season. In one word, I would describe him as “serviceable”, but the issue here is that the Bengals need to go in a different direction at linebacker. By re-signing him before the league year opens, they could end up overpaying for a 28-year-old LB by making a “major push”.
The term in itself can be ambiguous, but it makes me wonder why the Bengals are so high on him. He’s a good special teams player and an above-average run defender, so he should have a place in the Bengals starting lineup. That said, he had arguably the worst season of his career in a contract year and doesn’t strike me as the type of player who can take Cincinnati’s defense over the top.
Armed with a strong defensive line and an excellent secondary, the Bengals were second in the NFL in points per game allowed, sixth in net yards per pass attempt, allowed the second-least passing TDs, and they had the third-most interceptions.
However, the Bengals were 11th in yards per game allowed, and their one weakness on defense was run defense with 4.3 yards per carry allowed. Rey’s team-leading 98 tackles were mostly “garbage” plays, and while the Bengals run defense wasn’t nearly as bad as their YPC allowed suggests, there’s room for improvement here. You’d think that upgrading at one linebacker spot by exchanging Rey for a better player would be sensible, especially since re-signing him before the start of the new league year could render the financial advantage of Rey vs. a replacement moot.
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Perhaps I am being too critical of a player who shouldn’t have a hard time finding work on the free agent market, but color me skeptical and a bit cautious, since I think a contender with a need at linebacker and more pressing impending FAs needs to be more judicious and bold with their offseason decisions. They need to prioritize raw talent, and they need to focus on players like Jones and Iloka more.