Cincinnati Bengals Playoff Team Free Agency Targets: Carolina Panthers

As we continue to look at Cincinnati Bengals free agency targets from playoff teams, we turn our attention to the Carolina Panthers.

The 2017 season may be over for Cincinnati, but preparation for the 2018 version has begun. Part of that preparation will ultimately include free agency to some degree, and Cincinnati’s usage of this avenue will help determine whether they will experience more success in the coming year.

While the free agency period still won’t arrive for a few months, the time for evaluation is wide open — and what better way to determine who a team should go after than seeing them play? The players on these playoff teams are adding more film that can be used for or against their cases for a quality contract with teams around the league; franchises everywhere are surely watching intently.

This series of looking at players on the 2017 playoff teams worth pursuing in free agency has already covered a player on the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs. Next up: the Carolina Panthers.

Amini Silatolu, OL

Many things went wrong for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2017, but nothing was a bigger weakness than their offensive line. A team which ended 2016 by allowing 40+ sacks then let go of its two best players last offseason; in their place was a bunch of young players with either awful careers so far or little-to-no professional snaps to their name, and former Bengals retread Andre Smith.

That group would of course go on to be one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL this season in a year where bad offensive line play was essentially the default; obviously, they need to improve going forward.

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Silatolu could be a decent option for them to help improve things. The Panthers offensive lineman has been around the team since 2012, but there may no longer be a spot for him there. The guard/tackle may be able to play multiple spots, but pretty much all of those are now already earmarked for other players.

Guard is where he’s spent most of his career, but Andrew Norwell and Trai Turner appear to be the guards of the present and future for the Panthers. He can play tackle as well, but between the surprisingly good Daryl Williams and excessively expensive Matt Kalil the starting group there is set as well. Norwell is also set to be a free agent, but unlike Silatolu he’s proven to be a possible long-term foundational piece; that means he’s both likely to be much more expensive and unlikely to be allowed to leave Carolina.

While Silatolu does have his deficiencies, he has had some success in the league — when he can stay on the field, at least. He’s been around for six seasons; they were a mixed bag. An 884 snap rookie year has been followed with a combined 1,059 snaps since, with him missing all of 2016 and never surpassing 404 snaps in any of those non-rookie years.

The injuries, inconsistencies, and Norwell’s free agency should prevent Silatolu from being targeted to return by Carolina, but that doesn’t mean Cincinnati shouldn’t look his way. In fact, it may make him an even better choice for them. Remember, Cincinnati is notoriously frugal with the contracts they hand out — particularly so for ones who aren’t already in-house — so if they will target somebody, they probably need to be cost-effective bargains. The team also needs so much offensive line help; if they again won’t spend much money and/or draft capital towards the unit, they at least should toss a bargain barrel free agent or two into the mix.

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Silatolu would cover all of that. He should be available, cheap, and have upside potential at multiple positions. He wouldn’t solve the issues by himself, but he can be a piece of the overall solution.

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