Cincinnati Bengals Playoff Team Free Agency Targets: Los Angeles Rams
By Kenn Korb
Which 2018 free agents should the Cincinnati Bengals target from playoff teams this season? We take a look at the Los Angeles Rams.
While the 2018 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? That’s what we’re set to do for the Cincinnati Bengals.
The players on this year’s 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 is an exercise to determine a few of them who may be worth consideration by Cincinnati once free agency officially opens this spring.
We’ve already covered a player on each of the following teams: the Buffalo Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Carolina Panthers. Now, we look at one from the Los Angeles Rams.
John Sullivan, C
Sullivan is not the sort of player most fans would think about when considering free agency. He plays perhaps the most overlooked offensive position on the most underappreciated offensive unit in the game. He’s also on the back end of his career (he’s 32), so at best, he is what he is at this point — and, if any change is to come, it is likely that he’ll take a step back rather than forward.
Still, Sullivan is worth consideration for Cincinnati this offseason for numerous reasons.
First off, this team needs massive help all across their offensive line. Sullivan would only help one spot, but he’d be a much-needed improvement in the middle. Current center Russell Bodine hasn’t proven to be even a passable option in his four seasons with the team. His best year (2016) was barely average (per Pro Football Focus Edge, he graded out at 70.5 that year); past that, he’s graded out abysmally every other year. That includes this past year, where he put up perhaps his worst season (46.9 PFF grade) while being one of the supposed stabilizing forces for a massively inexperienced unit.
Cincinnati has a great chance to improve on his spot in the middle now. Bodine is scheduled to be a free agent, so the team isn’t tied to him financially anymore; if they so choose, they can move on from him with zero hassle. They also have nobody else in-house who should be given even a first glance at center work; hence, they need somebody new, pronto.
It would be worth their time to try bringing Sullivan on board. He’s not as good as he was at his peak, but even on the downside of his career he’s still a capable player — and clearly an improvement over everyone else currently taking snaps on this offensive line (save for maybe guard Clint Boling). Sullivan would immediately give Cincinnati a much steadier presence in the middle of their line — a must for what is almost definitely going to be a young, inexperienced group yet again.
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What isn’t yet clear is how much he’ll cost. This past season, he didn’t even cost $1 million for the Rams; obviously, he should end up making more with his next contract. Part of what caused him to be so cheap in the first place was some injury concerns; he missed all of 2015 with Minnesota because of them, and barely played in 2016 with Washington due to them as well. 2017 was a great return to availability for him, but he isn’t that far removed from barely being able to suit up; it wouldn’t be surprising to see that affect his value.
If his value stays reasonably low — and the Rams do not decide to keep him — the Bengals better pounce. Having Sullivan wouldn’t be a cure-all, but there’s no arguing that a quality, useful veteran in the middle of the line would be a boon for everyone on the offense. It’d be a great step towards respectability for the unit which is most responsible for holding this team back.