Cincinnati Bengals Playoff Team Free Agency Targets: New Orleans Saints

As we continue to look at Cincinnati Bengals free agency targets from 2017 playoff teams, a look at who could be worth targeting from the New Orleans Saints.

While free agency still looms in the distant future, every team is already preparing for the madness more than a month away. That, of course, includes the Cincinnati Bengals.

The players on this year’s playoff teams have added more film that can be used for (or against) their cases for a quality contract with teams around the league; franchises everywhere were 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, Kansas City Chiefs, Carolina Panthers, Los Angeles Rams, Atlanta Falcons and Tennessee Titans. Now, we look at one from the New Orleans Saints.

Kenny Vaccaro, S

The safety position seemed like it would be a strength for Cincinnati in 2017. George Iloka has been a solid starter throughout his career. Shawn Williams had just come off a good first year as a full-time starter. Josh Shaw had done well in a nickelback/safety hybrid role in 2016; more of the same would be a decent expectation going forward. Clayton Fejedelem and Derron Smith were the young backups seen to have upside.

Their overall performance didn’t reach the heights that were expected. Williams suffered a scary elbow injury in the preseason; it only ended up taking him out of one regular season game (it was at first feared to end his year or at least keep him out 6-8 weeks), but was undoubtedly a hamper to his abilities and the opening salvo of an injury-plagued season. Iloka was up-and-down. Shaw took a major step backwards in a larger, more varied role. Fejedelem was below average when forced into action; Smith could only manage to be on the field for a single defensive snap.

Safety isn’t the biggest need of this team, but the group is seemingly capped at being only average when perfectly healthy. With that in mind, taking a swing on some talent could be worthwhile if the price is right.

Vaccaro could be someone worth targeting. The former first round pick has experienced a somewhat tumultuous career since being drafted by the Saints in 2013. He has had 700+ snaps in all but one season — and only missed the mark by nine in that year. He’s accrued at least one sack every season he’s played, and picked up 30 pass knockdowns, eight interceptions, four forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries in his time on the field. Pro Football Focus Edge has also graded him as 80.0 or better by their metrics in three of his five seasons.

Every coin has two sides, however. Vaccaro has found himself in the doghouse at multiple times in his career, leaving him unable to even get on the field at times. Those issues have mainly hit in the past couple seasons, as he’s dropped from a career-high 1,062 snaps in 2015 to having his two lowest snap numbers the past two seasons (721 in 2016; 691 in 2017). 2017 was also his worst-graded year by PFF’s metrics (35.4), combining with a poor 2014 (36.0 PFF grade) to give him two out of his five seasons cluttered by abysmally low individual per-play performances.

It would be easy to see the Saints look at the full picture involving him and deciding to move forward without Vaccaro. Marcus Williams and Vonn Bell form an impressive safety duo already; Vaccaro was essentially the No. 3 in that group, but could be replaced with a possibly cheaper option — especially if the Saints decide to put less of an emphasis on the three-safety lineups which allowed Vaccaro to get involved this season.

Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft: Post-Super Bowl edition

If he is allowed to leave, Cincinnati should have a place for him. Coming off an arguably bad season (depending how much weight you give PFF grades) but undoubtedly having the ability to succeed in the right role should make him a worthy reclamation project for Cincinnati. He’s shown he can be used in both two- and three-safety lineups, and if used properly his ceiling is higher than that of any safety currently on the roster. The issues which cropped up for him in New Orleans could also keep his price lower than expected; that’s great news for the Bengals too.

As he enters his prime, the 26 year old has the potential to become the Bengals’ best safety throughout the next few seasons. Instead of stand-ins and stopgaps, the unit could have an actual weapon to send back at opposing offenses. Even if the price ends up being higher than they would prefer, Vaccaro is worth taking a chance on for this team.