Cincinnati Bengals Playoff Team Free Agency Targets: New England Patriots

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 England Patriots.

There was a brief moment when it seemed as if the Cincinnati Bengals could make the 2017 NFL Playoffs. Those hopes were dashed, however, and they fell short. Now it’s time for the offseason and what could be an important free agency period for the Bengals. As we have with this series, we’ll continue to look at potential targets in free agency coming from playoff teams.

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, Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Minnesota Vikings.

Now, we look at one from the Super Bowl losers: the New England Patriots.

Nate Solder, OT

If you’ve been following this series, you’ll no doubt notice a trend of me picking out offensive linemen for Cincinnati to target in free agency. You’ll also probably understand why: that unit was easily the weakest unit on the Bengals, and one of the worst offensive lines in the entire league from the outset.

It amazes me how obvious the issue should have been — and how little the team ended up doing last offseason to form the unit. They allowed both of their best players (Andrew Whitworth and Kevin Zeitler) to leave for greener pasture. In their place, they held out hope for markedly worse options to suddenly become great.

It didn’t work in the slightest. Former high draft picks Cedric Ogbuehi and Jake Fisher were comically bad when they played, forcing the team to at times have to use a planned in-game rotation at tackle involving retread Bengal Andre Smith. Smith’s injuries and poor play prior to his return made him not even be considered an option at the position, with Cincinnati initially expecting him to try being their Zeitler replacement at guard despite never playing that position before.

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He would eventually lose out to Trey Hopkins, who himself would prove to somehow be completely awful (48.3 Pro Football Focus Edge grade in 707 snaps) yet not at the bottom of the barrel in competence; emblematic of the team’s blocking woes however, his PFF grade would show him to be the second-best lineman on the entire team anyway.

This team needs talent on the line in the worst way, and even if they managed to sign every lineman I brought up in my prior playoff team free agency previews, they would still need help.

Here’s the thing with those previously discussed linemen, though: none are guaranteed improvements. Each would have a good chance to be better than everyone beyond Clint Boling just by having two legs and a heartbeat, but they would each be low-cost shots in the dark who could maybe have a chance to be useful pieces. Not a single one of them would come in with the expectation of a starting role, much less a successful one.

Solder, however, could be a legitimate building block. He’s been a successful starter with New England since entering their northeast cocoon in 2011, protecting Tom Brady’s blindside as he continued his legendary career. He appears to be exactly what any team would hope to have at the edge of their line.

Why would New England let him go, you might ask? Look at their cap space; they have under $14 million available to use. They can cut some players to make room of course, but that would open up a new hole somewhere else. Plus, they still have numerous useful set-to-be free agents outside of just Solder to consider, and a defense which took colossal steps backwards throughout 2017 and just allowed an offense led by backup quarterback extraordinaire Nick Foles to eviscerate them for 41 points in the biggest game of their season. Somebody here isn’t getting paid, and Solder is a clear risk to be allowed to leave.

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He has been their starting left tackle for a long time, but he may have taken a step back this season. Even at his best, he’s never been an elite blocker, either; that damages his chances at a market-setting contract, but with the state of offensive line play across the league even the somewhat competent players can be paid handsomely.

New England especially won’t want to pay up when they probably trust their roster-building, coaching (O-Line coach Dante Scarnecchia is well-renowned for being one of the better position coaches in the NFL), and Brady’s quick release and decision-making to keep things humming even if they let a pretty talented guy go for a cheaper option.

On the subject of cheapness, that appears to be what would stand in Cincinnati’s way of even getting a meeting with Solder. The team is notorious under owner Mike Brown for being detrimentally frugal, especially with outside free agents.

That cheapness once kept the team from acquiring a high-profile star like Warren Sapp in his heyday (supposedly the Bengals tried to back out of a certain amount of guaranteed money at the last minute, which caused the deal to fall through when Sapp’s side found out about it; he would later end up in Oakland instead because of this foolishness), and has undoubtedly been a hindrance to any sort of outside free agent signings since the owner took over in the early 90s.

The rumors point to that maybe not being such a big roadblock now, however. Marvin Lewis seemed as good as gone for a month before the season ended, but after-season discussions of the future with Brown secured Lewis a contract extension. Supposedly part of what got him to agree were some level of agreement to better utilize avenues for improvement such as free agency; it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that part of that adjustment would include a legitimate willingness to actually spend some money on outside talent.

Solder qualifies as that. Though he has his faults, he immediately becomes the best lineman on the team. Putting him with Clint Boling would give the team a quality tackle-guard combination on the left side of the line. The right side still would be a mess, but you’ve now got guys like Ogbuehi and Fisher fighting for that instead of defaulting into starting roles; if Cincinnati were to pick up a couple of other cheap free agents or spend a draft pick or two on linemen, they could be on their way to flipping a weakness into a decent unit in record time.

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

A move for Solder may not seem likely by the Bengals, but this is dream season for every team; no possibility is impossible, and no impossibility is certain. Going for Solder would signal a dramatic change by a franchise feeling stale and desperately in need of one. Here’s hoping they can somehow make it happen.

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