Cincinnati Bengals Non-Playoff Team Free Agency Targets: Oakland Raiders

We’ve finished looking at free agents the Cincinnati Bengals should pursue on 2017 playoff participants. Next up: the non-playoff teams, beginning with the Oakland Raiders.

The NFL offseason is in full swing, ladies and gentlemen. An exciting Super Bowl ended the 2017 playoffs with a bang only a couple weeks ago, but it isn’t long until we see 2018 truly begin.

Only a few weeks away is March 14, the beginning of free agency. Now is the time to figure out who is worth pursuing for and from every team.

We’ve already taken a look at players from the teams who participated in the 2017 playoffs who the Cincinnati Bengals should pursue. Now, we begin to look at players on the teams who missed the playoffs. This exercise kicks off with the disappointing Oakland Raiders.

NaVorro Bowman, LB

At one time, Bowman was considered among the best linebackers across the entire NFL; had it not been for his more renowned teammate Patrick Willis, he probably would’ve led the list for a time. Behind the gargantuan efforts of those two, the 49ers had a dominating defense in the needlessly short Jim Harbaugh era.

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The end of that dominance came furiously fast, in part because of what happened to Bowman. In the 2013 playoffs against Seahawks, Bowman ended up with a gruesome knee injury which changed his career. His team would eventually lose that contest, and he would miss all of 2014 in recovery; during that year, due to internal strife and a lower level of team talent (in part because of Bowman’s absence), the 2014 49ers would go 8-8 and Harbaugh ended up on the chopping block.

Bowman is not the player of the Harbaugh-era 49ers anymore. His athleticism and speed have clearly dipped; with it, his production and role have never managed to touch on those heights again. It was definitely a factor in him getting cut midseason by them (though his large contract played a key role as well).

All that doesn’t mean he isn’t still capable of making a positive impact, however. He made a career high in tackles in the first season he returned from tearing up his knee. The past two seasons, Pro Football Focus Edge gave him grades of 85.4 and 84.8, respectively. That’s still essentially high quality by their metrics despite being long from his physical peak.

If he’s still good though, why would Oakland not want him back? Simple: they are cleaning house big time under their new coach Jon Gruden.

Though Bowman’s individual grades may have been impressive, the defense as a whole in Oakland has done nothing but disappoint for two years running. The unit dropped from No. 22 to 29 in Defensive DVOA from 2016 to 2017, and was No. 20 or worse in scoring defense both seasons. Big changes needed to happen, and that means the old heads like Bowman will always be the first to go, with fresh blood targeted in the draft and free agency to fix the deep-seated problems with the unit.

Oakland’s likely roster decisions can help out Cincinnati, particularly in the case of Bowman. This team entered 2017 with what seemed like a solid (and possibly underrated) linebacker corps, but it proved to be a much less potent group across the year.

Vontaze Burfict was great when he actually played, but nobody else was able to stay either healthy or productive enough for more than a couple games at a time. Nick Vigil was a surprise starter but continued his poor rookie form in a much larger role in his second season. Vincent Rey was the guy Vigil replaced in the lineup, and couldn’t hold up when actually forced into a starting role again due to injuries around him. Kevin Minter came in underrated but dealt with injuries all year and was mostly ineffective because of it.

Beyond Burfict (who signed a large extension at the start of the season), it’s a solid question as to who will be on the team going forward — or if any others from last year’s crop even should return at all. There will be spots in the lineup open for the taking, and having a trustworthy veteran joining the fray would be a viable choice.

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Bowman wouldn’t be a long-term option, but he could at worst be the stopgap until a young player (either Jordan Evans or an upcoming draft pick) is deemed ready for the role long-term. At this point in his career, Bowman would also be a cheap pickup — a major plus for the notoriously stingy Cincinnati front office.

Between Bowman and Burfict, Cincinnati could have itself a nice linebacker duo, a strong core for a unit in transition. With them in place behind an already elite defensive line rotation, a defense that showed early signs of dominance in 2017 would be ready for a strong step forward in 2018.

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