Cincinnati Bengals Non-Playoff Team Free Agency Targets: New York Giants

We’ve embarked on a series looking at free agents the Cincinnati Bengals should pursue on teams which sat out the 2017 playoffs. Next up: the New York Giants.

After reaching the playoffs every year from 2011-15, the Cincinnati Bengals fell short of the postseason for the second year in a row. Now they await NFL Free Agency in 2018, which could be key for them getting back in the mix.

Entering the offseason, we started with a series that highlighted players from playoff teams that the Bengals could look at in free agency. Now, the focus has turned to the other teams that weren’t in the postseason.

We’ve previously taken a look at players from the Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans, Cleveland Browns, Ravens, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets,Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, and San Francisco 49ers. Next up: the New York Giants.

Weston Richburg, C

We all know Cincinnati’s offensive line was bad last season. A year after they allowed 46 sacks, they let their best two linemen from that group leave in free agency and hoped the young players still around would magically become better despite little to no evidence that they actually could.

Not surprisingly, the outside expectations became reality: the group was miserably lacking cohesiveness and stayed firmly planted near the bottom of the league in pretty much any measurements for offensive lines. They need major changes; relying on the guys from last season would crater yet another season before it started. Outside of Clint Boling, nobody from the group should have any claim to a roster spot, much less a starting nod; bringing in competition for everybody involved is the only logical move if this team plans to make an attempt at returning to the playoffs.

The team has actually already begun the changes. Former Giants tackle Bobby Hart was recently signed by the team (because he was cut, rather than his contract concluding organically, teams were free to sign him prior to free agency officially opening) to compete for a spot. Cincinnati would be smart to target another Giants lineman too: Weston Richburg.

With Richburg, the Giants weren’t exactly a stalwart blocking team overall, but they did well in certain aspects. The team was up-and-down in terms of the run (Per Football Outsiders: the Giants run block ratings from 2014-17 were 22nd, 11th, 24th, 15th, respectively). Along the same timeline, the pass blocking was surprisingly underrated though: Richburg’s lines were never below No. 10 in Football Outsiders’ Adjusted Sack Rate metric, including a second finish in 2016.

Why wouldn’t the Giant’s want to keep Richburg, then? Money, with a side dish of injury. Richburg missed the majority of 2017 because of concussion problems. Those injuries are more detrimental to careers now than tearing apart knee ligaments. We’ve seen too many players forced to retire early because of them — not because they choose to, but because teams are very leery of having to rely on players with that particular injury history.

The injury worries feed right into the money aspect, but it is just one piece of that larger point. The injury concerns will likely limit his asking price, but assuming those concussion worries are not going to completely frighten every team away, he’s getting some decent offers. The Giants may have wanted to look elsewhere anyway at center, but a raise of any substance for Richburg isn’t going to work for them.

When considering the money allocated for draft selections, the team will have under $13 million in cap space available; as a team with both a massively expensive defense and the second-worst 2017 win-loss record, they’ve got tons of holes to fill. 2017 fill-in Ben Jones should be available for cheaper than Richburg, and though his ceiling is lower he doesn’t come with the concussion woes.

Cincinnati doesn’t often pay big for free agents, and has often been a team which gives the impression of not really valuing the offensive line. Richburg, while probably getting paid more than his rookie contract allotted ($1.5 million last year), should still be in affordable territory (in part due to the concussion stuff) for a frugal team with plenty of cap space to spare ($26.5 million after allotting for draft picks).

Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft: Post-Combine 3-Round projection

Whether through a one-year deal or a relatively cheap multi-year offer, Cincinnati has a chance to add a competent piece to a line in dire need of more of those. It will have inherent risk, but risk well worth the possible reward, and with minuscule repercussions if it doesn’t actually work out.

Make Richburg the second former Giant lineman added, Bengals!