Cincinnati Bengals: Which offensive free agents should team keep?

Which of their offensive free agents should the Cincinnati Bengals keep for the 2018 season and perhaps beyond?

The Cincinnati Bengals entered this year’s free agency period with 12 players whose contracts have ended. They won’t keep them all (and honestly shouldn’t), but who among them is actually worth keeping around?

Let’s look at the offensive players from that group who they should keep or let leave, as well as point out the ones who already have signed new contracts with Cincinnati or elsewhere.

Already Signed

Tyler Eifert, TE
Resigned with Cincinnati; 1 year, $8 million

When he is healthy, Eifert is as compelling of a tight end as there is these days. Check his 2015 season out: 52 receptions, 615 yards, 13 touchdowns, 38 first downs. His Pro Football Focus Edge grade that season: 87.2 (0-100 scale). In an eight-game 2016, he did well too: 29 catches, 394 yards, five touchdowns, 23 first downs, 86.3 PFF grade.

It is often said that availability is the best ability, however, and Eifert has fallen well short of that ideal. He’s never been able to see all 16 games in a season, and missed more games in his career (41) than he has played (39).

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That talent is so tantalizing though, and it isn’t as if these injuries are nagging. They’ve been major, but they’ve also been fluky; with some better luck, he can be available for much longer than he’s shown so far. This happens all the time with players, by the way; players struggle with injuries early, but then prove over a longer period of time to not be quite as injury-prone as they may at first seem. 16 game seasons are a terribly small sample size to make judgments on something like this.

This is what makes this re-signing good for the Bengals. If he again proves incapable of staying healthy, they can cut ties with no problem next season. If he does well, the price tag for this year is in line with what a healthy Eifert should be around. It’ll be a good space to work from for a long-term deal next offseason if he is on the field often enough; assuming he is, the production he brings to the table on the field has been pretty consistent throughout his career.

A.J. McCarron, QB
Signed with Buffalo Bills; 2 years, $10 million

After the flurry of quarterback movement, there was always going to be teams who were left scrambling for answers. After trading away Tyrod Taylor, Buffalo firmly planted themselves atop the list of quarterback-needy teams, but missed out on the top options.

A few decent starts in Andy Dalton’s stead (including a near playoff win against Pittsburgh) in 2015 gave teams evidence that McCarron could be a capable player. An ill-fated trade attempt by Cleveland artificially inflated his value. Add in winning an arbitration to be an unrestricted free agent, and his value seemed to skyrocket.

It appears those expectations may have been out of whack. Even with plenty of good working for his reputation, McCarron still ended up with the sort of contract applied to backup quarterbacks. He should have a chance to fight for a starting nod this year, though; currently, only Nathan Peterman should be fighting him for the nod. A highly-drafted prospect seems like a likely addition as well, but the winner of a McCarron-Peterman duel could easily be deemed starter for a portion of this year.

Andre Smith, OL
Signed with Arizona Cardinals; 2 years, $8 million

Changes had to come to the Cincinnati offensive line after two straight years of pitiful play. Letting Smith go elsewhere had to be part of that plan.

He embodied all of the underwhelming decision-making this team gets frustratingly wrapped up in. He was a retread player in the midst of a multi-year decline; the only reasons they brought him in was because he was here before and he came cheap.

Arizona is making the same mistake Cincinnati did with him: hoping that early-career ability magically shows itself again at a bargain rate. It won’t, and Cincinnati lucked out to have another team falter on that decision so they wouldn’t eventually succumb to it again.

Players To Let Go

RB Jeremy Hill

Entering 2017, Hill was a good piece in a two-headed running attack with Giovani Bernard. He was the short-yardage power back option — and a pretty successful one at that. He picked up 2,757 yards, 148 first downs, and 29 touchdowns in a role that was as consistent as things come (222-223 carries in each of those seasons).

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That effectiveness may have been overstated, however. While the touchdowns weren’t a problem, his yardage started to be. After averaging 5.1 yards per carry as a rookie, he then failed to reach 4.0 in either of the following years. Pro Football Focus Edge‘s grading metrics never liked his game much, either; his best grade from them was decidedly average (73). He was also never much of a pass-catcher either, never eclipsing 215 receiving yards in a year and having a single receiving touchdown across his four-year career.

2017 sealed his fate with this team. He was unable to find a role in a backfield which included Bernard and the recently-drafted Joe Mixon. He wouldn’t surpass 15 snaps in any game all year, picking up just 77 total in a lost season. He must go elsewhere to have a chance at a role, and the team signing him must hope that he can recapture the ability he showed in his rookie year. It’s unlikely to happen anywhere, but it definitely isn’t happening with the Bengals.

C Russell Bodine

Bodine is a prime example of Cincinnati’s inability to find and develop useful offensive linemen. He’s also a testament to their desire to never actually place much emphasis on the position group, nor invest in it.

He’s been Cincinnati’s starter at center since 2014, but he’s never been a good one. His best season was on the lowest end of average (70.5 PFF grade). Beyond that, he’s been between 46.1-52.8 in the metric.

Every weakness from his draft profile has rung true. He’s too stiff, too slow, and becomes destructively worse as a play continues. His weaknesses force him to allow too much penetration right up the middle, clogging up the run game and letting his notoriously pressure-averse quarterback get moved off his spot on pass plays far too often.

Take his name off the board and this team has nobody slated at center, but his skills leave so much to be desired that playing 4-on-5 couldn’t be much of a step down at this point. Whether they sign free agents or spend a draft pick or two on it, Cincinnati’s answer at center lies anywhere but with Bodine.

RB Cedric Peerman

Peerman has been around a long time, but doesn’t really have much stat-wise to show for it. He’s been around since 2010, but caps out at 349 rushing yards, 123 receiving yards, and 1 touchdown in that time.

What he does add is special teams play. He’s been a core member of the unit throughout his Cincinnati run; from 2012-15, he had 250+ snaps with the unit in each of those seasons. That role decreased in 2016, however; he had only 112 special teams snaps that year. He may have seen a further decrease in 2017 had he not been for injury removing him from the start.

Peerman is a 31 year old runner coming off a season-ending injury who almost exclusively plays on special teams. Players like this are prime candidates to be replaced even when under contract, much less when those have run out. He may find a spot in his hyper-specific role on a team, but that probably won’t be here.

OT Eric Winston

Winston used to be a really good tackle. From 2007-12, Pro Football Focus Edge never graded him below an 81.2. Three times, he was above an 85.0.

The past five years have seen a drastic downturn. He’s been below-average or worse every year since that 2012 season. His best PFF grade in that time? 68.5. That was also his last season as a full-time starter. Since joining Cincinnati in 2014, he’s been a fill-in at tackle and guard in short spurts; he’s picked up no less than 171 snaps in those years, but no more than 282 in any one.

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It is probably time he moves on though. He was an emergency option at best for an offensive line which already was among the least-talented groups in the NFL; that says everything about where he is as a player. The group needed competence in the worst way, but took until the end of the year to get any action; when turned to, he wasn’t a stalwart.

Winston may be able to mentor young players off the gridiron, but he is not a useful player on it any longer.