Cincinnati Bengals: Which Defensive Free Agents Should They Keep?

Which of their defensive free agents should the Cincinnati Bengals keep?

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?

We’ve already looked at the offensive players they have to make determinations on. Now, let’s look at the defensive and special teams 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

Kevin Huber, P
Re-signed with Cincinnati; 3 years, $7.95 million

In his time with the Bengals, Huber has been a quality option at punter. This is more due to his placement ability than any amount of power.

To see the value of that, look at where he’s ranked in net punt average. Since being picked up the Bengals in 2009, he’s been in the top twelve in that area five times — a laudable feat for a stat with as much year-to-year variance as this one. He’s also been in the top half of the league with punts inside the 20 six different times.

Keeping him at the price they got him was quality value. He’s in the top ten for average per year salary now, but on the bottom end (No. 9). The players above him have clear advantages in leg strength to go with quality placement ability. Huber’s contract coincides right with where his abilities slot him in the league’s hierarchy of punters.

Chris Smith, DE
Signed with Cleveland Browns; 3 years, $12 million

While fans can get frustrated by the sort of approach to acquiring talent Cincinnati tends to take (i.e.: mainly sign only their own free agents and draft picks, focus solely on cheap acquisitions from other teams), it can work out in a meaningful way at times.

Smith is a shining example of when things go well. Laden with draft picks, they sent off a sixth rounder to Jacksonville to take a chance on him.

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It worked out quite well. Smith was given more snaps in 2017 (401) than in his first three seasons combined (312); in them, he tied career highs in sacks (3) and forced fumbles (1), while setting new ones for tackles (26) and pass knockdowns (2). With his help, Cincinnati had a five-deep pass rush which was around the top ten in effectiveness for much of the year.

That production and his eventual price tag would’ve been great to keep around, but it isn’t a major loss. The team got cheap production out of an asset without locking themselves into him long-term. Even better: they’ve already replaced his spot with another cheap asset, with Chris Baker coming in to presumably take Smith’s spot in the rotation.

Cleveland should be happy in what they got with Smith, but when all the moves are accounted for Cincinnati shouldn’t be too worried about how things turned out.

Players To Let Go

Adam Jones, CB

This part has already seemingly been decided. Unlike the other players on this list, the team actually cut Jones this offseason to cause his free agency. While it is possible they could decided to bring him back, it is unlikely. He could come back on a cheaper contract than what he had before, but it isn’t as if Cincinnati was hurting for cap space before. Clearly, this wasn’t a money issue.

What makes more sense is that Cincinnati has better options beyond Jones now. William Jackson III appears to be a  lockdown star in the making. Darqueze Dennard finally found himself a role and showed competence after years of failing to break through. Between those two, you’ve got a great foundation to work with.

They aren’t the only thing to contend with, though. Dre Kirkpatrick is also being paid to be a star, and though he fell well short in his first season of his huge contract, he’s not going anywhere. You don’t pay a guy an average of over $10 million per season to have him sit on the bench, and the team probably isn’t going to cut him for at least a couple years because of the huge amount of dead money which would incur. Barring injury, he’ll be given plenty of chances to make an impact.

Jones, however, no longer was one of their best options; therefore, he wasn’t worth being kept around. His off-field baggage was always a problem even if Cincinnati was able to work through it, but once his on-field effectiveness slipped he wasn’t worth the trouble. After an ineffective 2017 which had plenty of suspension and injury issues attached, now was as good a time as any to make the change.

Pat Sims, DT

A key piece of Cincinnati’s roster-building plans has always unfortunately included holding onto the players they know for too long. When many teams would smartly cut ties on players who start losing effectiveness, Cincinnati has often held onto them well into their decline.

Continuity is a useful part of building a team, but when it is valued over youth and high-level productivity, you run into problems. You inevitably place a cap on how good your team can be, while leaving your team with a constant weak point for the opposition to exploit.

Sims is the poster child of those problems. He was never particularly effective when he first came to the roster, but he’s definitely not helping much since he returned to the team after a stint with Oakland. He’s a one-dimensional tool who at 32 is not going to improve; if anything, he’ll just get worse. Even if he’s on the team, there is a hole on the roster at his position.

With the Baker addition, numerous young options already in tow, and plenty of draft picks at their disposal, Cincinnati shouldn’t relegate themselves of relying on yet another washed up veteran.

Kevin Minter, LB

The way things worked out with the Chris Smith move last season is what should have happened with Minter. He was a low-risk signing that cost little money on a short-term deal. His prior experience showed someone who appeared capable of breaking out in a bigger role than the one Arizona had given him.

Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft: Post-free agency 3 rounds

That wasn’t to be, however. Injuries severely hampered his ability to get on the field at all, and even when he did get out there he wasn’t effective. This doesn’t mean he can’t play well of course, but the way things went last season have to leave Cincinnati with a bad taste in their mouth.

With an easy out already set because of being on a one year deal last year, each side can move on with minimal issue.