Remember Ted Karras?

[SammyBlueCat]

Guregian: Patriots should regret letting this Bengals starter walk

The Patriots, however, decided Karras was expendable. They played games with him in free agency, lowering their initial offer, so Karras headed to Cincinnati.
And how did that turn out?

Bengals win. Patriots lose. Thus far, it’s been a rout

 

[upstater1]

Guregian: Patriots should regret letting this Bengals starter walk

I mean, we had Karras here for years. We know what he's about. He's good at the point of attack. But extremely limited athletically. He struggled a lot when pulling, simply didn't have the speed or agility to come around.

The Dolphins released him and ate bonus money after just one season.

The Bengals OL really isn't that great.

My only question with Karras was if he was worth $6m a year as Andrews' backup. That's a little rich.

Cole Strange as a rookie has much more athletic ability, and he gives the Patriots an added dimension with his ability to pull.

I would be interested to see if the Bengals would want him at RG. That would be the tell. Because if you're talking about center, where the Bengals have him, the question would be not is he better than Cole Strange, but is he better than David Andrews?

 

[Triumph]

 

[Pape]

cheap depth/border line starter... guess we should've stuck with the initial offer of 3/15...

oh well, water under the bridge... not going to lose any sleep over Ted Karras.

 

[Sam Bam Cunningham]

They were tight against the cap because of all the crazy spending on Agahalor, Henry and Smith...they could not afford to pay a backup that kind of $, unless they wanted to restructure other contracts. BB has been slow and reluctant to do restructures

I doubt, Karas by himself makes a notable difference with the OL this year

 

[ashley]

I doubt, Karas by himself makes a notable difference with the OL this year

Yeah Sam, our issues have mainly been at OT this year. Karas isn't half as good as Onwenu and with Strange at the other Guard spot, he wasn't going to see much time there anyway. Karas is better than Ferentz, but we don't want to pay our third guard the kind of money he was looking for.

 

[TomPatriot]

I’m glad for him. He gets playing time, a trip to the playoffs, plus he’s paid market value.

 

[VectorPrime]

It’s honestly astonishing that Bill let three of the better o-linemen the Pats had go for what, a fifth round pick for Mason?

 

[State]

It’s not that we let him walk, but we didn’t replace him. Criminal ineptitude. Bill was content with James Ferentz to step into Karras’s role.

Where was the veteran brought in?

No, the regret should be letting Thuney walk. They should have let Mason go, rather than sign him to a hefty contract.

As Captain Stone said in the entry on OL2022, LG is a more important and difficult position to fill than RG.

 

[State]

The Bengals OL really isn't that great.

You obviously don’t know the story about this. Yeah, they sucked for a stretch earlier in the season. Burrow got pummeled. But that’s because of injuries.

So when Joe Mixon runs for 127 yards, you will be proven wrong. They’re now solid. And healthy.

 

[Kontradiction]

You obviously don’t know the story about this. Yeah, they sucked for a stretch earlier in the season. Burrow got pummeled. But that’s because of injuries.

So when Joe Mixon runs for 127 yards, you will be proven wrong. They’re now solid. And healthy.

Yeah, I see a lot of people generally hanging onto that storyline. Their OL is no longer a weakness.

 

[TheRainMaker]

It’s not that we let him walk, but we didn’t replace him. Criminal ineptitude. Bill was content with James Ferentz to step into Karras’s role.

Where was the veteran brought in?

No, the regret should be letting Thuney walk. They should have let Mason go, rather than sign him to a hefty contract.

As Captain Stone said in the entry on OL2022, LG is a more important and difficult position to fill than RG.

Mason signed his deal in 2018. Did anyone really think Thuney was a guy that had to be locked up prior to 2021? I really don't recall many people, if any, clamoring over Thuney saying he was a must sign. Maybe in time Strange bulks up and becomes a good LG which helps us forget Thuney and Onwenu seems like a good replacement for Mason. The T's are just really bad right now and Andrew's gets pushed back from time to time.

 

[upstater1]

You obviously don’t know the story about this. Yeah, they sucked for a stretch earlier in the season. Burrow got pummeled. But that’s because of injuries.

So when Joe Mixon runs for 127 yards, you will be proven wrong. They’re now solid. And healthy.

Who was injured?

I just checked: every Bengals starter has started every game except Volson has started 13 instead of 14. They haven't been injured at all. They started every game.

It wasn't because of injuries. La'el Collins was a disappointment early on. There's a reason the Cowboys let him go for peanuts.

They are playing much better now, apparently.

BUT... again, we know Karras. We had him here for years. We got him back after Miami cut him after one season.

He's playing center for them. He's not playing LG where he is extremely limited. Guregian makes it sound like all these lineman are plug and play. They are not. Onwenu had a very bad season at LG last year, and now PFF ranks him as the 3rd best guard in the game. Position, apparently, makes a difference.

Unless you wanted to replace Andrews with Karras, there was no pace for him here at $6m a year.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

We need tackles. Who cares about a backup guard? Next year Strange will take a sophomore jump, so he and Onwenu are better than Karras, Mason, etc. With Hines and Russey rolling in, the guard spots are all set. We need tackles.

 

[WhatJustHappened]

It’s not that we let him walk, but we didn’t replace him. Criminal ineptitude. Bill was content with James Ferentz to step into Karras’s role.

Where was the veteran brought in?

No, the regret should be letting Thuney walk. They should have let Mason go, rather than sign him to a hefty contract.

As Captain Stone said in the entry on OL2022, LG is a more important and difficult position to fill than RG.

So EZ as an Armchair QB.
YOU DON'T KNOW what was talked about behind the scenes.

 

[Wozzy]

Do people not realize there are 53 man rosters and salary caps?

 

[oldrover]

This topic has maximum importance... with almost zero handwringing!!!!

 

[203Pat]

Apparently our old friend Shaq Mason made the pro bowl.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

Apparently our old friend Shaq Mason made the pro bowl.

I think we got Jack Jones as part of a trade up with that pick, so at least it wasn't wasted

They traded him for a 5th rounder and then traded it up into the 4th round where they made 3 selections

So that 5th rounder helped us get 1 of these 3:
Jack Jones
Pierre Strong
Bailey Zappe

 

[SammyBlueCat]

We need tackles. Who cares about a backup guard? Next year Strange will take a sophomore jump, so he and Onwenu are better than Karras, Mason, etc. With Hines and Russey rolling in, the guard spots are all set. We need tackles.

*IF* he stayed, and *IF* the price was right, and *IF* he permed well, one of the Guards could have been moved to tackle. I know that is a lot of *IFs* (and not a popular idea around here) but at this point in time good offensive linemen are at a premium.