Cincinnati Bengals Offseason

Cincinnati Bengals - I can’t even start this without addressing the most recent rumblings from Ocho Cinco’s camp. He basically feels that he is not really wanted, and feels like he is viewed as a cancer. His assessment of that is, “If I am cancer, then this team needs chemo” The reality is he isn’t going anywhere. He is under contract and why would you trade him.
The Bengals made a good move to improve their defense with the hire of Mike Zimmer, away from Atlanta.(look on the bright side Falcon fans, at least he didn’t slink off in the middle of the season)
Now they need to upgrade the players, I don’t mean the talent. That seems to be at a reasonable level. The real issue here is a bunch of players on this team (see: everyone but Houshmanzada) don’t play up to their potential. I am not normally one to give a hall pass to a professional athlete. I wouldn’t be willing to give a pass to ONE here either. But it isn’t just one. When basically everyone on a team doesn’t show up prepared to play on Sunday, I can’t help but looking towards the head coach.
But this attitude of apathy seems to run down hill from the front office and ownership. The Bengals seem to be much more interested in the profit Margin than the win-loss margin.
"I think we're efficient. I don't apologize for that. [Other teams] can do what they do. We do what we do," says owner Mike Brown.
Bengals Fans I have a plan of action for you. Reach out to the Oakland Athletic’s who get to suffer through this same model of leadership. OK don’t, do something about it If you allow your team to continue on feeling that fiscal success is not tied to playoff success or god forbid a championship. Then that is your own fault.
As far as the draft, They will probably look defense hoping that the offensive slump this year was just a fluke. If James Lauranitas(LB-OSU) makes it this far he would be hard to pass, as would be Kieth Rivers(LB-USC). Their real number one priority should be Sedrick Ellis(DT-USC) With a presence like that in the middle the Bengals could actually see the production of defensive ends Justin Smith and Robert Geathers increase past the 4.2 million per sack mark they set this year. Beyond his presence in the middle his real value might be his presence as a leader in the locker. This team could use his presence.

Arizona Cardinals Offseason

Arizona Cardinals - will find themselves in unfamiliar territory come draft day this year. Outside the top 10, for the first time in the last 5 years. I am sure they are happy to lose that early pick with the improvements the team made under first year coach Ken Wisenhunt. Had they not suffered as many injuries and nicks at WR they might have done even better.
The Draft needs analysis for the Cardinals is a good news/bad news situation. The unfortunate bad news is that they have quite a few areas of need. The good news is pretty good though, they don’t have a lot of need anywhere, and they don’t have needs at the skill positions that are so hard to predict who will be a success in the NFL. QB is obviously covered between Matt Lienart and Kurt Warner. WR is set with Boldin and Fitzgerald, they also have a strong 3rd in Bryant Johnson but he did so well this year filling in for Boldin and Fitzgerald that he will probably be getting a starting job somewhere else this year.
Even if the Cardinals were willing to slap the franchise tag on him (which they probably wouldn’t do, as he is not on that level yet) they can’t since it seems they may end up using it on Karlos Dansby who along with Calvin Pace made for a solid line backing core. While both are free agents and are currently negotiating, things are moving forward much faster with pace.
In the defensive backfield they are a little thin with the starting spots well covered but no back ups. Malcolm Jenkins and Mike Jenkins (no relation) are the top corners that will be available at this point, which is a more likely draft than safety due to the teams’ interest in moving Antrell Rolle inside to safety. I personally think Mike Jenkins is the better of the two however he played his college ball at a smaller school (USF), which leads to questions about the competition he faced. The Cardinals are a team on the bubble of making the playoffs, not a place to start taking risky picks in the hopes that you might make a big splash. Just go with the safe bet.


Outside Shots

Isaiah Thomas
Maybe you did bump the official, maybe you didn’t. "Isaiah, you know the league has no love for you so why give them the opportunity". I am shocked they did not hammer him. I have to give credit to Commissioner David Stern (and you are not going to hear me give Stern credit often) for not just unloading on him, which you know he must have been tempted to do.

Slick Rick
Michigan Stars Ryan Mallet (transfer), Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrignton (NFL) - They are all gone, but really I mean these are the guys that led your season that you had last year so don't be to upset Michigan Fan. My only real issue with this is the fact that Rodriquez was pushing them out the door before they had even decided anything. I also don't like the way Rodriguez is fighting the 4 mil penalty. If Rodriguez doesn’t start making the decision to handle things with a little class, he might find he isn’t as welcome on some of those living room couches where he has to convince some protective momma to trust her son to him. That concern aside, he is a good coach, if he can upgrade WVU the way he did think what he can do with Michigan’s recruiting base