essentially had 1.2 sixth-round picks per year under Lewis a

Lewis had some thoughts about what his former team needs to do going forwards."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections #BITESIZEFilm RoomRoster Transactions and ContractsOrange & Black InsiderSalary Cap And CBABreaking NewsKeep track of the 2019 Bengals draft脳Marvin Lewis thinks Bengals must improve offensive line this offseasonNew Tyler Eifert Jersey ,131commentsLewis had some thoughts about what his former team needs to do going forwards.ESTShareTweetShareShareMarvin Lewis thinks Bengals must improve offensive line this offseasonKirby Lee-USA TODAY SportsIt’s still weird to see Marvin Lewis be anything other than the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. It’s even weirder to hear him talk about the team he no longer coaches.Lewis made his broadcasting debut Sunday when he was one of the two analysts for NFL Network calling the AAF matchup between the Salt Lake Stallions and Arizona Hotshots. Yesterday, he was invited to talk on NFL Live and speak on some current hot topics surrounding the NFL, like Kyler Murray and minority head coaches.Eventually, the program shifted the dialogue towards the Bengals, the team Lewis coached for the previous 16 seasons. When asked about the team, Lewis elaborated on a familiar point.“They’ve got to go and fix the offensive line. The offensive front will be a big focus for the Cincinnati Bengals to continue to lean on Joe Mixon’s abilities, and the abilities of Giovani Bernard, A.J. Green and the guys they have. ...Offensively, I think, we’ve got to go and restructure, retool the offensive line a little bit. I said, ‘We.’ Excuse me! Excuse me! (Laughs.)”Fixing the offensive line seemed to be the focal point of last offseason, evident by the trade for left tackle Cordy Glenn and the selection of center Billy Price in the first round. While the offensive line improved in some areas, the clear and self-imposed weaknesses at right guard and right tackle limited what the unit could’ve been.Self-imposed being the keyword.Ultimately it was Lewis’ call to start Alex Redmond and Bobby Hart for the entire season. Hart wasn’t originally seen as a legitimate option to start when he was signed almost exactly one year ago, but sure enough, he won the job relatively early in training camp. The team didn’t even so much as address the tackle position in the draft, knowing that Hart was the only addition to a competition that included Cedric Ogbuehi and Jake Fisher.Redmond was also viewed with an outside chance to start over fellow teammates Trey Hopkins and Christian Westerman Carlos Dunlap Jersey , but sure enough, he was given the job. The problem was, he proved very early on in the season he was not starting material, yet was not challenged up until the very end of the season.Even at the center position, Lewis and his staff could’ve handled that situation more proactively. When Hopkins put together solid performance after solid performance at center when Price was injured, he was benched for a struggling Price as soon as he was healthy enough to return. By season’s end, it was very possible two of the Bengals’ best five offensive linemen were forced to sit on the bench for most of the season.And that’s on Lewis.Nevertheless, Lewis is right about Cincinnati’s current situation up front. They still need to find a real upgrade at right tackle, along with clarity at right guard and center. It’s safe to assume that Price will retain his spot and Westerman remains the best option at right guard, but do we really want to assume what the new regime believes? We need to retrain what we think we know about the Bengals now that Lewis isn’t calling the shots.Lewis also expanded on the rest of the AFC North and how the Bengals fit in the divisional picture now: “It’s an odd situation to not have a defensive coordinator at this point,” Lewis added. “I think the biggest challenge all the time is everybody wants to point to what the (Bengals) haven’t done. Let’s talk about what they have done and continue to build upon that and move forward and get it done. But you’re in a tough division and I think that’s the thing we’re talking about the Baltimore Ravens. And now we’re talking about the Cleveland Browns. And we know how good the Pittsburgh Steelers are. So we build a football team to be at the top of that division, and they’ve got to get back there in order to do that.”It’s true, Lewis and his staff did build a team to be at the top of the AFC North. He ended up at the top multiple times in his 16 seasons, but it was his failure to evolve that hindered him from doing it again when it mattered and going beyond just a divisional title.The objectives to get better are clear for Lewis’ replacement Zac Taylor, even Lewis can see them. The question now is will Taylor be able to make the right decisions that Lewis couldn’t. Lou Anarumo is now the Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive coordinator and the team is trying to finalize the rest of the staff as the league heads to Indianapolis for the NFL Combine."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections #BITESIZEFilm RoomRoster Transactions and ContractsOrange & Black InsiderSalary Cap And CBABreaking NewsKeep track of the 2019 Bengals draft脳VideosNFL DraftAnalysisReactions to the Bengals’ most recent staff moves and awarded compensatory picksNew,4commentsLou Anarumo is now the Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive coordinator and the team is trying to finalize the rest of the staff as the league heads to Indianapolis for the NFL Combine.ESTShareTweetShareShareReactions to the Bengals’ most recent staff moves and awarded compensatory picksSince his official hiring announced a few weeks ago, Zac Taylor has been scrambling to put the rest of his coaching staff together. The Cincinnati Bengals spent most of January dismantling the remnants of the Marvin Lewis era Dre Kirkpatrick Jersey , believing that Taylor had things all lined up when he arrived. But, with the team needing to wait until the Rams were done in the postseason, Taylor and the Bengals were behind most other teams in transition this offseason, in terms of getting off to a late start with assembling the staff. Cincinnati’s new coach went through his list of a number of defensive coordinator options, and the search left a little bit of egg on the face of the organization. Nevertheless, Taylor found his man in former Giants secondary coach, Lou Anarumo. The hire brings both a bit of excitement and skepticism to the fan base. On the positive side, New York was tied for the seventh-highest amount of interceptions last year with 16. In heading a unit employing at least two former first round picks at cornerback and two productive safeties, Anarumo should be able to build upon the talent in the secondary. There has also been some conjectures about Landon Collins being lured to Cincinnati by Anarumo via free agency in a safety/linebacker hybrid role. Alternatively, the Giants’ passing defense was 23rd in the NFL, in terms of yards per game. While that ranking depends on other factors aside from the secondary, coupling that with his inexperience as a coordinator gives pause. In attempting to find members of the staff working under Anarumo, Cincinnati swung and missed for another assistant in Eric Henderson. The former Bengals player and current defensive line coach, opted to stay in Los Angeles and jumped from the Chargers to Taylor’s former employer.In short, the Bengals’ staff is incomplete as representatives of all NFL teams head to Indianapolis for the NFL Combine. While it isn’t the end of the world, it does particularly handicap Cincinnati because of their penchant for leaning more heavily on their coaching staff in the scouting process.We’ll see if this ends up being a big deal when April comes around, or if Taylor and Co. can work around these hurdles and still get immediate impact rookies for a roster that is starved for them. Bengals receive three sixth-round compensatory picks:When folks get angry with the Cincinnati Bengals because of their inactivity in free agency (particularly in the form of outside signings) Billy Price Jersey , their response is almost always framed in the context of a beloved compensatory pick formula. And, when they do make the occasional outside signing, it’s usually for veterans who have been released, so to not tweak with said formula. The team received three additional day three picks last week, giving them 11 for the big weekend two months from now. In case you missed it, here is the updated look at their picks:Round 1, Overall 11Round 2, Overall 42Round 3, Overall 72Round 4, Overall 110Round 5, Overall 149Round 6, Overall 183Round 6, Overall 198 (via Cowboys)Round 6, Overall 210 (Compensatory Selection)Round 6, Overall 211 (Compensatory Selection)Round 6, Overall 213 (Compensatory Selection)Round 7, Overall 223Now Jessie Bates Jersey , the optimist would look at the new rule allowing teams to trade their compensatory picks and envision the Bengals packaging some of their picks to move up for rookies they truly covet. A lot of teams roll the dice this way, and it disallows other teams to leapfrog them for guys they want to add. The cynics would look at the four meager times the Bengals have moved up in the draft over their past 51 classes and perpetuate the belief that the team will either stay put or move back to horde more picks. While they have a lot of roster holes because of the transition Taylor is instituting, the “quality versus quantity” debate has to be at the forefront. There is also the notion of just how valuable hoarding day three picks can be. Of course, not every team can have Pro Bowl players at every position, and rounds 4-7 are the depth-building areas, but the Bengals need splash moves that net impactful players. Here is a look at the team’s sixth-round picks in the Marvin Lewis era (since 2003):DL Langston MooreDB Greg BrooksWR/KR Tab PerryWR/QB Reggie McNealDL Matt ToeainaDB Corey LynchTE Matt SherryDB Morgan TrentRB Bernard ScottWR Dezmon BriscoeWR Ryan WhalenRB Daniel Boom HerronRB Rex BurkheadWR Cobi HamiltonLB Marquis FlowersDB Derron SmithWR Cody CoreLB Jordan EvansDB Brandon Wilson (one of the rare players Cincinnati traded up to select)While there are a couple of players who have had nice careers, the list doesn’t readily point to major benefits of the stockpiling of these kinds of picks on a regular basis. The Bengals have essentially had 1.2 sixth-round picks per year under Lewis and the impacts have been minimal. It’s going to be interesting to see how Taylor approaches the draft and the picks the team has, as opposed to how Lewis and Co. operated. The other major figureheads are still part of the war room, but Taylor seems to have grabbed the ears of Mike Brown, the Blackburns and Duke Tobin in a way that Lewis once did. If you’re unable to join us live for here at Cincy Jungle or YouTube every episode, all Orange and Black Insider content is available here on CJ, the Stitcher and Google Play Music apps, our YouTube channel, as well as through Megaphone and, as always, on iTunes! You can tweet us @BengalsOBI or get in touch with us via email at theobinsider @ gmail.com. Thanks for listening and go subscribe to our channels!