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5 free agent linebackers the Bengals should consider signing The Bengals are waiting to get Vontaze Burfict back from suspension and Preston Brown back from injury Renell Wren Cincinnati Bengals Jersey , but in the meantime they are hurting at linebacker. Even when the pair returns, the team could use more talent and speed at the position. At this point in the year, the linebackers who are available in free agency are older than is ideal, less experienced than is would be preferred, or come with some other baggage.The Bengals worked out at least nine players last week, but none of the reported workouts were with linebackers.With that in mind, here are five linebackers the Bengals should consider picking up before heading into Atlanta for a Week 4 matchup withe the Falcons.NaVorro BowmanBowman was a hot name as a trade candidate a year ago, and yet he is still available. Bowman is a talented eight-year pro and four-time All-Pro. In 2017 Bowman had 80 tackles in 15 games for the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders. He has the ability, the big question is his desire to play.Lawrence TimmonsFrom Karlos Dansby to Kevin Minter, the Bengals love aging veterans on the defensive side of the ball. Timmons was a long-time Steeler who went to the Pro Bowl in 2014. The 32-year-old started 14 games for Dolphins in 2017 and recorded 84 tackles. Seeing Timmons in stripes may be hard to stomach for some but James Harrison won over Bengals fans for a year, and Timmons could do the same. Plus, the Bengals face his former teams in coming weeks.Shea McClellinMcClellin is currently semi-retired. Having been diagnosed with a concussion five times in his football career, McClellin is not seeking further employment as a player but has not ruled out a return. The former Chicago Bears first round pick says that he is in great shape and is currently coaching high school ball in Idaho. McClellin started for the Bears for three seasons and played a key role in the New England Patriots’ 2016 Super Bowl run.Tegray ScalesScales is a Cincinnati native who was picked up by the Rams as a undrafted free agent in 2018, but was cut at the end of training camp. The Indiana linebacker was a bit of a sleeper early in the draft party, but became a favorite of many draft analysts throughout the process. Scales had 324 career tackles for the Hoosiers including 125 in his junior season in 2016. Scales is one of those players who always seems to be around the ball and could be a big pick up for the Bengals.Quin BlandingAt 6’2” and 215 pounds, Blanding is a big safety who spent a lot of his time at Virginia rolled down into the box. Blanding was picked up after the 2018 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins who cut him at the end of camp. Blanding was incredibly productive in college recording 492 tackles in four years. He is an excellent run defender, and good against the pass in underneath zones. His issue is playing deep field zones. Moving him to linebacker would solve that problem. We’re down to just one final game in this disappointing 2018 season for the Cincinnati Bengals and it seems like 2019 could be more of the same—at least with there being a similar cast of characters. Even if familiar faces return, can the team buck trends to break the poor three-year cycle we’ve seen from 2016-2018? That’s where Bengals fans’ head space is at right now. Here are a couple of questions we received this week on our variety of platforms. *****We received an interesting email this week, asking about the plan surrounding Lewis’ two-year contract he signed in January of 2018. Essentially the question asked was if it was internally-known that this season was going to be a bit of a struggle because of a rebuilding project, and if 2019 was always planned as the culmination of Lewis’ 16 previous years of work.The reasoning? Here are some of the points laid out by John Renell Wren Jersey 2019 , the emailer:First of all, no team openly admits that they are rebuilding in that year and that they expect to have a tough immediate future, and the Bengals are no different. John isn’t implying that, by any stretch, but I’m throwing that out there as a general disclaimer before we go any further.While there is reason to question the moves (or non-moves, depending on the case) this offseason, there are conflicting ideas here. In fairness to John, he did note that at least some of the theory came from a fellow fan with the interjection of his own curiosities. Starting with point No. 1, the logic in pointing to 2019 being “the year” is obvious. In speaking with Mike Brown about a new contract, Lewis likely laid out a two-year plan in which they both thought a championship could be possible. Get some new assistants, reload the offense for Andy Dalton and make some minor roster tweaks. He probably would have noted that the team, while younger (see point No. 2) might see some early struggles and improve towards the end of this season. And, thus, they’d really hit their stride when 2019 rolled around. But, where things go haywire, in terms of finding logic, is in point No. 3. Yes, they swung a trade for Cordy Glenn who will be their left tackle for the foreseeable future, but other free agent acquisitions reek of the classic Cincinnati rental system. Preston Brown was signed to a one-year deal and after only playing in seven games this year, it’s hard to predict whether the Bengals will want him back long-term. Chris Baker and Matt Barkley were two other outside additions that didn’t even make it to the final roster Renell Wren Jersey Mens , while Bobby Hart looks like another one-year stopgap. There was also the “prove it” deal to Tyler Eifert, which was one year, as his season ended after just three and a half games. If the Bengals were truly planning for 2019 and beyond this past offseason, wouldn’t some of the outside free agent acquisitions be longer-term? This, of course, would require the team to be aggressive in the March foray, which they haven’t been in quite some time. Furthermore, one would have thought that the team would have looked at quarterback this past offseason, should 2019 be viewed as the year for a championship. That’s no slight on Andy Dalton, per se, but usually a rebuilding project also ushers in a new signal-caller with high upside. This is especially the case since Dalton had seven seasons without a postseason win before the 2018 season. And, wouldn’t you know it? This past draft class was chock full of talented quarterbacks—five first-rounders to be exact. That would have been a great opportunity to give Dalton one last shot in 2018 and/or give a young guy a little needed in-game experience to build upon for the 2019 season.Nope. Instead, the plan was to re-supply Dalton with weapons (Eifert, Glenn and Billy Price) in an attempt to prop that 2011-2015 window back open for a couple of more seasons. Short-term band-aids were the remedies that they came up with when the ink was drying on Lewis’ contract. *****Speaking of quarterbacks, another question we received on this week’s Orange and Black Insider podcast was about the possibility of the Bengals drafting Dalton’s heir this upcoming spring. What the query centered around is the fact that one of the top prospects in Justin Herbert of Oregon, recently opted to return to the University of Oregon for his senior year. This essentially means that Dwayne Haskins, Drew Lock and Will Grier will headline a weak class in a few months. Might one of those names be tempting enough for the Bengals to pounce?Wouldn’t it be so very Bengals-like to potentially grab a quarterback in a draft a year later than they should?At any rate, if they do grab a quarterback, this potentially means the Bengals may not be true competitors for a championship until 2020 or later. This is based upon the career trajectories of Patrick Mahomes, Jared Goff and others in recent years. Of course Youth Renell Wren Jersey , Dalton and Co. will have something to say about that. A.J. Green will be back from his toe surgery, Tyler Boyd is coming off of a 1,000-yard season, while John Ross has seven touchdowns in his second season. Throw in another budding star in Joe Mixon and there are pieces to build around this offseason. And, that’s what Lewis and the Bengals will probably point to—especially when they opt to go with other positions in April. With Lewis in the last year of another contract, as well as Dalton getting longer in the tooth and coming back from injury, they’ll try and give it one more shot with who they have before a potential overhaul in the following seasons.So, no, I don’t think that Herbert staying in college alters the Bengals’ plans in the coming months. But, might he be a guy they covet in 2020?At 6’6”, Herbert has the prototypical size for the position, while also putting up some nice numbers this past season. In 12 games, he threw for 2,985 yards, 28 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He has also shown the ability to use his legs, running for nine touchdowns in three seasons with the Ducks. However, there are two things to watch for in 2019 that were concerns this past season. One is that shoulder injury he suffered, but the other is in the area of completion percentage. It’s said that one indicator of potential pro success from a college quarterback is in their ability to complete over 60% of their throws throughout their career. In 2017, Herbert had a 67.5% completion rate, which was better than his 2016 number of 63.5%. But White Renell Wren Jersey , he threw for only 59.6% this year, as Oregon stumbled to an 8-4 record. Even so, if he resembles the numbers from his first three seasons with the Ducks, Herbert should be looked at as a No. 1 overall-type of prospect in 2020. And, going back to hone his craft another year should help his draft stock to propel him to a potentially solid NFL future.*****We also talked a bit about Baker Mayfield’s villain status with the club after his second display of gloating towards Hue Jackson in as many games against the Bengals. He’s 2-0 in “The Battle of Ohio”, so he has room to talk, even if Bengals fans don’t like it. 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