| 05 March 2010
Coles, 32, was signed a year ago to replace T.J. Houshmandzadeh as the Bengals' slot receiver, but he was a disappointment from the word go. Coles dropped several passes, had obviously lost a step and was no longer explosive, and of course was undersized to begin with at 5-foot-11, 200 pounds.
Add it all up and it was yet another terrible decision by Mike Brown and the Bengals' front office.
Let's take a closer look at just how bad they managed this situation: They allowed Houshmandzadeh, now 32, to become an unrestricted free agent and he signed a 5-year, $40 million contract (with $15 million guaranteed) with the Seattle Seahawks. The Bengals almost immediately turned to Plan B and inked Coles to a 4-year, $28 million deal with $10 million guaranteed. So, the money wasn't all that different in NFL terms.
Cincinnati should have slapped the franchise tag on Houshmandzadeh (it would have cost them about $10 million for one year, the same amount of loot they wasted on Coles), but inexplicably instead chose to use it on kicker Shank Graham. (Oh, his first name is Shayne? My fault. I need to be more clutch with my blogging.)
It's one thing to use the franchise tag on a kicker when you have no other free agents that you want to keep. (It would also help if said kicker was actually good.) However, the Bengals obviously wanted to keep Houshmandzadeh because they ended up offering him basically the same deal the Seahawks offered. However, the damage had been done since the Bengals (sit down for this, you will be shocked ...) low-balled him when negotiations first began. Therefore, even though the money ended up being similar, Housh felt more love from the Seahawks and decided to sign with them.
And it was a lose-lose situation for everyone involved. Well, for everybody except Coles who was one of the most-overpaid players in the NFL last season judging by his production. The Florida State product had just 43 receptions for 514 yards (11.9 yards per catch) and five touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Houshmandzadeh had 79 receptions for 911 yards (11.5) and three TDs, despite the fact that he played for one of the worst teams in the NFL and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was in and out of the lineup all season due to injuries.
In other words, franchising Graham and not Houshmandzadeh was a huge gaffe by the Bengals' front office and it was one of the differences between the team being good and not great in 2009.
Making matters worse, the Bengals are still searching for a No. 2 wideout to compliment Chad Ochocinco and they will either have to find him via free agency or in the draft. I think Andre Caldwell is a decent No. 3 receiver, but folks, he is not a legit No. 2 WR in the NFL. If Caldwell is the No. 2 to start the 2010 season, that means the Bengals had a poor offseason of addressing this very serious need.
As for the draft, I am still holding out hope that the Bengals will somehow luck their way into landing Dez Bryant from Oklahoma State. They certainly aren't savvy enough to trade up a few spots for him - which it what it will likely take - but maybe he will fall in their lap at pick No. 21. However, I find that highly unlikely. Bryant will probably be taken somewhere around picks 11-15 if I had to guess. So, it wouldn't take the Bengals selling the farm to move up to get him, but I still have no faith that their front office would ever be smooth enough to pull off a move like that.
As for unrestricted free agents, there isn't exactly a deep pool to pick from at the WR position. Terrell Owens and Antonio Bryant are the biggest names, but they are both head-cases and Owens will soon be applying for his AARP card. There is also Kevin Walter who the Bengals foolishly let get away four years ago when the Texans signed him to a very-reasonable contract.
So, it will be interesting to see what the Bengals do to improve the WR situation. However, put me in the camp that has zero faith that the front office will push the right buttons.
Oh, and by the way, signing Matt Jones was not the answer. Well, unless the question was, "Name a WR that will probably not even make the Bengals' roster in 2010."
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