John Sheeran talks about two of the big moves in the NFL last week, with 2 elite defensive backs being added to the AFC North. This is a clear sign of respect towards Joe Burrow and the Bengals.
00:00Another big-time name at cornerback has joined the AFC North this week, and in this video, I'll explain how it's the ultimate compliment for the Bengals.
00:10Hi again, Bengals fans. John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here, and the Bengals are actually right where they should want to be.
00:17And I'm not necessarily talking about philosophy here, or the way that they construct the roster, or the way that they handle business,
00:24but how the NFL as a whole, and specifically the AFC North views them, is how they should want to be perceived.
00:31In the most simplistic terms, they are still viewed as a threat. It doesn't matter that they haven't been to the playoffs in two years.
00:37The fact that they have Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, and Tee Higgins going out there on offense for 17 weeks of the season, it terrifies pretty much everyone in the NFL.
00:46So it should come as no surprise that over the last two weeks, two of their own division rivals have added former All-Pro cornerbacks to combat this very strength of theirs.
00:55First, it was the Baltimore Ravens signing Jair Alexander, reuniting him with Lamar Jackson from back in their Louisville days.
01:01And then this week, it was the Pittsburgh Steelers shocking everyone, not necessarily trading for Jalen Ramsey,
01:06but trading him in exchange for Mika Fitzpatrick to go back to the Miami Dolphins.
01:10There was a time a handful of years ago where Alexander and Ramsey were two of the very best cornerbacks in the entire NFL.
01:15Of course, that was before Jamar Chase was either in the league or as good as he is now, and that was probably when Tee Higgins was still a rookie.
01:21But nonetheless, these guys balled out earlier in their careers.
01:25Of course, the Ravens are hoping that Alexander stays on the field, as injuries have been the biggest problem with his career in the last handful of years,
01:30and it's what has taken him away from that All-Pro form a handful of years ago.
01:34And the Steelers envisioned using Ramsey in different ways instead of being a pure boundary cornerback,
01:38which he probably can't handle for a full season at 30 years old.
01:41But nonetheless, these are two very splashy moves for these teams,
01:44and it's hard not to think about the Bengals' implications in all of this.
01:48These are moves that indicate that the two serious players for this division outside of the Bengals still take the Bengals extremely seriously.
01:54And again, if you're the Bengals, you want to be in that position where other teams make moves in correspondence to who you are.
02:01And more importantly, you want the players in your own locker room to relish that.
02:05And of course, when star cornerbacks enter the division, it's going to be Jamar Chase who takes on that challenge up front.
02:10It sounds like he's very excited about both of them.
02:12That right there, that is exactly what you want to see, whether you're a fan of the team, whether you're a part of the team,
02:17whether you run the team, you want your players to embrace new challenges.
02:22And specifically for those running the team, you should want these guys to be best equipped to taking on these challenges.
02:28And I'm not saying the Bengals should have traded for Jalen Ramsey or signed Jair Alexander,
02:31but the Ravens and Steelers had issues and deficiencies in the secondary and they needed to combat the Bengals wide receivers and just in general wide receivers from around the league.
02:39The Bengals still have a clear deficiency at guard.
02:42And it's the one area of weakness that other teams in the AFC North can take advantage of.
02:45And they haven't done enough to counter that.
02:47And they are in the exact position to do so and make it count.
02:50The NFL is slowly but surely formed into this arms race where other superpowers of the league are trying to load up as much as possible.
02:57And when you find yourself as an adversary that other teams are doing whatever they can to make sure they can best combat you,
03:03you need to step up and match that aggressiveness.
03:05Because if teams aren't deliberately tweaking and adding to the rosters in order to combat you,
03:09then you're not in a position to actually compete.
03:11But the Bengals are and they just need to take that next step to make sure that the Steelers and Ravens don't actually overtop them for good.
03:18It hasn't happened yet, it's only been two years, but the Ravens are going for a 3P right now.
03:22And the Steelers are trying to go all in with the last year of Aaron Rodgers.
03:24If the Bengals are actually done making moves,
03:26then they need to make sure that all the efforts that Baltimore-Pittsburgh put in this offseason were for nothing.
