Nov 25, 2012; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns defensive end Frostee Rucker (92) during a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Cleveland won 20-14. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Browns have parted ways with former Bengals defensive end Frostee Rucker, who left Cincinnati last offseason after signing a 5-year,  $20.5 million deal to go to their in-state division rivals. The Browns gave Rucker a $5 million signing bonus last March, so they’ll absorb a salary cap hit of around $1.5 million in order to release him. 

Rucker started all 16 games and finished with 48 tackles and four sacks in his one season with the Browns. Rucker made $6 million last season and $2 million of his $2.5 million contract for 2013 would have been guaranteed if he was still on the roster Wednesday. Rucker is the first casualty of the team switching from a 4-3 defensive scheme under new defensive coordinator Ray Horton, who’s expected to run  a 3-4 scheme.

He was the 52nd-rated 4-3 defensive end this season (-9.5), according to Pro Football Focus. Rucker is 29, and will come fairly cheap if the Bengals choose to sign him. In his last season in Cincinnati, he finished with a +5.4 run defense grade, the second-best on the team behind All-Pro Geno Atkins.

Nov 25, 2012; San Diego, CA, USA; Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed (20) against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. The Ravens defeated the Chargers 16-13 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports

While all the talk surrounding the Baltimore Ravens is the impending retirement of future hall-of-fame linebacker Ray Lewis, safety Ed Reed says he’ll be playing next year. It could be the case of Reed simply silencing the media from making this a story, as it would be easy to see Reed hang up his cleats if the Ravens win next Sunday and he is able to ride off into the sunset as a Super Bowl champion.

With Ray Horton leaving the Arizona Cardinals and being brought in as the Cleveland Browns’ new defensive coordinator, a switch to the 3-4 defense will likely occur, One current Brown and former Bengal who this could be bad news for is defensive end Frostee Rucker, who has never played in a 3-4 defense:

I am uncertain of how good a fit Frostee Rucker is for a 3-4 defense.  Rucker has held up well in the run game as a base defensive end in a 4-3 throughout his career, but the double teams he will face in a 3-4 are a different animal.  Rucker’s best fit, position-wise, is undoubtedly as a 5-technique.  Rucker will probably be in the mix with Billy Winn to start at 5-technique, but I give Winn the edge due to the fact that he is much more stout at the point of attack

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Aug 10, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap (96) is tended to by trainers during the game against the New York Jets at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-US PRESSWIRE

At week three, it may be a bit premature to throw in the proverbial striped towel because our pass rush, once thought to be a mauling scenario from AMC’s The Walking Dead, looks more like a middle school flash mob full of transfer students attempting to perform the routine from Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Though it may not feel like it to Bengals fans, every team has there share of problems, and further, most of the time they result from injuries. Truly, the Giants are redefining themselves at wide receiver, and the Patriots’ once touted dual tight-end threat now seems to be partially on ice as they head into a tough one against a Ravens squad that is pock-marked at its usual iron-clad linebacker position. The point is that Super Bowl caliber teams don’t panic – they adjust, which what Defensive Coordinator Mike Zimmer is likely waist-deep in the process of figuring out how to do.

Nonetheless, there is an interesting corollary to apparent ability of the Bengals to get to the quarterback. Since Head Coach Marvin Lewis came to the team in 2003, the Bengals have drafted a defensive end player in every year… except the past two. Granted, Elton Patterson (259th pick in 2003) or Angelo Craig (244th pick in 2008) where seventh rounders who didn’t really pan out, so was Jonathan Fanene (233rd pick in 2005) who certainly seemed to click. Add into that mix home-grown players like veteran Robert Geathers Jr. (117th pick of 2004), Frostee Rucker (91st pick of 2006), Michael Johnson (70th pick of 2009) and Carlos Dunlap (54th pick of 2010); it would seem that the Bengals were trending their picks higher and higher following the tragedy that occurred to David Pollack (17th pick of 2005) in the second game of his NFL career.

Interestingly, Pollack was the only first round defensive end drafted after “The Lost Decade” and the appearance of Coach Lewis. During that time the Bengals drafted several first rounder busts such as John Copeland (5th pick of 1993), Reinard Wilson (14th pick of 1997), and Justin Smith (4th pick of 2001) who while a mediocre defensive end at best is less know for being a waste of a forth overall pick and should be more recognized was the player whose franchising lead to the Bengals being unable to sign Eric Steinbach.

Back to present, it could be argued that Dontay Moch (66th pick of 2011) was drafted as a hybrid linebacker-defensive end, in which case Coach Lewis’s first year of not selecting a pass-rush threat would have been this past draft. It was obviously a calculated decision as former first rounders Jamaal Anderson and Derrick Harvey were acquired very quickly in early free agency to offset. However, with Harvey being released in final roster cuts and Anderson recently placed on the IR list, it seems very logical that the Bengals will look to draft a new pass rush threat with either one of their two second round picks or possibly as late as round three.

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