NFL Free Agency: Options The Bengals Should Explore

Free Agency is a tool that teams can use to immediately become Super Bowl contenders. The Bengals could go after some of these top players to put themselves in the hunt for 2017.

Be on the lookout for big names this free agency. Evaluating talent in the NFL Draft is a hefty process for scouts and coaches. Bengals fans can choose their favorites that they have watched on television and determine whether or not they would like to have them on their team. The truth is, free agency is where teams can make the most noise. We are all not the Dallas Cowboys. Finding two guys like Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott in the draft doesn’t happen often. What does happen, is players finish out their current deals with non-contender teams, and essentially venture out to find new teams in which they believe can give them a ring.

In a perfect world

The Cincinnati Bengals have a few free agents this offseason, most of which we would love to re-sign. Andrew Whitworth, Dre Kirkpatrick, Kevin Zeitler, and Rex Burkhead are some names that come to mind. In a perfect world, we would be able to sign these players, along with one or two other big name free agents and immediately become contenders. Yeah, there’s math involved. Contracts and salary caps would play a huge part in these possibilities, but, again, this is in a perfect world.

The list goes on

The problems and bad luck really stacked up on the Bengals this season. Injuries and inconsistent scoring could be the difference in winning 6 games and 12 games. The Bengals had lost their last 5 games by a total of 16 points. By the looks of that, we need to add a scoring threat to the healthy version of the Cincinnati offense.

Here’s a list of 5 players that would help the Bengals out in becoming immediate contenders at the start of the 2017 season, barring another injury fiasco and the ability to re-sign 3 of the 4 players mentioned above.