Bengals Fans Vote on Free Agency, the Draft, and More

Recently, we polled Cincinnati Bengals fans to get their thoughts on the upcoming free agency period, 2020 draft, and more.

As the Cincinnati Bengals attempt to right the ship after a 2-14 season, decision-makers are faced with numerous routes to take. In an ever-important off-season, the front office will need to push the right buttons to ensure the future of the franchise is bright.

We took to Twitter to get Bengals fan’s opinions on how they would approach the player-acquisition period if they were in the driver’s seat. The two big topics probed were free agency and the draft.

In addition, we brought questions surrounding some of the all-time greatest players to ever suit up in stripes.

First up, we asked which prospect fans would love to fall to the Bengals in the second round the most: Grant Delpit, Josh Jones, Kenneth Murray, or Patrick Queen. To no surprise, Stripe Hype readers chose the speedy linebacker out of LSU, who earned 44.8% of the vote. His range and coverage ability would be a shot in the arm for a linebacker unit that has struggled in recent years.

Next, the spotlight was turned to free agency. After Duke Tobin made statements at the combine suggesting the team would be more active during this period than history suggests, the question of what position fans wanted to see addressed most came to the forefront. Between linebacker, tackle, guard, and “other”, the backers won out, earning 57.5% of the vote.

Now that the fanbase’s voice was heard in regard to the position they wanted to attack most, it was time to put that notion to test. When presented with some big names set to hit the market, fans seemed to like the talent in the offensive trenches more by a small margin. Guard Joe Thuney won the vote at 34.3%, followed by linebacker Cory Littleton, tackle Jack Conklin, and guard Brandon Scherff.

With the draft and free agency now decided, the focus shifted to some of the best players to ever suit up for the Queen City. Recently, the hall-of-fame has become a hotly debated topic among Bengals faithful. So, the question was posed: if you could bring back one former great in their prime for the 2020 season only, who would you pick between Anthony Munoz, Chad Johnson, Willie Anderson, and Ken Anderson. Not surprisingly, the greatest player in team history won out, earning a commanding 66.7% of the vote.

One crop of all-time greats up, one more to go. Who would fans want back between Ken Riley, Andrew Whitworth, Boomer Esiason, and Isaac Curtis? Again, the vote swung towards the tackle position, as one of the greatest leaders in team history won the vote at 64.2%. Although the Bengals couldn’t bring him back in his prime, Whitworth is still in the league and available in free agency this off-season.