It turns out that fantasy football guru Matthew Berry is pretty well plugged-in, because he correctly called that the Cincinnati Bengals would lose out on free-agent defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers.
Berry's buzz from the NFL Scouting Combine pointed to the Tennessee Titans as Franklin-Myers' landing spot in free agency. Welp, the Titans followed through on that to score the best interior pass rusher on the open market, agreeing to terms on a contract during Monday's tampering window.
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that Franklin-Myers signed on the dotted line for three years and $63 million, including $42 million guaranteed. Quite the steep cost.
It speaks volumes that a defensive line specialist like Titans head coach Robert Saleh signed off on paying so much for Franklin-Myers' services. IT also speaks volumes about how little the Bengals' front office has actually changed amid this pivotal offseason.
Bengals predictably left in the dust in John Franklin-Myers sweepstakes
NBC 5 Cincinnati's Charlie Clifford reported before Franklin-Myers signed that the Bengals were "among the teams seriously pursuing" him.
There wasn't a single free agent I stumped for harder than Franklin-Myers, dating all the way back to the NFL trade deadline. Alas, my mock offseason is up in flames, and Cincinnati's interior pass rushing problem appears to be an issue that won't go away any time soon.
What made JFM so appealing is his ability to rush the passer as a defensive tackle or as a base defensive end. He aligned often as a 3-4 base front 3-technique defender in Denver the last two years, and racked up 14.5 sacks in that span.
This is nothing short of devastating for the Bengals. Their free-agent targets are drying up fast. The discount version of Franklin-Myers with similar inside-out versatility, Dre'Mont Jones, is set to jump ship from Baltimore to the reigning AFC champion New England Patriots.
So yeah. My two most coveted defensive line targets for Cincinnati are off the board. One goes from an AFC North rival to the team that just played in a Super Bowl under Mike Vrabel. Pretty good defensive mind between those ears, too. Franklin-Myers hurts a little extra, because he was literally the No. 1 "big board" player for the Bengals in free agency.
Not that I can put the blown chance at signing Franklin-Myers 100% on Duke Tobin. He can only go so far as ownership is willing to pay. Nevertheless, he's the man who wears it when personnel decisions haunt Cincinnati. Missing out on Franklin-Myers is sure to prove to be another one of those.
I feel OK leading with Tobin's name, too, because he's held his post since 1999. Surely he'd have built enough goodwill by now to get the Bengals to change their ways if he wanted to. Instead, he's more worried about keeping his job, a post he's held since 1999. That's right. Bill Clinton was still president back then.
We'll see what else is in store...