In alarming fashion, the Cincinnati Bengals were extremely quiet during the first real day of the 2024 free agency market. While opportunities many anticipated the franchise to leap at quickly passed them by, the team made it late into the evening before they made much of a splash aside from the renewed contracts of their third string tight end and their third string running back. Finally, the team decided to make a move that would at least give their fans a chance to exhale.
Cincinnati Bengals Bring in Role Player from Division Rival
After hours of letting their fans stir in a worrying state of inactivity, Cincinnati finally pulled the trigger on Baltimore Ravens free safety Geno Stone. Stone was selected in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft and had mostly served as a role player for Baltimore in late-game situations. This past season, Stone took advantage of an injury to starting safety Marcus Williams and exhibited a career year with 68 tackles, seven interceptions and nine passes defensed.
Stone will come in on an incredibly team-friendly two-year contract worth up to $14 million. In reality, the contract is only for one season with $6 million guaranteed with an option for a second season. With several gaping holes still present on the team, it is cause for worry that the only outside contract that the team has given so far is a boom-or-bust deal to a low profile safety particularly given the history.
Let me paint a quick picture of Cincinnati’s new addition: a safety selected in the third day of the draft that didn’t play particularly well except for one season where they managed to fit the system well enough to have a statistical output. Does that sound familiar? It should because that is exactly how the team landed safety Nick Scott from the Los Angeles Rams last season. After putting together an atrocious season, virtually everyone agrees that Scott was a completely disastrous signing and now, one year later, Cincinnati signs another player with virtually the same resume.
First off, we need to take a look at the attributes that Stone brings to the table. He is a true center fielder and his ability to defend at the line of scrimmage is virtually nonexistent. His Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades back that up after he received an abysmal rush defense grade of 33.1. The only upside for Stone is that his coverage grade was 84.9 (which is good enough for 7th in the NFL).
The biggest concern though is that PFF has a major flaw where they overvalue turnovers. Interceptions are incredibly important but there is some truth that sometimes, a player is just lucky. Take a look at the highlights of Stone as seen on Youtube:
Virtually all of his interceptions came against failed Hail Mary attempts when the Ravens already had a sizable lead. Most of them were dramatically off target as well where they were almost thrown directly to Stone. I’m not saying that Stone is a bad player by any stretch but seven interceptions isn’t nearly as impressive when most of the time you are essentially fielding punts. Now I hope that Cincinnati finds themselves in similar positions where they are up 35-0 against a playoff team like Detroit but in reality, I don’t think Stone is making or breaking a game like that.
The reality is that Cincinnati still doesn’t have a legitimate starting option at right tackle or nose tackle. There were plenty of legitimate options at both of those positions that went off the board for suitable salaries to what Cincinnati would be looking for. What does Cincinnati do though? They sign what essentially boils down to a backup safety when the team already has a first round pick in Dax Hill and a top 10 player in Jordan Battle.
As a fan, I am truly alarmed at the level of inactivity and lack of legitimate priorities by the front office on the first true day of the free agency market.
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