Bengals seem a little defensive about Bobby Hart criticism

[Who Dey]

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Many people were skeptical when the Bengals signed Bobby Hart off the scrap heap, and he ended up starting all 16 games for them last year.

Many more people were skeptical when the Bengals signed Hart to a three-year, $21 million contract in free agency.

But Bengals vice president Tory Blackburn defended the move, or at least the move in context of the market.

“For those who say you shouldn’t have signed Bobby Hart, who is going to play right tackle?” Blackburn said. “Who? Oh, maybe you’ll draft one in the third round and he’ll come on. Really? You’re going to bet your season on that? We may still draft somebody. We haven’t had the draft yet. But you just can’t criticize. In our business you have to solve the problem. If you’re not going to play him, tell me who? Trent Brown at 17 million? Really? A seventh-round draft pick? Let go essentially by his team. Really? We can’t go to WalMart and buy off the shelf. A high quality starting right tackle? That doesn’t exist [in free agency].

“You have to deal in the universe of options you have. We ended up signing eight guys. That’s probably above average. Were they perfect? You’re not going to get perfect. . . . There aren’t perfect options out there. We asked Willie Anderson if he could go to a time machine and come back at age 25. We’d love to sign him, but you have to deal in your universe of options. I think the data would say we signed more guys than most in line with the cap that we talked about. If there are surprises out there we’ll try to be flexible and aggressive, but normally there are no surprises out there.”

There’s a lot to unpack there, beginning with how absurdly defensive Blackburn sounds (Terrell later noted that’s just how he talks).

He’s not the only one to raise an eyebrow at the Raiders signing Brown to a four-year $66 million contract. The year before, the 49ers basically gave him away for 48 spots in draft order (they got New England’s third rounder, which they used on safety Tarvarius Moore, and sent their fifth-rounder back to the Patriots. Also, the Patriots will probably get a third-round comp pick next year for letting him walk). But the Raiders had to have him, as the move was the first one announced, minutes into the legal tampering period.

There’s a difference between not doing a big bad deal, and spending less but still overpaying for a known commodity. Being a reliable Bengals offensive lineman isn’t the same as being good, and they seemed to pay a premium for a guy they had familiarity with. And the fact Blackburn had to go to such great lengths to defend the deal probably isn’t a good sign.