I want to revisit something that occurred at the beginning of free agency because I think a lot of Bengals fans overlooked it. That would be the signing of Vonn Bell. Bell came to us from the Saints where he was a significant contributor to their defense. It was a sad day in New Orleans when the Saints didn’t pay him his value and he walked so quickly into the arms of Duke Tobin.
What are we getting with Vonn Bell? He is an in-the-box tackler who is great on the blitz but also stops the run. He is not a interception guy but he is going to really help with that run game leak that was so prevalent last year. I see a theme with this defense, stop the run and force them to throw into our revamped secondary and face the crazy front-line blitz. Back to Vonn Bell…
In 2017 he recorded 4.5 sacks and was second in the league for safeties. He has a total of 8 sacks in 4 years for a position that doesn’t get those kind of stats. The other special number is 7 forced fumbles. This guy creates turnovers and turnovers win the day. He is a top 5 safety in tackles which means he shows up and makes stops where linebackers are unable to or cannot based on assignments. Teams like Dallas, Miami and Tampa Bay were rumored to have interest in him because they needed help at safety.
The guys at Canal Street Chronicles, a Saints blog, estimated that Bell would get $6.25-8M per year in FA. Yes that is a big range but the safety market fluctuates a lot. Instead we signed Bell for 3 years at $6M per year. Based on that it sounds like we got a steal. Not only that Bell is young and will finish this contract when he is 29 so clearly he was looking for a three year deal so that he can get one more big contract. This hopefully means that Bell is going to be laser focused to get some stats to make that paycheck as meaty as possible.
Vonn Bell might not be the great Ed Reed or Troy Polamalu but he is a top-tier safety. He is replacing an average guy in Shawn Williams who I think most fans would say wasn’t terrible or our biggest hole on the defense. This gives the Bengals the ability to play a three-safety looks sometimes or allow Williams to play deep while Bell moves into the box as a linebacker. Want to stop Lamar Jackson? This might be the recipe.
So much happened after this early signing that I wanted to make sure the guy got his tribute. Reader blew my mind and the flurry of corners had me pee my pants. Then came the draft and Burrow, Higgins and Wilson stole my heart and attention. So welcome Mr. Bell, you are going to look great in stripes and be a dominant force on this defense.