Backup strategy
If Burfict’s suspension stands, the Bengals could again turn to Rey, who’s experienced in the replacement role.
Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict’s five-game suspension comes with both troubling and calming notions for a team who has been through this before.
Assuming the suspension is not overturned at an appeal hearing today, it will be the third year in a row the Bengals will open the season without their best player on defense. So it’s not as though head coach Marvin Lewis and defensive coordinator Paul Guenther are scrambling to put together a Plan B.
Vinny Rey, who like Burfict entered the league as an undrafted free agent, is in his seventh season with the Bengals. He’s appeared in 98 games, which is the ninth-most on the team, and nine of his 37 starts have come when the Bengals had to open the season without Burfict.
Rey started the first six games in 2015, when Burfict was on the physically unable to perform list while recovering from microfracture surgery. Rey had a clinching interception against San Diego in Week 2, and he recorded 15 tackles (a team high for the season) in a Week 4
triumph of Kansas City, followed by 13 stops the following week in an overtime win against Seattle as the Bengals started 8-0. Rey also started the first three games last year
while Burfict was suspended for three games following the hit on Pittsburgh wide receiver Antonio Brown in a January 2016 playoff game.
Burfict’s latest suspension is the result of an illegal hit against Kansas City fullback Anthony Sherman on Aug. 19.
Burfict hit Sherman while the fullback was in a defenseless posture, violating a new rule
put in place to protect players who cannot protect themselves. Sherman was a yard beyond the line of scrimmage when Burfict hit him as Kansas City quarterback Alex Smith threw down the middle.
The Bengals released a statement shortly after arriving home from their 23-17 loss at Washington on Sunday, in which they said they believe the hit was legal and confirmed that Burfict will appeal the suspension:
“The Bengals are aware of the NFL’s letter to Vontaze regarding a play in last weekend’s game,” the statement reads. “The film shows that the hit was legal, that Vontaze engaged his opponent from the front, and that contact was shoulder-to-chest. The Club will support Vontaze in the appeal process.”
Burfict told the team website he is optimistic the suspension will be reduced.
“I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for the best,” Burfict said. “I feel like I’ve let down my teammates, but I also feel like I’ve done a good job with this. I only had one personal foul last year. We feel like this was a legal hit. I hit him in the shoulder. I hit hard, so it may have looked like I hit him in the head, but it was the shoulder. I helped him up and he said he was good and I asked if he was good on the next series and he said, ‘Yeah, that was a legal hit.’”
If this suspension is upheld, Burfict will miss home games against Balti- more and Houston, road games at Green Bay and Cleveland and a home game against Buffalo. The bye week follows, so his first game back would be Oct. 22 at Pittsburgh.
The Bengals already will be without cornerback Adam Jones for the season opener against the Ravens after he was suspended one game for his actions during his Jan. 3 arrest.
In addition to starting for Burfict in the base defense, look for Rey to fill his spot alongside Nick Vigil in the nickel package.
The bigger question will be who replaces Burfict on the back end when the team has to announce its 53-man roster by 4 p.m. Saturday.
The expectation is that the Bengals will keep six linebackers, with Rey, Vigil, Kevin Minter and fourthround rookie Carl Lawson all locks. Sixth-round rookie Jordan Evans, who was a solid bet before the Burfict suspension, becomes close to a lock.
That leaves one spot for either Marquis Flowers, P.J. Dawson, Bryson Albright, Hardy Nickerson or Brandon Bell.
Nickerson and Bell, both undrafted rookies, have been impressive in the preseason. But Nickerson is hurt, as is Dawson.
Flowers has primarily been limited to special teams play since the Bengals took him in the fifth round in 2014, and he’s listed as Burfict’s backup on the depth chart. But Bell is the better bet to earn the final spot.
He entered the preseason games ahead of Flowers and had nearly twice as many snaps (27 to 14) in Sunday’s dress rehearsal game at Washington.
Albright only played on special teams against the Redskins.