xan

Both are out there, which do you go after? Can we sign either?

BJSim

Bentley is younger and better, he also hasn't had major surgery in the last 12 months. But can we retain him? I doubt it, I think the Eagles will aggresively go after him, and our FO is too cheap to pony up. Mawae would do as a replacement, but not my first choice.

mvtrucking

I would prefer Kevin Mawae come back home and play out his career. (I believe he still has a couple of solid years left in the tank) Bentley shouldn't let the door hit him on the way out....

saintswhodi

I would prefer NOT to have to be forced into Mawae. He is 35 and missed 10 game slast year with a triceps injury. If he is dirt cheap, then yes i'd take him for a year, and that's it. But It hink we coudl survive with Jacox at center for a season. Looks like no way we keep Bentley, so really it's do we want Mawae or Jacox. Neither IMO is a very exciting prospect, like Is aid, unless Mawae is dirt cheap. I hope there is some way we could end up with Mangold in the draft,

GoldRush26

Bentley's the best choice. Not only is he the best available, but he's on our team already and the rest of the team has chemistry with him already. I think those of you that think he can be "easily replaced" haven't had an opportunity to play organized team sports on at least the high school level. It's not just a plug and go system.

You look at any good offensive line and tell me if they give up their best players. Denver? Seattle? New England? We could keep Bentley and move him back to guard and STILL get Manigold. I thought we were trying to get better, not stagnate or regress.

papz

Bentley may be the best choice, but if you think logically, dishing out large dollars for a center does not make sense. You talk about chemisty and I'm sitting here laughing. What chemistry... did you see something I didn't see last season? Hell Aaron Brooks has 5 years of "chemistry" with the team and it's not getting us anywhere. Joe Johnson has tons of chemistry with the team and he was let go... and easily replaced. I didn't play high school football, but I played varsity baseball, tennis, and also ran track. There is no "I' in team and anyone is replaceable.

You shouldn't have brought up N.E. Look at the OL that they've lost in free agency the past couple of seasons and see who they plugged in... rookies and inexperienced players. And didn't Denver let their LT go a couple of years ago and plugged in their rookie George Foster or something like that?

CheramieIII

I agree with the dirt cheap statement Whodi. I think we could get both Mawae for 1 year dirt cheap and still draft Mangold at #34. Let him learn from someone with alot of experience and Mangold will be better than Bentley in a year.

GoldRush26

(sigh)

OK but you're missing the point. Bentley is/was our best player on the line. You don't get rid of the best player by far on the line and expect to get better. Now we're bringing in a rookie QB and anchoring our line is a second year RT with false start issues. O-line relies more on chemistry than any other part of the football team, and you build from the inside out. You don't get better unless you more or less keep the same group together for a while. We should be letting people like Stinchcomb go before Bentley. Furthermore, Bentley was regarded as a good teammate, which is not the norm with this organization. It's completely backwards with this team.

The only reason they can't keep him is because the team royaly fudged this whole thing with Bentley up last year, not because they don't think he's worth the money he's asking. He should've been signed before Horn and probably Deuce too. D. Howard getting that franchise tag didn't help either.

How can you compare AB and Joe Johnson to Bentley?? I don't get how it relates to this.

And my point was that N.E. and Denver don't get rid of their best players and get better.

dulplay

Neither. It doesn't seem like LeCharles or the organization is worried about him staying here... from what we've heard. I think he's looking to cash in, and unless we put up some serious dollars he'll be heading off, ann that might not even keep him here for all we know. Isn't this draft supposed to be deep at the G position?

SuJaguar00

It amazes me that people want to use a 2nd round pick on a center. I know we will eventually have a hole there with Bentley leaving but a 2nd? I say we sign a veteran like Jeff Hartings from the Steelers if they let him go or draft a center with our 4th round pick. To echo the sentiments of another post on the site, it has been proven that you can find good linemen in the later rounds. We can't keep using our top draft choices on offensive players and ignore a defense, that will getting better, still lacks playmakers at the LB and DT position.