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That's not smoke. That's a very clear message: All had a major/scary issue, and the UM medical staff wanted to control it and it seems recommended a course of action that All disagreed with. What the Dr. above is suggesting is that UM didn't give him a lot of choice. The specific mention of "ego" has Harbaugh all over it, I'd say. But regardless, Alt wanted to do something that was almost certainly regarded as riskier, and also may have been rejected by UM medical staff and or All's student/athlete health insurance. But he took the route that he thought would give him a chance to play, and it turns out to have been a smashing success. Trust was broken or bridges were burnt or however you want to say it, however, and so All transferred. Am I the only one that thinks that's pretty clear?

Agree, but even though Wilson and Pratt are better at defending the pass than the run, they both took a step backward last season. I honestly think that when Burrow is down and out, it affects every area of the team in a negative way. Maybe it shouldn't, but it does. The defense is built with the expectation that a healthy Burrow will be keep the points coming, which means the opposing offenses need to score a lot too. That usually means passing and pushing the down the field to keep up. But when Burrow is out or so hobbled that he's basically a statue, then opponents play more conservatively because there's not a desperate need to score quickly and often.

In the not-too-distant future: NFL Proposes Adding 2 More Weeks to Calendar for 54 Game Season

^ Boyd might have been worth bringing back at only 4.5 million. I think that shows Zac wanted to move on to a guy with 0 drops last season instead (Burton).

Adding Vonn back to get everyone lined up properly should be a big help. Not to mention that he can do something Nick Scott struggled with: tackle the guy with the ball.

AI is just a tool, it's only as good as the person that's controlling it.

I generally don't give much thought to your contributions in this area of the forum, mostly because it's painfully obvious that you are profoundly stupid when it comes to politics. You are also a bloodthirsty little shit, too, as evidenced by your comments at the beginning of October. Saying inane things does not really add to the conversation, it just demonstrates that you are too lazy to actually RTFA, you nascent fascist.

I'm not buying it. The Bengals, under their current management, including their business philosophy and practices, are a competitive team. If one doesn't like that, okay. Speaking for myself, I actually like the fiscal prudence of the Bengals. Always have, even when they sucked donkey balls. Now that they have got some wise football minds in the house, I'm absolutely content to allow these guys to steer their ship without any back-biting from me. I'm enjoying the ride. I encourage you to do the same.

I wish him a speedy recover from his injury

If the Titans want to pay 8 million a year for drops at key moments, who are we to stop them?

So many places (jokes aside I think about 3/5 of your list are possibilities)

Figuring out 53 man rosters are good offseason fun for beat writers and fans But with the 16 man practice squad rosters as well as some lax rules on how they can be utilized, the opening day 53 man roster has become less important than ever. Poaching players off of a team's roster happens less frequently now than ever before. Teams can sort of build something like a minor league team of their own practice squad players who already know the system and the plays already in place. I think we have reached a point where teams build their rosters around what players figure to be among the 48 active on gameday, with most of the non-starters having specific special teams roles to play. So all of this makes how many players at a certain position less important. Even if it seems that a team has too many or too few players at certain positions on the 53 man roster, it can make perfect sense if you look at the 48 man active gameday roster. If you only have 3 RBs on the 53 man roster, that can still be enough if all of them are gameday actives. If you have 10 or more OL on the 53 man roster, maybe only 8 of them are gameday actives so that isn't too many at all. I just think the bottom of the 53 man roster should go to the most deserving players coming out of training camp, almost regardless of position. You can go heavy here or light there, if you have enough backup options on the 16 man practice squad roster. You can easily go get these players whenever you need them (and over the course of a long season you likely will).

Allright I get your point to a degree but in all actuality who gives a fuck what the Falcons do? Maybe move on now or we could dissect the Panthers next..😎

Totally agree, "B" as in "basic". That was some fine corpo nothing-speak justification from Elizabeth though! Really leveraged their synergies moving forward.

Putting the "B" at midfield is pretty bland. A tiger would have been better.

LT Hill 25 Carter 26 Jackson 28 Davis RT Rankins 26 Jenkins 28 Tufele 25 Bell 25 Maxwell 26 This should be an absolute battle for the 5th spot. Carter-Tufele-Bell-Davis and Maxwell all have positives. Adding Rankins-Jenkins and Jackson will probably make this unit much better than last year despite the loss of Reader.

First of all Steve Young didn’t become the full time starter in San Fran until he was 30. His 7 straight pro-bowls were from age 31-37 and that was before modern cutting edge training existed. Second, Cousins is coming off a ruptured Achilles at age 35. Is there any history of a slow to begin with QB returning to form after an Achilles injury or any player for that matter? ”But SF2, why did they sign him? That was stupid.” Easy, their QB play has been utter shit for the last 4 seasons. Held on to Ryan too long and Mariota and Ridder? They were HORRIBLE. What other decent QB was out there? And starting a rookie day one isnt a good idea in today’s game. Stroud is unicorn. Burrow, Bryce Young, Lawrence, Fields is more typical. You MUST have very good to great QB play or there is no way you do shit it this league anymore. Cousins costs $100 mil for 2 years or $135 mil for 3. Cap doesn’t matter because you have his replacement on a rookie deal. Better to spin the roulette wheel twice betting on Red. We are lucky Browning turned out to be a very good backup. What was it, 66 different QBs started last year?

QB Burrow 29 Browning 26 2 Lombardi 27 1 RB Moss 26 Brown 27 Williams 25 3 Free Agent 1 WR Chase 26 Irwin 25 2 Burgess 27 1 WR Higgins 25 Iosivas 27 2 Jackson 1 WR Burton 28 Jones 27 2 Lassiter 1 TE Gesicki 25 Sample 27 All 28 McClachlan 28 4 Pryor 1 LT Brown 27 1 Hudson 25 1 LG Volson 26 Ford 25 2 C Karras 25 Lee 28 2 RG Cappa 26 Hill 25 2 Kirkland 1 RT Brown 25 Mims 29 2 Light at RB with an eye on adding the top released rookie/2nd year guy to practice squad or depth. Keeping McClachlan over Hudson due to contract length and age. Love to keep Hudson around. 4 WRs on PS is a bit much but all are talented with upside for a position in transition in 2025. Only 9 lineman with versatility from Brown-Ford and Hill. Excited to see Smith and Carman finally gone. Would want a tackle with upside don't the practice squad. Maybe a C. K McPherson 25 1 P McNamara 27 1 Robbins 27 1 LS Adomitis 25 1 Punting battle extends into season with the other punter on the ps. LE Hubbard 26 Sample 25 Ossai 25 3 Gunter 1 LT Hill 25 Jackson 28 2 Davis 1 RT Rankins 26 Jenkins 28 2 Maxwell 26 1 RE Hendrickson 26 Murphy 27 Johnson 28 3 Bell 25 1 WLB Pratt 26 Davis-Gaither 25 2 MLB Wilson 28 Bachie 25 Harper 26 3 Casey 27 1 SLB S Bell 25 Battle 27 2 S Stone 26 Anthony 28 Anderson 26 3 CB Taylor-Britt 26 Newton 28 2 CB Turner 27 Ivey 27 2 George 1 NB Hilton 25 Hill 27 2 Davis 25 1 53 16 Not wanting to lose Johnson for next year when Sample, Ossai and maybe Hendrickson are gone I kept 6 DEs and 4 DTs. Loaded the PS with DTs. On the face of it the battle at LB seems to be Casey and Harper but it's probably Casey and Bachie. Might actually be less likely to lose Bachie if we cut him considering he didn't have suitors in FA. Anthony and Hill are S/Nickel/CB tweeners. I'd think they would give Hill a chance at outside corner first. Davis is a difficult release. He's 28 already though. Injuries to Ivey and All might save Davis and Hudson Thin at backup OL. Try to extend for a year or more: Karras, Hilton, Brown, Hill, McPherson, Higgins, Bell. Karras and McPherson most important due to lack of depth. I'd bet McPherson will be back long term. Karras and Hilton extended 1 season. If you look at who would be available for 2025 QB Burrow 29 Browning 26 2 Lombardi 27 1 RB Moss 26 Brown 27 3 Free Agent 1 WR Chase 26 Iosivas 27 2 Burgess 27 1 WR Burton 28 2 Jackson 1 WR Jones 27 2 Lassiter 1 TE All 28 Sample 27 McClachlan 28 4 Pryor 1 LT Brown 27 1 Hudson 25 1 LG Volson 26 2 C Karras 25 Lee 28 2 RG Cappa 26 2 Kirkland 1 RT Mims 29 2 K McPherson 25 1 P McNamara 27 1 Robbins 27 1 LS Adomitis 25 1 LE Hubbard 26 Johnson 28 3 Gunter 1 LT Jenkins 28 Jackson 28 2 Davis 1 RT Rankins 26 2 Maxwell 26 1 RE Hendrickson 26 Murphy 27 3 Bell 25 1 WLB Pratt 26 Harper 26 2 MLB Wilson 28 3 Casey 27 1 SLB S Battle 27 Bell 25 Anderson 26 2 S Stone 26 Anthony 28 3 CB Taylor-Britt 26 Newton 28 2 CB Turner 27 Ivey 27 2 George 1 NB Hilton 25 Hill 27 2 Davis 25 1 53 16

Random thoughts on the flurry of recent tweets ... - Burrow is a machine. Looks great with the added muscle. I'm surprised to see coaches throwing the ball at his legs though this early. I also wonder if Zac should dial Burrow back a little bit. There's no rush to going full speed this early in the off season. We need Joe until February, so an off day here and there to let Browning get in some work won't hurt. - Rankins as their top free agent needs to be there. Hope he has a good reason for missing. - As for Trey and Tee, I'm sure both will pout and report as late as possible. As for Chase, he may be signalling that he wants his extension before coming in. If so, they need to get it done. - I'm excited for the rookies to show up on Friday. Particularly to see Burton and All run routes and to see how big Mims looks out there. - I think Gesicki is going to flourish in this offense and hope the team gives him a year 1 extension before the season even starts. Or else he will go to a pro bowl and leave next off season like the other TEs have.

If they had signed Becton, chances are they would not have drafter Mims. Personally, I'm thrilled with the way it turned out. Mims > Becton. Plus, with the way the draft cookie crumbled, I am also thrilled with our second and third round picks.

Becton hasn’t been healthy much before last year. He missed time as a rookie and played in only 1 game in 2021-2022. He also played poorly last year when healthy, allowing 12 sacks, 31 hurries, 47 total pressures, and committing 12 penalties. Dude has been a BUST.

Sorry to piss on the parade but I'm a little tired of hearing about how well he rehabs injuries. On a more positive note Gesicki is a big target that seems to move well. Noticeably less wasted movement than the last few we've seen at TE, he catches the ball in stride more like a WR. He doesn't break a lot of tackles but JB could throw this guy into some open field.

... Half the men in Cincinnati are going to be calling their cardiologist in 4 hours 😳

Heading to the bathroom right quick. BRB.

Trent Brown at 4.5 mill is a much better deal than Becton at 5.5 as he's a better player and cheaper. Plus he will make a better mentor for Mims than Becton would have. If Becton was signed, Mims likely starts week 1. But now he can take some time to learn from an experienced guy with lots to teach him.

Plus Mims would have beaten him out in training camp and this fool would have just been an overpaid backup.

Top Secret: In a 2018 letter, Netanyahu asks Qatar to fund Hamas Gaza’s collapsing health system is one of the goals of Israel’s genocide Ecocide: Israel's systematic destruction of Palestinian agriculture revealed Netanyahu is blinded by rage and damaging long term relationships and support with reckless actions Both Romney and Blinken take for granted that “we” should be doing Israel’s “PR.” This is the queue of humanitarian aid trucks stuck on the Egyptian side of the Gaza border Rough Weather Forces US to Delay Opening of Gaza Aid Pier

Six wins??? We won 9 with Browning as our QB and a hobbled Burrow in a first place schedule

^ Burrow's wrist is holding that cup fine. LFG!

I read they'd reduce concussion by 20% or more if everyone was wearing them. So, in the interest of player safety, the NFL will allow players to wear them if they really want to.. Of course, they could mandate it, and manufacture helmets with logos that look OK instead of the usual method of applying stickers, but nah... That'd cost a little more money so here's some awful looking potato sacks to wear on your heads. Oh and BTW gonna need another half a billion from the city for seat warmers in the stadium, thanks.

Yes! Riverfront used to do this, loved it coupled with the helmet

I think one end zone should say Cincinnati and the other Bengals. Not sure they need Bengals twice.

Really excited about this guy.

First the Bengals put that boring B in the center of the new field then they give this guy number 81 rather than 3. They can be such a buzz kill sometimes. I expected more from the Pumpkinettes.

I’m enjoying the ride - but there’s reason to be concerned. The rookie contract on the quarterback is up. They haven’t drafted particularly well. They are a year away from letting a 2nd very good to elite player walk over not wanting to guarantee a second year that they would end up playing out anyways. They are getting ready to start playing this game on hard mode. The league is starting to guarantee partials in year 3 for non QBs and the Bengals have never gone past year 1. Going to be tough to retain and sign outside FA if this keeps up. The cap health is nice until you realize the extra cash is going into front loading deals for guys like Drew Sample..

This was the genius of the FO signing of Trent Brown. We don't now have that dire need. We might need him soon, but Mims is not going to go into opening day with the pressure of having to start, it's something he gets to earn. We also now have a swing backup of a high caliber at both Tackle positions, something we haven't had in what seems like forever.

The NFL in the year 2024 called. It wants the Bengals to join the rat race. I didn’t create the insanity that is the modern day money lust by today’s “entertainers”. We are both old enough and have listened to enough Savoy Brown to know that, back in the day, every NFL ownership was exactly on the same model as our Bengals. And that was exactly the way to be. Most normal people are fiscally prudent—as are most good businesses. That is not only logical—it’s mathematical. This is a different time—not saying it is correct in approach. Join the arms race and spend yourself silly fighting to get to the next Roman Numeral game, or risk falling off into the nether world of “oh yeah…that team”. As I recall, this team was 9-8 a year ago. In the shortened life span of today’s interest, Super Bowl appearances and participation in conference championship games are forgotten in seconds. Logic dictates that, in today’s NFL, “building for the future” models (read draft cheaper 4 year college rentals and hope they play at all-pro levels each season), while fiscally sound, likely will achieve at best, a very small window of success. And refusing to deal with an already fully developed product, in the hopes that an emotionally damaged college brat can do the same thing instantaneously, is playing the lottery. Today’s short-term NFL attention span demands win now, and big. Looking too far down the road, again while logically sound, doesn’t fit with the narrative.

There isn't a chance they don't pay Chase. They haven't ever hesitated to pay their stars. They didn't pay Jessie Bates because he wasn't playing all that well and he wanted high guarantees and they thought they had his replacement. Whitworth was very old, people forget that him playing so long is a complete anomaly. Reader was coming off a bad injury. They arent paying Higgins because they have Chase and Burrow and putting so much money into WR isn't a good practice. The only news we ever hear is from players and agents. We don't hear from the team because they are professional.

What other NFL team is the primary income for an entire family? You have to understand, every million they spend is one less prize-winning show pony for the great grandkids. That's no way to live. 🥷

Like I said.. Ol' Musty is not built for this league. He's a decent person in a business run by a bunch of callous, avaricious complete bastards. Can't fault the guy for having ethics but the National Football League has no place for all that. Then when his Juniors try to play hardball it usually seems to backfire.

There is a 0% chance the Bengals won't extend Chase. He will also be the highest or 2nd highest (Jefferson) paid WR in NFL history. ... That's part of the reason they won't extend Tee though.

Exactly, and Drake Maye isn't as good as Penix so the Patriots blew that pick if you ask me. The Pats have no offensive line, no WRs that are dynamic and scare opponents, and a rookie QB with sloppy feet and inconsistent accuracy. That's a bad situation for him and the team, if anyone should have traded down it was the Pats. If you listen to Lapham's podcast with Boomer Esaison, at the very end Boomer mentions how much he liked Penix, unsolicated btw...I've heard that on a few podcast with former NFL players about Penix. When you add in that all these teams that were trying to trade up to draft him then it shows that the people who get paid millions of dollars to do this for a living were high on Penix so it's not surprising that Atlanta make that pick.

And again, Cousins was the best FA QB available and the Falcons had the 8th pick. They were not getting Williams, Daniels or Maye. That left Penix, JJ McCarthy and Bo Nix. No way the Falcons were going to fall for the Akille err Klingler uhh I mean JJ McCarthy hype bullshit. Let some other team pick 2024’s Josh Rosen/ Mitch Trubisky/ Carson Wentz. Nix is not a pro level QB. Does not have the talent. Overthrows his receivers all the time which in the NFL means INTs! Basically, the Falcons did about as good as you can at the most important position in all of sports given the hand they had.

Looking around the NFL as more draft strategy comes out, it is pretty obvious that Jacksonville at pick 17 was a very popular trade-up spot for many teams. Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Green Bay and Tampa Bay all tried to trade up in front of the Bengals. All those teams who failed to trade up went OL anyway. Dallas tried to trade up to 17 before deciding to trade down to 29 for Tyler Guyton. I'm sure there were other teams besides Minnesota who tried to get to 17 to draft a sliding defensive player, but clearly most were after Amarius Mims.

I've looked at it for a while now, when this looked how the chips would fall (Murphy vs Mimms) as getting a shot to win the Super Bowl this year (with Murphy, and hoping like hell for a healthy Trent Brown) to winning several in the coming years. I'm a patient man. After all, I'm a Bengals fan.

Wow...