Jamie_B

Accurate. Callahan is not head coaching material IMHO, so unless they are doing the thing the Bengals do and give him "assistant head coach" while still being the OC, I don't see it.

As I understand it, it is the same knee injury he had when he first got here that kept him out a year, which means he wont be available at the start of the year. He very likely will be back but the issue becomes the bengals need a DT (maybe even 2) right now, which puts his status with any team let alone this team up in the air. Would I do a contract that was vet minium this year that lets him stay in house and rehab then up the pay in following years? Sure, but we still need a DT of the future, and the future is now.

Completely agree with this. Pratt and Wilson are still very good LBs, but it's hard when they have more guys to deal with because your DT play isn't good. That said I think Davis-Gather is done as far as his contract, and I would like to find a replacement maybe even a guy who can cover TEs.

My order of preference is RT, but with the Reader injury and because of how bad the defense is right now, if Newton is available I might take him. If we tag Tee I don't see WR as a first round need, I think you can get a possession WR to replace Boyd in the 2nd. I see the top 3 needs as RT, DT, and WR. I'm also not opposed to getting a TE after the 3rd round. Now come free agency if we can fill the DT need that makes it better. There are two guys I have my eyes on, but I'm not sure their current teams don't resign them. In order of preference. Justin Madubuike Christian Wilkins Justin Jones

Thoughts on Kris Jenkins?

The question for me on Cheedo is it a result of coming back from the ACL or if he is just washed? That's why I suggested a 1 year proved it deal. With Turner the other part of that is something he will have to deal with is that his size. I almost feel like he should be Mike Hilton's long term replacement, and we should get a 1st round CB, I just don't know that we can do that for at least another 2 years, because this year needs to be a RT and next year a WR.

I kind of feel the same about the Safties. Battle may not have all of the physical tools that Hill does, but he knows his assignments an can put on a hit. Hill gets another year in the spot as there were times he showed something, but after having a year in the system, granted not at the safety spot, I was a bit disappointed. Reader is done here IMHO sadly, and not because I want him to be, but because he has a year-long recovery in a contract year. We got to find at least two DTs, whether that be in FA or the Draft or a mix, well see. The 2nd one doesn't have to be a starter, but a good backup NT that can help if the 1st guy goes down or play the 2nd spot in short-yardage obvious run package. I maybe give Cheedo a 1 year prove it deal as I am not sold on Turner yet and think we have more pressing needs than another CB draft pick. The concern I have but need more data to determine is are we good at drafting defensive players? Murphy is coming on but still a wait and see. Battle same as Murphy, but produced a tad bit more. Turner had a good start to his season, but got picked on and was pretty bad at the end of it. (You would hope it would have been the opposite) Zack Carter is a JAG Ossai, had a good 1st year but has been a ghost this season. Did his mistake in the AFC Championship get that much into his head? Cam Sample is better than Carter, but still mostly a JAG. That leaves us with just Cam Taylor-Britt, who while good, would be a number 2 CB in a top end defense.

I think the draft is littered with WRs in the 1st, I think Tee could get you a high 2nd to a low 1st though.

If we believe that about Tee it might be better to tag and trade him, get at least something for him, if were not gonna get another year of good play.

We both know they wont trade up, at least not in the first round. I was watching Locked on Bengals, and I normally like those guys, but James Rapine started talking about keeping Jonnah and I was like nope, no thanks.

Because it's the year that we are playing that entire division.

I mean had we started Jake and let Joe sit, how many games would Jake have won and how much quicker would Joe have gotten healthy? Jake has shown he can win games.

That's why you see teams put those things in contracts where if you are doing non-football that has a high risk of injury you give money back.

Also I will not root for the Ravens because of this.

I thought I read @AmishBengalFan say we could get as high as 12. I want that.

Give me a Bills/Lions SB, two teams that have not won one.

Living as close to Baltimore as I do, I get the Ravens fans that think had Lamar been healthy the past 2 years we would have never even sniffed an AFCN Championship let alone a SuperBowl I do not want those people to savor anything.

I'd do a back flip if we got Alt at 17

If it's the difference between getting Billy Price or Frank Ragnow sign me up

The mere fact that we have Joey B brings us in free agents. That cannot be understated. But we also have to realize that we just paid the man and because of that there is only so much money to go around. That means from here on our we are going to have to do the majority of out team building through the draft. If you doubt that look at the guys we signed this offseason. The Nick Scott's of the world. So because of that it behooves us to get the highest pick when Joe went down. Because Cincinnati doesn't have a basketball team anymore and because I lived in San Antonio for a while I became a casual Spurs fan, David Robinson was easy to root for as a good human (not to mention I would later go-to the high-school he graduated from). The year he got a season ending injury the Spurs sucked bad enough to end up in the lottery and end up with the number one pick. They would draft Tim Duncan and the rest is history. Do you think anyone on that Spurs team was so mentally weak that it effected their play the next year or that free agents decided not to come there? No. You don't get better after you pay your QB if your drafting in the middle of the draft. You stay stagnet. There is plenty of evidence for this. Look at Tomlins Steelers. Always a winning season, and always not making or losing in the first round of the playoffs. Look at the Bills. They have struggled to find draft picks to help Josh Allen. It's fun to root for Jake and he did well, but we are near the bottom in most defensive categories, we can't run the ball effectively most weeks, our o-line is medorcre at best and we are like going to lose Tee in a year, and Boyd this year. We had an opportunity to get the higher pick and restock some of that with players that are more likely to impact sooner because that's what top of the draft picks typically do. But rooting to win a meaningless game to let guys feel good about themselves means they aren't very mentally tough to begin with, which is a whole other issue when it comes to winning football games. So that is my bigger picture thinking. Question my Fandom and loyalty if you like, but to be blunt, I've been following this team since the days of Boomer and Icky, I post maybe more than I should on a fan board for this point going into decades. Anyone calling me a bandwagon because I see this rationally and see the history of how teams get built and how we are a bit hamstrung because of ownerships refusal to expand the scouting department and front office making that even tougher. Looks a bit foolish.

This. We lost reader for a full year. It would be stupid to play anyone that would hurt us if we lost them for any length of time in a meaningless game.

This

I'd be surprised