sparky151

Yes, you hope your draft picks develop into players like Tee. when they do, you try to keep them, not throw money at the stiffs like Jonah Williams.

Yeah, in terms of O-line issues, Volson isn't the biggest one. Brown has been disappointing and Jonah is inadequate. We also don't have much depth. If Karras gets hurt, we're screwed.

Bengals are allowing the most yards in the league to opposing TEs. Just what Taylor ordered.

No doubt he'd like a starting job to prove he can still play. But the truth is he isn't that good at this point in his career. What team would rather have Wilson as their clear starter as opposed to drafting a rookie and placing their hopes with him? If Wilson is willing to mentor a rookie ala Dalton with Bryce Young, he'll have suitors. But if he expects to clearly be "the guy" for a new team, he may be waiting for a while, like Flacco. Russell Wilson is better than starting QBs like Aidan O'Connell, Mac Jones, and Desmond Ridder. But those guy's teams are looking for replacements in the draft.

I'd like to see the Bengals draft Michigan CB Mikey Sainristil as the heir to Hilton. He's feisty and plays bigger than his actual size. I think he'll be around in the 4th round.

I think he's likely to be tagged. The WR tag for next season is projected at around 21 mil. There are more than 5 guys whose average annual value is more than that but players restructure all the time to reduce their current year cap hit. So it holds down the franchise tag values. Anyway, the Bengals have lots of cap space for next season, about 6th in the league. They probably won't sign a big money free agent from another team but can certainly tag Tee, extend Reader if they wish, and give Uno a new contract while re-signing depth guys like Irwin, Hudson, Bailey, Tupou, etc.

Yep. Broncos won't find a trade partner between day 1 of the league year (when the trading window opens) and day 5 when Wilson's injury guarantee turns into a full guarantee. So they'll have to release him, probably with the post-June 1 designation to spread the dead money hit over 2 seasons. Wilson has an offset clause in his contract so whatever a new team pays him reduces the Bronco's obligation to him. So he doesn't stand to make any more money by haggling with a new team and may sign for vet minimum plus some incentives if he likes the situation. The question is whether any team wants him as their starter in 2024. My guess is no, he'll have interest as a veteran backup QB. That's assuming Cousins and Mayfield stay with their current teams. I had Wilson on my fantasy roster this year and he actually wasn't too bad. His passing numbers are comparable to Lamar Jackson's.

Replacing Boyd is much easier than replacing Williams. Ideally, Jones steps up but a combo of Jones/Irwin/Iosivas plus maybe a rookie should be able to replace the catches and yards.

The problem with your argument is that Williams isn't good. He'll find a starting LT job somewhere but the Bengals shouldn't even consider paying him 15+ mil per year. At this point I don't expect Carman or Smith to step up so we'll need to look to the draft or free agency for Jonah's replacement. The odds are that a first round tackle will become a better RT than Jonah. This class is deep at OT so I wouldn't be surprised if there were decent options in round 2 as well. We could hedge some risk by signing a stopgap veteran like Eluemunor or similar.

They'll most likely try to sign Irwin back. He shouldn't be too expensive. Spotrac has Boyd's market value at 8.7 mil annually on a 3 year deal. Bengals won't want to pay that much for a 30 year old WR3.

If Reader is out most of next year then we should hope TVondre Sweat is on the board for us in round 2.

IMO this offseason should be mostly about the offense. I doubt we lose any coordinator to another team. Maybe Pitcher or Walters get poached. We should be looking for an upgrade from Pollack. In terms of players, we still need to fix the play of the O-line. We should let Jonah Williams go to another team. None of our backups are very good and ready to step up so we're starting from scratch there. Ford and Scharping are ok as stop-gaps but not someone we'd feel good about starting a playoff game. Boyd will get a decent offer somewhere. We should at least tag Tee and try to extend him. The tag number is 21 mil but his market value is probably less than that. Spotrac has it at about 16 mil per year. We could easily afford 4/80 for him in addition to extending Chase. Mixon isn't worth his salary and should be replaced by a rookie. We could also sign a cheaper vet RB. At TE we should try to bring back Hudson but also use a midround pick at the position so we aren't starting from scratch every offseason.

yes, lots of options for Bears. I think they should fire Eberflus and hire an offensive minded HC. Ben Johnson of Detroit or Jim Harbaugh would make sense for them. If they hire a new coach, they're more likely to get a new QB. It depends on Fields trade value. If another team is willing to give up something good, maybe the Falcons, that would influence the decision. If I were in their shoes, I'd hire Harbaugh, keep Fields and trade down from pick 1 for a QB needy team. Bears need a better O-line, another receiving threat, and more pass rush. They could do something like trade pick 1 to the Raiders for a package that includes their first and second round picks plus Maxx Crosby, then draft say Joe Alt and Rome Odunze in round 1. Yes, Tee isn't going anywhere this offseason. Bengals will at least tag him and with a good WR draft class, nobody will offer a first round pick for him. I'm not convinced the Bengals will get an extension done this offseason with Tee but the tag will help. Bengals should extend Reader for at least a couple of years, extend McFearsome, and see what Uno wants. Let Jonah, Chido, and Boyd go. Maybe add a veteran DB or TE from elsewhere.

They not only overpaid for Wilson in the trade but gave him a new contract before he had played a down for the Broncos. They could have done a "try before you buy" season and would have at most had to tag him for a year. Instead they will lose and additional 150 million on the deal.

Yes, and Ran Carthon, the Titans GM.

Teams which supply minority candidates to other teams for top positions get rewarded with extra comp picks in the 3rd round. The 49ers cashed in from Robert Saleh and Mike McDaniel among others.

Bengals will certainly offer him a new contract but someone else might offer more. We have the worst TE group in the league and should use at least a midround draft pick on a decent TE instead of recycling other team's scraps.

Robbins wasn't picked for having a huge leg or average, he was picked for his directional punting skills and hang time. It was a reaction to Chrisman's poor punt vs KC at the end of the AFCCG. But Robbins has turned out to be less than advertised. I'd be fine with giving Araiza a look now that he's clear of all legal cases.

Er, no he wasn't the best punter in the country. A couple of his fellow Big 10 punters were drafted ahead of him. Barringer from MSU is among the NFL leaders in several punting categories as a rookie.

Jones' red flags were exaggerated. He left the Senior Bowl early after a concussion. He didn't work out at the OSU pro day due to a sore toe. He did visits and interviews with a number of teams. Maybe he's not a great interviewer but he is a good player and was a good prospect who fell lower than he should have. He had great tape and his injuries weren't serious. The Bengals among other teams missed on him. The Bengals woulr probably be well served to bring in a better O-line coach. Maybe Mike Munchak wants back in the league?

The league tries to schedule division games down the stretch to keep more teams in contention. In some cases like Buffalo/Miami, there can be weather effects in play as well.

Probably Zeitler, a decade ago. That's the mystery of it. With a lack of scouts, you'd think they would stick to the Power 5 conferences and miss out on small school prospects. But Jones was on national tv every week of his final college season. Two of his O-line teammates were also drafted, one in the top 10.

Obviously the league didn't evaluate Jones properly. Why did player X go so high or fall so low is an annual question. Tom Brady or Jamarcus Russell are the classic examples.

That's the frustrating part. It's not like Jones came out of nowhere and was overlooked. He played more than 400 passing snaps for a Heisman finalist QB in 2022 with zero sacks and zero QB hits allowed. So apparently the Bengals evaluation process somehow convinced themselves the guy would bust when he was already a high level player and continued that into the NFL.

He also gets a lot of air under his deep passes. Some reminded me of Jeff Blake moonballs.