HavePityPlease

It's pretty clear he was just trying to trend so people wouldn't forget he exists. Why else would he need to desperately try to claim he has inside info? And why use his 23-year tenure as proof? Why not just say he has inside info? Because it's bullshit. It's the same reason MJD put the same move in his mock. He didn't give any compelling reasons why, he just said "AFC North blah blah". Just trying to trend with clickbait, nothing to see here.

Forget any of these stat sites, did nobody watch the games we played against the Ravens last year? Bynes made very noticeable plays, and when the announcers said he signed off the street, I was like... we have guys like Vigil starting and the Ravens get a guy that is twice the player off the street? I think I may have even said as much in the game thread. I get it, some people think if we sign anything less than a pro bowler we're idiots, but that's not how it works. You get reliable *football* players that fit your game plan, and go from there. EDIT: Hahaaaa indeed I did make such a comment in the gameday thread:

I noticed the "run defender" part as well. Even if you think Waynes is equivalent to Dre in pass coverage, if he even makes an *attempt* to tackle someone running the ball he's a huge upgrade. This has been a weakness in general with Bengals corners. Dennard at least tried but wasn't the best, WJIII also does his best but seems to come up injured/labouring way too often. Generally speaking it's safe to say the Bengals saw the run defense as a big problem, and have made moves to address it. Well done. Now even one upgrade on the OL and we're starting to get somewhere. Add a reliable LB and suddenly it's starting to look like a successful FA period.

With respect to Gio and his lack of use it's pretty fair I think to point out that neither RB was used much until the 'turning point' when they abandoned the original offense - which I think we'd all agree was overly pass-heavy. When they made the change I simply took as them making Joe a classic "bell cow" RB and relegated Gio to a complementary back. I don't think that's necessarily a bad choice, Joe is absolutely the rare "horse" type player than you can lean on like that. With that said I do agree that they could be more creative and use Gio's skill set in several ways, even if they have him in a slot back role or some such and have him on the field with Joe more.

I don't agree with this, at least not in a definitive way. We simply don't know how much Cordy negatively affects this line, especially off the field. If he suddenly had an epiphany and was gung-ho to play LG, ok, then he's likely better than the alternatives we know about. But all of the evidence suggests he a) doesn't want to play LG, b) has a negative outlook on the team and/or coaches and possibly even c) doesn't really have much passion for football at all. If you believe in Taylor's purported goal to "change the culture", then you can't really argue with getting rid of a guy they had to fine internally and performs below his contract. Better for us is to hope the team does a better job filling the roster with players who buy in rather than hope that those who have already shown to be below par will maintain our status quo of "barely cutting it".

I think you meant Stealers fan. Florio is all Stealers.

I'd love to get people's opinions/picks on this one - Bleacher Report's latest mock, which has a number of players dropping. For example, Delpit drops to us at 33 but they have us taking Baun anyway. I don't think I'd pass on Delpit there. Mims is also there at the top of the third and they have us taking the DT from Missouri instead: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2878668-2020-nfl-mock-draft-matt-millers-post-combine-predictions#slide0

While I don't disagree with this assessment, I've said before that I think Tate is exactly the kind of receiver that can explode with a QB like Burrow - i.e. the type that win jump balls and feast on well-placed throws. Just watching Joe the relatively small amount i have, the one thing that is very consistent is that he has no qualms about throwing to receivers that compete for jump balls and almost always seems to give them a huge advantage in that scenario. Tate was making Dalton look good *a lot* and maybe Joe can return the favour a bit.

I could see a lot of teams being perfectly willing to give Dalton a chance to start... but a second rounder? I'd need new pants if that happens.

McShay saying he'd take Tua over Joe if they both would be "guaranteed healthy for the next 10 years". I'd respect his opinion more if he put up a trait of Tua's that puts him over the top that... isn't precisely the thing that Joe did better than anyone ever in history this past season (command the offense): http://www.espn.com/video/clip/clip?id=28792841 With that said, time will tell. I do expect Tua to be a good NFL QB, and I'm sure McShay thinks with the health question that you can't take him #1 anyway. Just more chum for the media to throw out there.

Thanks, came here to post this. An excellent statement by Jordan. Regardless of it being about Joe it gives me a new respect for the guy, he said exactly what any rational person should say in that situation.

Joe needs a backup who can be a good mentor for him and will have his back. That should be the number one requirement. Despite all the negative things we know and have brought up again about Kitna - he was definitely that for Carson. On this original question I voted Finley because I took the question as "who do you think the Bengals will have as the backup", not who I hope it is. For the latter,"Vet" is the correct answer, and I'm starting to think the Bengals will go that way as well. I know some are leaning heavily on "can they win and play like a starter?", and the point is well made that those guys are rare (because they want - and receive - chances to start). I have always been of the mind that if your starter goes down for any extended period your season is basically lost. Teams like the Pats have been nearly immune to this in the past because they brought in guys that mastered their system (which frankly doesn't need to rely on the QB to play like a superstar anyway). For my money the Bengals should - and likely will - hang all their fortunes on Joe, and invest absolutely everything in him and his success, including who is backing him up. To me that's the right move.

Welp, prepare for peak stupidity. Cowherd now says Burrow isn't even a great prospect, and his hands are SUPER DUPER IMPORTANT!: Notice how he didn't compare Mahomes and Burrow's hands (just said Mahomes is "slightly below average"... never mind the fact his are a hair bigger than Joe's). He also doesn't mention a single elite thing about Joe, except his "story", I guess? Meanwhile, he previously said Joe should pull an Eli, and he also says Tua is his #1 QB (who is the SHORTEST QB at 6'0" flat!!! OMG!!!)

Well tbh, Kitna's hand size only came into question because he was a fumbling machine. If Joe starts fumbling a lot he'll get the same treatment.

Already answered, PFT (Charean Williams) : https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/02/25/joe-burrow-says-he-will-play-for-the-bengals-if-they-draft-him/ They conveniently omitted the part where Joe laughed off the media's spin on it all. Some choice quotes: Funny how a bunch of old coot fans like us on a fan forum figured out what he meant, eh Charean? It's not like you guys are supposed to analyse this stuff for a living or anything. Again, commenting on Joe clarifying he meant the combine and not "the Bengals" wrt "leverage": Ok Charean, I guess Joe's word in the most public setting possible should be ignored. Here, he flips over to a slightly different angle, in that maybe the Bengals won't be able to convince Joe they want to win? Here's a nice little nugget, which you idiots on PFT have already "answered" over and over again: