T-Dub

You mean career backups they can get for league minimum? Safe bet.

this is the drooling racist child molester currently running the country (into the ground)

So long as they show up, smile a bunch, & don't get drunk and plow through a busy crosswalk they will probably play out their contracts. Now.. if one of them blows up & the team is faced with extending their contract as a top $$$ FA.. Then it will be "time to move on".

If they sign a legit replacement for Stone before the draft, sure.

unless Kurt Warner is out there in the FA pool just waiting for his shot.. Browns want a trade for Richardson. Indy wants to extend Jones & lower his $40M hit. Colts near the cap with less dead money than the Bengals FWIW. 8-4 when Jones popped his Achilles. Who else is there? Cool Uncle Joe, not invited Uncle A-a-ron.. Wilson might run a kind of offense but close to the Trubisky/Wentz Meridian. Even Joe can't always carry this team so it's w/e, get a herd of UDFAs to play jug machine in camp & keep the best one on PS. If he goes down again whoever gets to the stadium first DGAF anywhere but Cincinnati.. or shitsburgh I guess but mostly not needing him again

with his own $22M cap hit this year, for the record. let's see who has the better season. if Trey goes and gets a ring somewhere stg 🫠

By my rough estimates that alone would buy every adult living in Ohio a Pretzel Baconator from Wendy's. Choose wisely, friends.

That sounds more likely than staying a Bengal. Wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't sign anywhere until after the draft. Could even wait for a similar situation and step in for a team dealing with an injury. He's an upgrade for a lot of teams but obviously a short-term solution.

I question their will as much as their ability. They're on the hook for 3 sizeable extensions on offense since then. We could ask why they need to sign a FA defense again so soon, but even if that's their intention they had plenty of cap space to do so, with or without Hendrickson. Assuming they're going to go spend that extra $35M is a stretch.

If it's not Flacco I kinda DGAF. My thinking is that they had a hard enough time rallying around a SB MVP. No one else they bring in would be likely to have the trust of the locker room, if they can even execute this offense successfully. They live and die on quick, accurate reads and a big arm. Pretty much have to draft one of those, as a FA they're likely going to be limited to a dink & dunk scrambler if they don't want to stress the defense with a ton of turnovers. If it's not Joe2 I'm not sure it matters, not with the current roster.

🤣 Oweh sounds like the best of that bunch, the Bengals' early 3rd might get it done.. but that sounds way more complicated than drafting some DE & hyping them up all offseason.. not to mention more expensive. I'm sure they'll show a big improvement at the tail end of their contract.

Yet we're both still here. 🤷‍♂️😆 Yeah that's true but it's possible to do one thing & not the other, thus 2 different conversations. All they've done so far is take a big hit to their defensive roster, which is what I was talking about - for now. If they do the other thing we can happily pick that apart instead. 🍻

Yeah that's half the team sucking rn and half your confirmation bias. Plenty of players I'm optimistic about, guessing one of very few that's been defending Knight. Even had a brief moment of optagon over Stewart, before he got to TC and tried to dribble the football.. I was organic about Higgins being a #1 WR & didn't think we needed Chase (but he's 1/1 & Higgins can't stay on the field). I mean the really frustrating part is how little they've done with the star talent they have - plenty enough to not go 6-11. All they had to do was improve the OL but they couldn't manage that without the defense falling off a cliff. It's the organizational failure, and this being the offseason that's kind of where the discussion leads.. fuck me I guess but there's a lot to be critical of.. they were on the cusp of a dynasty type of team but have settled for "competitive". Everyone understands this team went 6-11 after firing the DC over them sucking last year? & Joe being hurt yet again is a poor excuse, particularly with a SB MVP vet stepping in as QB2. It was the defense again, somehow worse after all their efforts. I'm supposed to overlook all this because they beat the Dolphins? Did most people skip the last Browns game? You tell me what I'm supposed to be optimistic about and I will do my best. Free agency? Sign one real difference-maker for this defense, not some budget option but among the BPA at their position & I will believe they're not flirting with cap minimum as a strategy. Give me a good reason to think they're not going to throw a handful of rookies at one of the worst defenses the NFL has ever seen & expect something better. FFS man you asked me when they've ever been a serious franchise & when I give you an answer of 4 years ago tell me I'm too pessimistic? I think you may be projecting your own doubts here. What am I missing? Everything coming from the team is about managing expectations. I'm not optimistic? They're not optimistic.

If only it was limited to the "scouting staff", as in both of them. He's far more involved than that, "Katie's team" is more cope.

Most recently? '21-22. I foolishly thought that was the beginning of something rather than the high water mark it appears to be now. My bad.

Sure they are. Trey is no longer a Bengal, and that makes the Bengals worse. They didn't automatically get $35M worth of defense in return. That's all in our imaginations at this point. They have to actually go out and sign those people. Until that happens all they've done is let the best player on their defense walk. But hey, they may get one of those priceless late 3rd round comp picks next year, if they don't sign any FA's worth a damn.

How much does he owe them as a refund?

Copium in that they just lost the only proven pass rusher on the roster and that's going to hurt. A very weak defensive roster just got worse. The theoretical dispersion of $35 million is a different subject. Same for their theoretical ability to replace him, but I'm pretty damned sure that Shemar Stewart isn't going to be the one to do it.

If you don't think the defense is worse without him IDK what to tell you. Smells like Copium in here 😆

If you think they won't hand the job to someone clearly incapable just because they or the coaches feel invested in them, or have some kind of warm fuzzies about the guy.. we must be watching different teams. They just now finally let Volson walk & I don't think anyone would be shocked if they brought him back again.

Their pass rush just got significantly worse, is the outcome. I have little faith in their ability to reverse that trend. I'll believe they're going to reinvest all that money when it happens.

Hard to think of a less deserving recipient for any "extra" county funds. Giving every Kroger location a heated parking lot would be more responsible.

That is 100% not Duke's decision, no how, no way. His job is not making draft picks. His job is taking the blame for them.