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Bengals ownership preaches a win-now offseason. The future is '18


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The future is '18

Posted 2 hours ago

hobson60x60.jpgGeoff HobsonEditorBengals.comFollow Me Blog

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The Bengals are pointing at left guard Clint Boling's revamped offensive line to revive their skill players.

 

ORLANDO, Fla. _ The Bengals broke from this week’s NFL meetings encouraged that their busy offseason has them on track to return to the postseason for the seventh time this decade.

 

Buoyed by a trade for veteran left tackle Cordy Glenn and boosted by the signing of reigning NFL tackles champion in middle linebacker Preston Brown, they join a roster that continues to get high draft grades and has convinced management it is good enough to win in 2018.

 

“We are not in a building program. We have too many good players to be building for the future,” said Bengals vice president Troy Blackburn Wednesday after commissioner Roger Goodell closed the meetings. “We have so many good players we feel we have to build for now … I think very much the offseason for us has been focused on win now.”

 

The husband and wife team of Blackburn and Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn pinch hit this week for Bengals president Mike Brown, back in Cincinnati recovering from artificial hip surgery and hoping to return to Paul Brown Stadium next week to chair the last month of draft preparation.

 

So it was business as usual. Like the other 31 clubs, the Bengals voted for player safety and the new catch definition. They also winced as the NFL handed out a $250 million loan for the $1.8 billion stadium project in Las Vegas for the Raiders.

 

That’s just 18 years after the Bengals began playing in The Paul, which cost about $350 million to build. The new buildings in Vegas and Los Angeles continue to drive the NFL salary cap, always a point of concern for the Bengals but it hasn’t stopped them from barging into the upper half of the league in salary cap dollars spent this year, according to spotrac.com

“For the Reds, for the Bengals, that is always going to be a challenge. I think we have the smallest market in America that has professional baseball and professional football,” Troy Blackburn said. “When you see meetings over the last two days and you see deals for Los Angeles, for Las Vegas, and you recently saw what happened in Atlanta and Minneapolis with new facilities, you know those continue to present challenges. But what we have tried to do with our franchise is structure it in such way to be able to continue to spend at the highest levels for players and coaches and things that affect play on the field even though we’re one of the smallest markets in the NFL.”

 

 

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Tyler Eifert counts his jersey number against the cap if he stays healthy: $8.5 million.

 

 

The Bengals had budgeted about $15 million in free agency, but they couldn’t pass up the opportunities to raid the Bills for positions they needed to upgrade and went about $10 million over after they also signed a pair of former NFL starters looking to revive their careers in Cincinnati when they inked former Tampa Bay defensive tackle Chris Baker and Giants right tackle Bobby Hart. They believe those deals, along with retaining erstwhile Pro Bowl tight end Tyler Eifert, have sent a message to Bengaldom that the future is now.

And that means now. Like the draft, where they have 11 picks.

 

“That’s really what drove us,” Troy Blackburn said. “When we look to the draft we want to keep the pipeline of high-end talent fresh and vibrant. We pay various high-end consultants to get feedback on how we are doing from a personnel standpoint. We met with them down here. They did a survey for over a decade of how effectively we were or were not drafting and they rated our draft to be third or fourth best in the National Football League over say the last dozen years.”

 

The Bengals supplement their own personnel department by paying for reports from the scouting services of Giddings and Pro Football Scouting.

 

“That tells us if we can have an effective offseason in free agency to build for now and also look to the draft to build the pipeline for future players that has a chance to be a positive thing for our football season this year,” Troy Blackburn said. “Not in two years. Not in four years. Now.”

 

 Management is banking on revitalizing the offensive line, an area it feels has let down their skill players, starting with quarterback Andy Dalton.

 

“We think Andy has proven he is a quality, high-end quarterback in the National Football League. You can win at a high level with Andy,” Troy Blackburn said. “”What we have not done as well in years is given Andy the appropriate opportunity to shine. We are hoping with what we have done at a very aggressive level in addressing our offensive line play this past offseason with offensive coordinator, with offensive line coach, with personnel, we will get back to playing effectively at offensive line so the skill position players can shine.

 

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The Bengals are banking for help on Dalton.

 

 

 “We have a very good group of skill position players. Whether it is Joe Mixon, whether it is Gio Bernard, whether it is A.J. Green, Tyler Eifert, Tyler Kroft, Andy Dalton, we hope John Ross,Josh Malone, Brandon LaFell, Tyler Boyd, it’s a very good group of players. But our offensive line play has not been strong enough to give that group a chance to shine. If we can improve up front I think fans may be pleased with what they see at the quarterback position.”

 

Katie Blackburn has also been encouraged by head coach Marvin Lewis’ off-season emphasis on nagging issues that has dotted the 13-18-1 record of the past two seasons. The hiring of their first new offensive line coach in 23 years along with the installation of Bill Lazor as offensive coordinator in his own right have guaranteed they won’t be strolling out there with the same playbooks. 

 

“They are impressive. They are good communicators. They have great ideas,” Katie Blackburn said. “I think they are enthusiastic. I think our players will benefit from them and be excited to see what they can do.

 

“I also think Marvin has focused on a couple areas he needs to focus on. Whether third-down conversions on defense and doing things with our offensive line, obviously there are going to be other things he can focus on. I think with some of the new coaches, you see some great feedback from them for what they are looking to at this point. I’m encouraged in that feeling and hope its felt by everyone else.”

 

Mike Brown’s decision to stick with Lewis also was a hefty investment based in winning now as opposed to re-building.  Lewis figures to make about $6 million per year and his decision to bring in highly-regarded and well-paid assistants such as defensive coordinator Teryl Austin and offensive line coach Frank Pollack made the Bengals winners in bidding wars.

 

“We think this season will be from a fan standpoint a bit of a Missouri approach, a Show me. We understand that,” Troy Blackburn said. “We’ll probably modify where we start. We hope to rebuild that quickly. The No. 1 thing fans are looking for is they want to see good on-field results. We gave them that for a long time. The last two years have not been as strong as you would want and our belief this is a very mature football team that can have high-end success. That’s why everything we have done this offseason is to focus on the now.”

 

Take that trade for Bengals WILL backer Vontaze Burfict. You know. That rumor he was going to Oakland? Forget it.

 

“Our focus is on having the best 2018 we can,” Troy Blackburn said, “and we feel Vontaze helps us do that.”

 

Burfict faces his third straight opening month on the banned list as he appeals a four-game suspension for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. But he’s not on any other list.

 

“Vontaze is well-liked and respected in the locker room,” Troy Blackburn said. “The players know that, a) he’s a special player and b) he’s a really smart football player. I don’t think there is going to be a negative that way. The negative is going to be lost time. When you are not there you are not helping the team win.”

 

 

 

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/The-future-is-18/aa73a6a1-c501-4aba-b54c-6844e735102b

 

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15 minutes ago, Jupiter Fan said:

Being cheap is one thing, misspending money is still an issue. 

 

We shall see. I hope you're wrong. Now is definitely no more excuses one would have to think. Getting new all new assisstsnts to his liking and such.

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44 minutes ago, schotzee said:

We shall see. I hope you're wrong. Now is definitely no more excuses one would have to think. Getting new all new assisstsnts to his liking and such.

I didn't mean mis-spending this year, I meant last year with Whitworth.

As far as new coaches, if ML was so dissatisfied before now why didn't he step up and say so? 

 

Isn't that how you tell your owner to make changes if you are are are real HC?

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"Blackburn...[sic] pinch hit for team owner Mike Brown, still recovering from hip replacement surgery..."

 

As if Mike Brown would even deign to speak to the media about anything right now, even if he hadn't had his hip replaced. LOL.

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On 3/28/2018 at 6:37 PM, oldschooler said:

 

It also marks the second time Marvin Lewis has had an awful season but was the one to hold out for more money/control. The Brown family is scared of losing him.

 

There are plenty of "cheap" guy who still pay very expensive lawyers to keep them out of trouble. Just because a slum lord pays out big bribes doesn't make him classy.

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Hearing that Marvin now makes $6 million shows just how desperate MB was to keep him.  And give Marvin and his agent credit for landing a significant raise coming off two losing seasons.  They knew MB didn't want to make true substantive changes to running the team and the mere threat of Marvin leaving caused such a panic that he forked over hefty raises to Marvin and his over hauled staff.  They even agreed to finally get rid of Paul Alexander, an old family pet.  It's amazing that a coach with such a record of mediocrity could wield this kind of leverage, but obviously Mike Brown doesn't operate in an orthodox or logical way.  He's apparently willing to overpay for the sake of continuity, even if it means continuing mediocrity.  

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On 3/29/2018 at 8:17 PM, Jupiter Fan said:

I didn't mean mis-spending this year, I meant last year with Whitworth.

As far as new coaches, if ML was so dissatisfied before now why didn't he step up and say so? 

 

Isn't that how you tell your owner to make changes if you are are are real HC?

Idk, baby steps maybe. Wrestle away the power little by little.

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4 hours ago, schotzee said:

Idk, baby steps maybe. Wrestle away the power little by little.

 

I suspect that is exactly what has been happening with each contract extension.  Dragging the franchise kicking & screaming into the 21st century.  

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21 minutes ago, T-Dub said:

 

I suspect that is exactly what has been happening with each contract extension.  Dragging the franchise kicking & screaming into the 21st century.  

Kind of like lull ole musty to sleep, till one day he awakens to find he has been relegated to aquatic distribution engineer!:lol:

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I feel they damn well better win now.  After the off season acquisitions and moves things look rather patch work without a lot of future.

 

Glenn on a two year contract and the cloud of injury.  A foot injury for a big guy is something to be concerned about.

Not sure who the OG they dumpster dived for even is.

 

I think the linebackers are particularly suspect. Brown a one year contract and back to the free agency merry-go-round.

As much as I like Burfict, he is a part time player playing only 3/4 of a season before the opening kick off.  After that, there is  always concussion protocol and I do believe he is targeted by refs for calls and possible suspensions.

Vigel is meh and Evans kind of flashed and disappeared.

Linebacker is my top priority in the draft because I think quality OT and a C can be found later.

 

Eifert is undependable and only on a one year deal.

 

I think the D line is OK but would like to see Michael Johnson move along.  I think he's the weak link.

 

Big draft coming up.  Just don't go all Bengal and pick guys who could be gotten later or that goofy quarterback from Louisville.

 

ZERO confidence in the Six Million Dollar Marvin.  What an impact those last two games of the season had as far as Marin's return and draft choice.

 

Whatever, its going to be an interesting season.

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48 minutes ago, High School Harry said:

I feel they damn well better win now.  After the off season acquisitions and moves things look rather patch work without a lot of future.

 

Glenn on a two year contract and the cloud of injury.  A foot injury for a big guy is something to be concerned about.

Not sure who the OG they dumpster dived for even is.

 

I think the linebackers are particularly suspect. Brown a one year contract and back to the free agency merry-go-round.

As much as I like Burfict, he is a part time player playing only 3/4 of a season before the opening kick off.  After that, there is  always concussion protocol and I do believe he is targeted by refs for calls and possible suspensions.

Vigel is meh and Evans kind of flashed and disappeared.

Linebacker is my top priority in the draft because I think quality OT and a C can be found later.

 

Eifert is undependable and only on a one year deal.

 

I think the D line is OK but would like to see Michael Johnson move along.  I think he's the weak link.

 

Big draft coming up.  Just don't go all Bengal and pick guys who could be gotten later or that goofy quarterback from Louisville.

 

ZERO confidence in the Six Million Dollar Marvin.  What an impact those last two games of the season had as far as Marin's return and draft choice.

 

Whatever, its going to be an interesting season.

The last 2 games had nothing to do with Marvin's return. He was never on the hot seat. The rest of your post is bleak and may end up being accurate, but the moves could pan out also. That could be why all of the signings are short term or they may just be stop gaps. I like the moves and hopefully there will be more.

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5 hours ago, Hooky said:

The last 2 games had nothing to do with Marvin's return. He was never on the hot seat. The rest of your post is bleak and may end up being accurate, but the moves could pan out also. That could be why all of the signings are short term or they may just be stop gaps. I like the moves and hopefully there will be more.

Oh, I agree. I like the moves, too.  We got a starting OLT for virtually nothing.  A healthy Eifert would be fantastic and the one year deal with Brown could be a kick the tires and extend him during the season if he works out.

 

Plus I an anxious to see what a new coaching staff can do with a healthy Ross and getting poison Alexander away from both Fisher and even Ogbuhi.  

 

Far more glass 3/4 full than half empty.

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47 minutes ago, High School Harry said:

Oh, I agree. I like the moves, too.  We got a starting OLT for virtually nothing.  A healthy Eifert would be fantastic and the one year deal with Brown could be a kick the tires and extend him during the season if he works out.

 

Plus I an anxious to see what a new coaching staff can do with a healthy Ross and getting poison Alexander away from both Fisher and even Ogbuhi.  

 

Far more glass 3/4 full than half empty.

I agree. I think at the very least that it will be a fresher, more interesting team with the coaching staff overhaul. And obviously, hopefully more wins.

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12 hours ago, Rick said:

This is wonderful news, but I don’t believe it. Fake news. The Bengals kept the wrong QB.

Eh, I've kind of jumped off the Mccarron may have been better boat after seeing how no other team had him too highly regarded either. As a starter anyway as it appears.

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