New Jersey Bengal Posted March 10 Report Posted March 10 4 minutes ago, saphead said: I'll always hope that the Bengals win and have success but if they fuck this all up like it looks like they will, I'm just gonna check out, like I did in the 90's. I'll pay attention, but I won't be as emotionally invested, hanging on every play. I don't live in Cincinnati proper, so I'm kinda watching from afar anyway. They will lose a ton of their fan base if chase and Higgins are not signed and Trey isn't traded for good compensation or signed Quote
MichaelWeston Posted March 10 Author Report Posted March 10 6 minutes ago, New Jersey Bengal said: They will lose a ton of their fan base if chase and Higgins are not signed and Trey isn't traded for good compensation or signed Every year people freak out and every year we put forth a team we think will be a competitor. No reason to ever let a football team frustrate you. 2 2 Quote
sparky151 Posted March 10 Report Posted March 10 Well, we know we'll have a good offense and a suspect defense. Hobson will claim our rookie class will be elite. And the team won't maximize their cap space while other teams in the division do so. It's why winner/loser articles on other team's moves listed the Bengals as losers from the Garrett contract and the Metcalf trade. 1 Quote
Le Tigre Posted March 10 Report Posted March 10 Gosh…and today is just the “unofficial” tampering day Quote
sparky151 Posted March 10 Report Posted March 10 No, today and tomorrow are the official tampering period. Last week through Sunday was the unofficial period. The combine is where the tampering starts. A team will ask an agent if their client is going to re-sign with his current team or enter the market. They won't (usually) talk numbers at that point but indicate their interest then. If the player doesn't re-sign early, the agent will give the team a call during the unofficial period and start talking numbers. 1 Quote
Hooky Posted March 10 Report Posted March 10 6 hours ago, MichaelWeston said: Every year people freak out and every year we put forth a team we think will be a competitor. No reason to ever let a football team frustrate you. Exactly. The bengal hating media and eeyore fans mentality will always be that the bengals FO will screw up until they don't. 1 Quote
Hooky Posted March 10 Report Posted March 10 6 hours ago, New Jersey Bengal said: They will lose a ton of their fan base if chase and Higgins are not signed and Trey isn't traded for good compensation or signed They're not going anywhere. They think if they whine loud enough that it will actually influence the front office. 1 Quote
sparky151 Posted March 10 Report Posted March 10 5 minutes ago, Hooky said: Exactly. The bengal hating media and eeyore fans mentality will always be that the bengals FO will screw up until they don't. They already have. Waiting so long on re-signing Chase, Higgins, and Hendrickson has cost them close to $15 mil. That's an impact player they won't have just due to procrastination. Quote
sparky151 Posted March 10 Report Posted March 10 We've brought in a couple of DTs, which we needed. A backup RB is ok. We still need 2 starting guards, and at least 1 LB, maybe 2. And a LDE vet would be nice as well. We certainly can afford to add say Dalton Risner, Will Hernandez, Dre Greenlaw, and Dante Fowler. 1 Quote
MichaelWeston Posted March 10 Author Report Posted March 10 This is up to date https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X5zdTRZPDkDPyoBeBmCfryu321hyal7qybbZpLYIOqE/edit?usp=sharing 1 Quote
alleycat Posted March 10 Report Posted March 10 We don’t have a legit pass rushing DT yet. That is want Chris Jenkins in college or last year, so I don’t see him magically becoming what he hasn’t been. Quote
MichaelWeston Posted March 10 Author Report Posted March 10 16 minutes ago, alleycat said: We don’t have a legit pass rushing DT yet. That is want Chris Jenkins in college or last year, so I don’t see him magically becoming what he hasn’t been. Probably need to retype that. I assume that pass rushing DT is going to be at the beginning of the draft. Quote
Hooky Posted March 11 Report Posted March 11 10 hours ago, saphead said: I'll always hope that the Bengals win and have success but if they fuck this all up like it looks like they will, I'm just gonna check out, like I did in the 90's. I'll pay attention, but I won't be as emotionally invested, hanging on every play. I don't live in Cincinnati proper, so I'm kinda watching from afar anyway. Go for it. If you think this team is anything like the 90s, you weren't there. You're reading too many clickbait articles. Quote
sparky151 Posted March 11 Report Posted March 11 3 hours ago, MichaelWeston said: Probably need to retype that. I assume that pass rushing DT is going to be at the beginning of the draft. Great, we have to use pick 17 because we filled the DT roster with run-only guys. I don't mind having a run-only NT in Slaton but Hill wasn't an effective pass rusher last year and we should have upgraded. Quote
I_C_Deadpeople Posted March 12 Report Posted March 12 Lets talk OL. Over the last few years it has become very apparent that there is a lack of good quality OL league wide. Even this year in FA, the pickings are small compared to other positions. What does/should this tell a smart team? 1. You need to develop and keep more of your own OL. 2. Yiu need to spend more (and higher) draft capital on this position group. 3. You need to re-sign your own good players. 4. You also should target a few good OL in the undrfated piece post dradt - find more Kirklans, etc. It is easier to fill other spots on the roster with FA then OL. So draft more here. The old saying is true - you cannot have enough good OL. How many OL on a roster of 53? 9? Right now, I would argue we have 3 starters and 3 backups (4 if you could Lee, I count Volson as a backup). That is 6 or 7 in total and it is not like we would mind if a better player let us cut Volson. We need to be drafting 2 guys per year at this area, especially given how valuable our QB is. We invested a 2nd and 3rd rounder for DT last year, we should do the same for OL this year. 1 Quote
sparky151 Posted March 12 Report Posted March 12 The team will probably carry 9 OL on the 53 at any given week. Plus 3 or 4 on the PS. So versatility is key at the backup level. If we consider our starting Oline to be Brown-Volson-Karras-Ford-Mims at the moment with Volson and Ford moving to backup status once we replace them, that will be 6 or 7 of our 9 spots depending on whether Volson gets cut or not. Ford can cover all the guard and tackle spots. Kirkland theoretically can do that as well. We're in the market for a swing tackle who is better than Ford and to replace Trent Brown. Lee is the backup center at the moment but I'd like to draft one in the mid rounds to succeed Karras with Lee to PS. Karras can move to either guard spot in an emergency. I agree the O-line is important, enough so that we shouldn't rely on day 3 rookies. Bengals don't seem to draft well on the line with Mims the notable exception of the Burrow era. That's ok, we have the resources to get to better than average. If the scheme and coaching permit. There was a piece by Rapien that the Bengals are pursuing Teven Jenkins with the Giants and Seahawks also wooing him. He can play either the left or right side and would be a great signing for us. Quote
MichaelWeston Posted March 12 Author Report Posted March 12 On 3/10/2025 at 12:22 PM, sparky151 said: Well, we know we'll have a good offense and a suspect defense. Hobson will claim our rookie class will be elite. And the team won't maximize their cap space while other teams in the division do so. It's why winner/loser articles on other team's moves listed the Bengals as losers from the Garrett contract and the Metcalf trade. I wouldn't say the Browns are maxmimizing their cap space Quote
sparky151 Posted March 13 Report Posted March 13 4 hours ago, MichaelWeston said: I wouldn't say the Browns are maximizing their cap space They very much are maximizing their cap space. Their problem is they spent so much on a terrible QB. But the Browns have about 58 million dollars more of players under contract for 2025 than the Bengals currently do. The Bengals have more cap space at the moment because we aren't using it but even if we used every penny of cap space, the Browns cap is higher. Quote
MichaelWeston Posted March 13 Author Report Posted March 13 42 minutes ago, sparky151 said: They very much are maximizing their cap space. Their problem is they spent so much on a terrible QB. But the Browns have about 58 million dollars more of players under contract for 2025 than the Bengals currently do. The Bengals have more cap space at the moment because we aren't using it but even if we used every penny of cap space, the Browns cap is higher. The browns carried over more money from last year? Quote
MichaelWeston Posted March 13 Author Report Posted March 13 Bachie is the only Bengals free agent that I am surprised isn't back yet. Quote
sparky151 Posted March 13 Report Posted March 13 1 minute ago, MichaelWeston said: The browns carried over more money from last year? Yes, they did a bunch of restructurings, which created cap space but didn't spend it, so they had a lot of cap room to carry forward. Even with their dead money hits for trading Amari Cooper and ZaDarius Smith (which hit this year's cap). Bengals are just incompetent if one assumes their goal is to build the best roster they can for the money they have available to spend. It makes a lot more sense if one assumes their cap management is designed to maximize current year cap hits so they can plead poverty when desirable players are available. It fails cap management 101 when you sign a player to a contract of X years and the first year cap hit is more than 1/X of the total value. But the Slaton contract is like that. We haven't seen Hill's yet but I wouldn't be surprised if more than a third of his contract value hits year 1, even if they don't keep him all 3 years. Quote
MichaelWeston Posted March 13 Author Report Posted March 13 2 minutes ago, sparky151 said: Yes, they did a bunch of restructurings, which created cap space but didn't spend it, so they had a lot of cap room to carry forward. Even with their dead money hits for trading Amari Cooper and ZaDarius Smith (which hit this year's cap). Bengals are just incompetent if one assumes their goal is to build the best roster they can for the money they have available to spend. It makes a lot more sense if one assumes their cap management is designed to maximize current year cap hits so they can plead poverty when desirable players are available. It fails cap management 101 when you sign a player to a contract of X years and the first year cap hit is more than 1/X of the total value. But the Slaton contract is like that. We haven't seen Hill's yet but I wouldn't be surprised if more than a third of his contract value hits year 1, even if they don't keep him all 3 years. So you want them to push money into the future with void years and be in the absolute mess the Browns are in? Quote
sparky151 Posted March 13 Report Posted March 13 3 minutes ago, MichaelWeston said: Bachie is the only Bengals free agent that I am surprised isn't back yet. Yeah, I figured he and Sample would probably be candidates for a veteran minimum benefit deal. Trayveon Williams and Jay Tufele as well. Quote
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