I went to see what moves everyone around the division made while i wasnt paying attention or forgot from the offseason. Its no secret they made moves based on having a trio like joe/tee/jamarr in the division, that DB room exploded with talent.

First off the Ravens:

Key Additions/notes:

Retaining Henry - for the 10th year in a row this guy has to fall off right? doesnt look like it, had 1900 yards last year on 325 carries, 5.9 per. Feels like 900 were vs us (he has 92 and 68 vs us) we have done well against Henry in the past.. his runs were just key and loud.

Jaire Alexander - incredible coverage corner, probably their biggest addition. Their corners were average at best, this helps that a ton.

Extended Kyle Hamilton - Huge fancy headline price tag, 4/$100, bot the last 47mil they can walk away from for nothing, so in real money he is on a 4 year 70-72mil deal.

Drafted Safety Starks - probably the best safety duo in the nfl. i watched his preseason highlights as well, smart quick good in coverage.

Drafted edge Mike Green from Marshall, i watched his preseason snaps, shoutout to whoever made that youtube video.. he didnt do shit, he looked like what every described Stweret as, he was always 3 feet away from the play unless a run came his way.. seems quick, obviously they want to develop him into something special , not likely a huge factor this season.

Added cooper rush as a backup.

added Cheeto at Corner.

Key Departures:

JK all day Dobbins left

Jadaveon Clowney Left.

OL Mekari Left

Gus Edwards left

Wade, wr put on IR for bi injury, will be back by the time we face them.

In conclusion, their defense improved, i was surpised their defense was 8th in scoring, since we hung 72 on them in 2 games..

their offense didnt add much, Hopkins is old and hasnt had a big season in a couple of years. he is an upgrade on who they had but i dont expect the 33/34 yr old to go for 1500 yards or anything.

should be a battle like last year, just probably a lower scoring one on both sides..

Depth Chart:

15 hours ago, GoBengals said:

Drafted edge Mike Green from Marshall, i watched his preseason snaps, shoutout to whoever made that youtube video.. he didnt do shit, he looked like what every described Stweret as, he was always 3 feet away from the play unless a run came his way.. seems quick, obviously they want to develop him into something special , not likely a huge factor this season.

I recall that video.

IIRC he got pancaked twice on the same play.

8 hours ago, dex said:

• by far the smallest scouting department in the NFL

• Whiff on 5 out of their last 10 1st round picks

• Blame bad luck

14 hours ago, High School Harry said:

I recall that video.

IIRC he got pancaked twice on the same play.

he wasnt very menacing for sure...

14 hours ago, dex said:

the bengals arent trying to impress anyone with their website "staff" they do not list the area scouts they pay, they do not list the contracted scouts for the nfl or college that they pay, they arent an ownership group swinging their money dick around pretending to be the biggest and best.. the difference between the number of people gathering information about draft picks, is minimal, they were lacking in some data analytics departments, but i think last year or this year they hired 3 new people in that department.. i remember interviews with them..

5 hours ago, T-Dub said:

• by far the smallest scouting department in the NFL

• Whiff on 5 out of their last 10 1st round picks

• Blame bad luck

they are the ONLY team that doesnt hit on every single draft pick.. its wild...

Steelers first round picks:

2025: Harmon - should be good

2024 - 57th ranked OT last year, no bust or anything at this point

2023 - broderick jones - 89th best tackle, 97th best pass blocking tackle.. same previous year or worse across the board, not a grand slam here..

2022 - kenny pickett - bust, Pickens in the second, nightmare traded away.

2021 - Najee Harris - steady 1k RB, didnt take his 5th year option, off the team, bust? grand slam" stupid ass first round pick? your call i guess

2020 - didnt have one, claypool in second round, killer draft

2019 - Devin bush - graded above a 60 once as a defender, on his 3rd team, didnt even finish his rookie deal, bust.

2018 - decent coverage safety, had one season about 60 in covergae grade. on his 7th team in 7 seasons.

2017 - tj watt - great pick

2016 - artie burns - decent pick, didn t take his 5th year option, o his 3rd team, was above average coverage corner with team. how do you grade a guy you dont take a 5th year on? not a bad pick.

2015 - Bud dupree - played 6 years then left, is terrible now, was never great, felt like he had big plays against bengals but never cracked the top 100 LB defense rankings his entire career. how do you grade that?

so i have

busts: 3-4? based on a first round pick investment

ok picks: 3-4 again

good or likely good picks: 3-4

BENGALS:

2025 - Stewert - too soon of course like Harmon but seems good so far.

2024 - Mims - seems like a good pick

2023 - Myles Murphy - seeming like a bust

2022 - Dax Hill - Not a bust yet, this year will decide. one year at safetyty one playing well at corner then hurt more than half the year

2021 - Jamarr Chase - grand slam?

2020 - Joe Burrow - grand slam?

2019 Jonah Willams - average OT - not terrible not a killer pick.

2018 - Billy Price - jesus

2017 - John Ross - jesus

2016 - William Jackson III - Good pick

2015 - Cedric - bust

so we got

Busts: - 4 (likely 4 with murphy)

ok picks - 2? maybe 3?

good picks: 4?

not exactly a stark contract..

RAVENS:

2025: Startks - should be good we shall see

2024 - Nate Wiggins 42nd ranked corner, so a decent #2 but good in coverage solid pick

2023 - zay flowers - solid pick, nothing amzing..

2022 - Kyle hamilton - great pick

2021 - rashad bateman - never even had 800 yards, averages 3 TD's a year, not a great value in the first, thats bust territory tho his best year was last year.. but three worthless years

2020 - Patrick Queen - good pick

2019 - Marquid Brown - gotta be a bust for a first rounder right? lasted three mediocre season then gone, on his 3rd team already.

2018 - Hayden Hurst - bust for a first round TE

2018 - lamar jackson - good pick

2017 - Marlon Humphrey - good pick

2016 - Stanley tackel - good

2015 - brshad perriman - bust, last 2 season on his 5th team in 7 years.

SO

bust: 4

decent/solid: 3?

good: 5-6?

they had more picks, had 1-2 more good or decent than the bengals or steelers... as you can see everyones averages and percentage are about the same..

want me to do the browns?

ill do the browns:

2025 - maso grahm - should be good

2024- none

2023 - none

2022 - none

2021 - greg newsome II - 177th ranked corner last year but was good previous three, so good

2020 - jedrick willis - 188th overall Tackle, solid pass block horrid run block, average i guess?

2019 - none

2018 - Baker mayfield - not a franchise qb? not terrible, how you grade this? ok? not quite a bust but not working for them.

2018 - denzel ward - good pick

2017 - Garrett - great

2017 - peppers - bust

2017 - njoku - great

2016 - corey coleman - bust

2015 - danny shelton - was gone after 3 seasons, bust? rates well, but a frist round pick gone before the rookie deal is rough

2015 - cameron erving - bust

BUST: - 4

OK/decent - 4

good/great - 3-4

man its fucking wild how every single team has about the same hit/miss/decent ratio across the board..

1 hour ago, GoBengals said:

they are the ONLY team that doesnt hit on every single draft pick.. its wild...

Wildly exaggerated strawman, no one said that but you. That aside, it seems you agree they have not drafted well lately. Your argument - correct me if I'm wrong - is that every other team has a 50% success rate in the first round? That doesn't pass the sniff test, but OK.

1 hour ago, GoBengals said:

Stealers first round picks:

kenny pickett - bust [agreed, absurd pick, i think burrow had the division in a panic. browns trade for watson that same offseason right? coincidence? i don't think so]

Najee Harris [the guy that's gone off on our defense at least a couple of times? he's not a household name or even Chase Brown in my estimation but a bust? you're reaching

Devin bush [still in the NFL unlike a whole lot of those Bengals but sure, ok]

Edmunds [also still in the pros, if he'd been a 2nd round pick no one would mind]

(etc)

So I count one bonafide, wash-out, never-was, bust here. Like John Ross, Ogbuehi, Billy Price, not only swing and miss but fall over & the bat knocks out someone in the stands BUST. Not meh. Busts. Don't tell me Jonah Williams wasn't a bust but Najee Harris was, c'mon now.

Let's say both Dax & Murphy are on the bubble but it's not looking great.

1 hour ago, GoBengals said:

RAVENS

2021 - Bateman - [wasn't he buried on the depth chart? he wasn't cut and he's producing now.]

2019 - Brown - gotta be a bust for a first rounder right? lasted three mediocre season then gone, on his 3rd team already. [for a first rounder. go ahead and call it a wasted pick though, sure]

2018 - Hurst - bust for a first round TE [nahh he would've been fine as a 2nd rounder. You want to count Drew Sample?]

2015 -Perriman - [again, still in the NFL, but OK, sure]

I count 2 and none of those are on the same WTF level as Ross, Ogbuehi, Price.. Pickett! 😆 It's like Manziel, Tebow.. if they're already a meme QB in college, might want to take them off the board

1 hour ago, GoBengals said:

want me to do the browns?

Fuck no. Nobody wants that. If your point was they can still suck with a normal NFL scouting department, sure, SomeFuckin Bank Field should get a cement dome like Chernobyl.

I'm saying, when the drafting's been suspect, maybe just maybe the one obvious thing they continue to insist on doing differently than every other pro team, the thing that they are criticized for relentlessly, where they are trying to cut corners on the very people that help inform those bad decisions they keep making...

Why not try doing it the way everyone else does, just to see what happens? Just to cross it off the list of "Why the Bengals can drop half a billion dollars on 4 players and still get called a poverty franchise". No it's not fair but it's sports entertainment, perception counts. And who knows, maybe all those other teams have a bunch of scouts for a reason, just possibly. Again, why not try it and see how it goes? why do they dig in their heels about stuff like this? just pay for the damned Gatorade it's not worth the fuss.

man its fucking wild how every single team has about the same hit/miss/decent ratio across the board..

No the hell they do not LOL. At least we're not the Browns though.

The Ravens had the best injury luck in the league last year. Highly unlikely they can do it again.

1 hour ago, Inigo Montoya said:

The Ravens had the best injury luck in the league last year. Highly unlikely they can do it again.

For multiple years.

One of the reasons I'm thinking their overdue to fall through their asses this season.

Not wishing that one them... bad Karma and all that but...

they're overdue.

5 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

The Ravens had the best injury luck in the league last year. Highly unlikely they can do it again.

Every time Lemar fakes a slide to then scamper for a TD is that much closer to a defender finally saying "fuck this guy" and ending his season, if not career.

Since KC came up again, wasn't that a young Geathers that ended Trent Green? Everyone wanted to crucify him until tape showed that not only had he already left his feet diving for the tackle before any attempt to slide, but Green had also shown a habit of doing little head-fakes imitating a slide then running for more yards. Ahead of his time, surely. Now Mahomes extends that proud Chiefs tradition of flopper QBs.

Anyhow... A season where Lemar doesn't end up on IR seems like a minor miracle to me at this point. Dude takes way more hits than he really needs to (or probably should, rules-wise.)

I enjoyed that play with Geathers and Green immensely. Great example of, "play stupid games, win stupid prizes."

It is baked into the cake now…not to even approach opposing QB’s in a head of steam. Everyone pulls up, hoping the QB slides or runs meekly into their soft embrace.

The only “contact” the NFL allows with QB’s is on sacks…and even that is measured.

Jack Lambert and Deacon Jones would be non-entities in today’s farce of professional football

18 hours ago, T-Dub said:

Every time Lemar fakes a slide to then scamper for a TD is that much closer to a defender finally saying "fuck this guy" and ending his season, if not career.

Since KC came up again, wasn't that a young Geathers that ended Trent Green? Everyone wanted to crucify him until tape showed that not only had he already left his feet diving for the tackle before any attempt to slide, but Green had also shown a habit of doing little head-fakes imitating a slide then running for more yards. Ahead of his time, surely. Now Mahomes extends that proud Chiefs tradition of flopper QBs.

Anyhow... A season where Lemar doesn't end up on IR seems like a minor miracle to me at this point. Dude takes way more hits than he really needs to (or probably should, rules-wise.)

Lamar has a career regular season record of 70-24. That’s an average of more than 12 wins per 17 game season. He did miss time in 2021 and 2022, with the Ravens going 3-8 in those games. It’s as simple as that. If he’s healthy then BAL will win a lot of games.

I also read that the Ravens were not only the healthiest team last year. They were the healthiest any team has been since 2017. Even more reason to expect regression.

On 9/2/2025 at 2:14 PM, T-Dub said:

Every time Lemar fakes a slide to then scamper for a TD is that much closer to a defender finally saying "fuck this guy" and ending his season, if not career.

Since KC came up again, wasn't that a young Geathers that ended Trent Green? Everyone wanted to crucify him until tape showed that not only had he already left his feet diving for the tackle before any attempt to slide, but Green had also shown a habit of doing little head-fakes imitating a slide then running for more yards. Ahead of his time, surely. Now Mahomes extends that proud Chiefs tradition of flopper QBs.

Anyhow... A season where Lemar doesn't end up on IR seems like a minor miracle to me at this point. Dude takes way more hits than he really needs to (or probably should, rules-wise.)

it was Gathers and i was in the house... and i was wearing my gaethers jersey...

it was a tense game...

4 hours ago, GoBengals said:

it was Gathers and i was in the house... and i was wearing my gaethers jersey...

it was a tense game...

Chiefs fans & broadcast crew were acting like he'd killed Santa Claus.

The Ravens may be the best team in the league.

I See no weaknesses.

Good nna have to beat them in playoffs all said and done m

Damn shame in our division but that's what makes the whole AFCN to win outright.

Gonna take our D to perform average JB to light it up like no ever.

Pumped up for what transpires....

I can't overcome the idea that Joe could throw 50 yds this year with the arsenal he has.

,50 yds with the and senal he has this season..

14 hours ago, claptonrocks said:

I can't overcome the idea that Joe could throw 50 yds this year with the arsenal he has.

,50 yds with the and senal he has this season..

5000 yards?