Risner is a must-sign. But now that they know it—and he knows it—cost will escalate (albeit not insanely so)

16 minutes ago, Le Tigre said:

Risner is a must-sign. But now that they know it—and he knows it—cost will escalate (albeit not insanely so)

His cost will be tempered by the fact that he knows no one else really

wants him and, besides, he likes it here.

Must be the chili.

Dunno, Harry. I happened to see a bit of the Raider-HOU game this past Sunday. lol and behold…there was Alex Cappa entrenched at RG. Actually, didn’t look that bad (cue the PFF grades). I see that he is scheduled to start at center this week. Didn’t know he had that versatility.

One team’s trash is another team’s treasure!

I'm not sure we need any FAs on O, it should be focued on D imo

LB, S, CB, DL

I'd like to add a vet LB to teach the young guys at minimum. I think I prefer the other positions to fill in the draft.

Just not sure who that LB should be.

6 hours ago, Le Tigre said:

Risner is a must-sign. But now that they know it—and he knows it—cost will escalate (albeit not insanely so)

2 yrs 10 mil.

Win win..

16 hours ago, claptonrocks said:

2 yrs 10 mil.

Win win..

Hopefully the team is smart enough to see the light in re-signing Risner but the team does make us (and the player) wait time and time again.

22 hours ago, Le Tigre said:

One team’s trash is another team’s treasure!

"One team's trash is a Bengals free agent signing" ~ The Dookie

41 minutes ago, High School Harry said:

"One team's trash is a Bengals free agent signing" ~ The Dookie

One team’s treasure is a Bengals’ free agent departure.

Dunno, Harry. I happened to see a bit of the Raider-HOU game this past Sunday. lol and behold…there was Alex Cappa entrenched at RG. Actually, didn’t look that bad (cue the PFF grades). I see that he is scheduled to start at center this week. Didn’t know he had that versatility.

One team’s trash is another team’s treasure!

Raiders are tanking hard to get the top pick. That includes not only sitting Maxx Crosby but starting Alex Cappa.

In fairness to Cappa and Rankins, they've both played better for their new teams than they did for the Bengals last year.

I'm not sure we need any FAs on O, it should be focued on D imo

LB, S, CB, DL

I'd like to add a vet LB to teach the young guys at minimum. I think I prefer the other positions to fill in the draft.

Just not sure who that LB should be.

We should fill as many holes as possible with veteran free agents rather than hoping to get contributors from the draft. It's part of the Bengals flawed process that they project so much with college players. Vets cost more but at least you can see what they do vs NFL competition and less projection is needed. For a small personnel department, that would help. But it's in fiscal conflict with ownership.

Re-signing Risner is a no-brainer and should be done immediately after the season ends rather than letting him reach free agency. They should extend Chase Brown too but that can wait until after the draft. Yoshi hasn't played well this year so he's not in line for a decent extension nor is Chuck Sizzle.

On the defense, we'll let Stone walk and probably lose at least one of Ossai and Hendrickson. We should be looking to add veteran contributors at all levels of the defense. I'd tag Trey and hope to trade him for a second rounder at the start of free agency. If no takers, we'll have his services for another year. If we trade him, then maybe Joey Bosa can replace his 2025 production from LDE with Murphy at RDE and Stewart rotating in. For the interior, we should at least check in on Christian Wilkins. Especially if they hired Brian Flores as HC.

Bryan Cook would be a good addition at safety. We could still draft Downs to replace Battle. Devin Lloyd would be a massive upgrade from Barrett Carter. With 110 mil in cap space for next year, no reason we can't substantially upgrade the roster ahead of the draft. Other than the way the team operates.

8 hours ago, sparky151 said:

Raiders are tanking hard to get the top pick. That includes not only sitting Maxx Crosby but starting Alex Cappa.

In fairness to Cappa and Rankins, they've both played better for their new teams than they did for the Bengals last year.

We should fill as many holes as possible with veteran free agents rather than hoping to get contributors from the draft. It's part of the Bengals flawed process that they project so much with college players. Vets cost more but at least you can see what they do vs NFL competition and less projection is needed. For a small personnel department, that would help. But it's in fiscal conflict with ownership.

Re-signing Risner is a no-brainer and should be done immediately after the season ends rather than letting him reach free agency. They should extend Chase Brown too but that can wait until after the draft. Yoshi hasn't played well this year so he's not in line for a decent extension nor is Chuck Sizzle.

On the defense, we'll let Stone walk and probably lose at least one of Ossai and Hendrickson. We should be looking to add veteran contributors at all levels of the defense. I'd tag Trey and hope to trade him for a second rounder at the start of free agency. If no takers, we'll have his services for another year. If we trade him, then maybe Joey Bosa can replace his 2025 production from LDE with Murphy at RDE and Stewart rotating in. For the interior, we should at least check in on Christian Wilkins. Especially if they hired Brian Flores as HC.

Bryan Cook would be a good addition at safety. We could still draft Downs to replace Battle. Devin Lloyd would be a massive upgrade from Barrett Carter. With 110 mil in cap space for next year, no reason we can't substantially upgrade the roster ahead of the draft. Other than the way the team operates.

Your last sentence says it all “other than the way this team operates”.

They are just as likely to low ball Risner and if we lose him, anoint Rivers as the new RG as we are to sign Risner.

Given the lack of league quality on the OL, we need to sign Risner, extend OBJ and use two more draft picks on the OL. We still have no swing tackle and soon enough we need a C and a LT.

57 minutes ago, I_C_Deadpeople said:

Your last sentence says it all “other than the way this team operates”.

They are just as likely to low ball Risner and if we lose him, anoint Rivers as the new RG as we are to sign Risner.

Given the lack of league quality on the OL, we need to sign Risner, extend OBJ and use two more draft picks on the OL. We still have no swing tackle and soon enough we need a C and a LT.

Still say they need to try Mims at LT & OBJ can either play RT or go cry about it. His salary doubles next season in the final year of his current contract.

Though as you implied, more likely to extend him than make any serious effort to upgrade. Eating a $7M cap hit wouldn't be fiscally responsible. Expect more glazing from the team media. Who knows, maybe he'll even get a Bengals tattoo! Or a pet tiger!!

On 12/24/2025 at 7:50 AM, Arkansas Bengal said:

the "media" is bad... there are in fact TWICE as many player that count more than 9 mil against the cap...

these resources are both free and take 30-34 seconds to look up.

Uploading Attachment...

On 12/24/2025 at 9:28 AM, Le Tigre said:

Dunno, Harry. I happened to see a bit of the Raider-HOU game this past Sunday. lol and behold…there was Alex Cappa entrenched at RG. Actually, didn’t look that bad (cue the PFF grades). I see that he is scheduled to start at center this week. Didn’t know he had that versatility.

One team’s trash is another team’s treasure!

i saw cappa today being absolutely fucking terrible. holy shit he was bad...

On 12/24/2025 at 9:45 AM, Jamie_B said:

I'm not sure we need any FAs on O, it should be focued on D imo

LB, S, CB, DL

I'd like to add a vet LB to teach the young guys at minimum. I think I prefer the other positions to fill in the draft.

Just not sure who that LB should be.

well thats oversplifying a bit, we probably sign 3-4 free agents on offense, just the nature of the offseason, depth chart guys always on the move, Fant gone, hudson gone, all coming back from injury, we likey bring another FA TE, you likely see 2 FA linemen come in, unless perine is back a vet RB FA likely join us. etc..

no KEY FA offensive players...

On 12/24/2025 at 2:20 PM, claptonrocks said:

2 yrs 10 mil.

Win win..

yeah 8-10 over 2 is probably the number. 2/8 fully guaranteed, or 2/10 with 6 guaranteed

On 12/25/2025 at 6:43 AM, I_C_Deadpeople said:

Hopefully the team is smart enough to see the light in re-signing Risner but the team does make us (and the player) wait time and time again.

wait for what? he is a free agent. and he wont be tagged, there really isnt any option for anyone to wait on anything...

he would be FOOLISH to not see what money is on the market before agreeing to anything, his agent will know what the market is looking like, it only takes one team to overpay for the bengals to need to move on.

and if Murphy and Stewert can be acceptable rushers, you open a top 3 round pick to lay at guard again if you wish.

they could also assume rivers with an offseason to strengthen up could be the guard going forward.. but id assume they bring in someone if thats the came just in case..

i assume patricks veteran backup role is replaced as well..

10 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

i saw cappa today being absolutely fucking terrible. holy shit he was bad...

well thats oversplifying a bit, we probably sign 3-4 free agents on offense, just the nature of the offseason, depth chart guys always on the move, Fant gone, hudson gone, all coming back from injury, we likey bring another FA TE, you likely see 2 FA linemen come in, unless perine is back a vet RB FA likely join us. etc..

no KEY FA offensive players...

yeah 8-10 over 2 is probably the number. 2/8 fully guaranteed, or 2/10 with 6 guaranteed

wait for what? he is a free agent. and he wont be tagged, there really isnt any option for anyone to wait on anything...

he would be FOOLISH to not see what money is on the market before agreeing to anything, his agent will know what the market is looking like, it only takes one team to overpay for the bengals to need to move on.

and if Murphy and Stewert can be acceptable rushers, you open a top 3 round pick to lay at guard again if you wish.

they could also assume rivers with an offseason to strengthen up could be the guard going forward.. but id assume they bring in someone if thats the came just in case..

i assume patricks veteran backup role is replaced as well..

Good points..

By realessing Ford and his 3,1 cap in 26..

500k cap hit..

Pencilwhiping books could add another mil for Risner ..

Sounds minor but that's how I see Katy working the books..

We're all yelling defense in the draft but.. I would love to see them get ahead of the attrition on the OL with another OT. Let him back up OBjr for a year, or not. They can go defense the rest of the way but should really be looking to go hard in FA there anyhow, they can't keep waiting on these green players to fix everything. Couple vets that already know how to play NFL ball at a solid average-to-better level. Trey was doing that for them, but he's breaking down and enough already with contract disputes. Or just tag him and let him do what he's gonna do about that. Either way good FA defenders aren't cheap but there are always a handful that end up making an impact somewhere. So they pay a little more than they're comfortable with, that's the price of bad drafting. Unfortunately I expect more happytalk about how everyone thought so-and-so was a bust, but look how he got a couple sacks against whoever & has really turned the corner. That sausage mill is already churning it out now.

Got to break this cycle of draft picks being forced into starting spots because someone else's contract ran out. They write the contracts themselves, maybe try to get ahead of it rather than expecting every midround rookie to hit the ground running. That's what FA is for but they'd rather do their traditional offseason circlejerk like they've still got a SB roster.

24 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

i saw cappa today being absolutely fucking terrible. holy shit he was bad...

well thats oversplifying a bit, we probably sign 3-4 free agents on offense, just the nature of the offseason, depth chart guys always on the move, Fant gone, hudson gone, all coming back from injury, we likey bring another FA TE, you likely see 2 FA linemen come in, unless perine is back a vet RB FA likely join us. etc..

no KEY FA offensive players...

yeah 8-10 over 2 is probably the number. 2/8 fully guaranteed, or 2/10 with 6 guaranteed

wait for what? he is a free agent. and he wont be tagged, there really isnt any option for anyone to wait on anything...

he would be FOOLISH to not see what money is on the market before agreeing to anything, his agent will know what the market is looking like, it only takes one team to overpay for the bengals to need to move on.

and if Murphy and Stewert can be acceptable rushers, you open a top 3 round pick to lay at guard again if you wish.

they could also assume rivers with an offseason to strengthen up could be the guard going forward.. but id assume they bring in someone if thats the came just in case..

i assume patricks veteran backup role is replaced as well..

My point with Risner was the team itself will hum and haw and he could leave when in fact we should already be extending him. It should be done now not later and not with the assumption someone else can play the spot. Years to just build an average line so the last thing they should do is dilly dally.

Would be nice to see us being proactive with our good players so we can move forward and not sideways or back. Loads of cap space so zero excuses - Hill, Turner, Risner, OBJ can be re-signed along with a few others like Davis. Get it done quickly so we can still pick up a few free agents and not rely on draft picks to be starters.

1 hour ago, I_C_Deadpeople said:

My point with Risner was the team itself will hum and haw and he could leave when in fact we should already be extending him. It should be done now not later and not with the assumption someone else can play the spot. Years to just build an average line so the last thing they should do is dilly dally.

Would be nice to see us being proactive with our good players so we can move forward and not sideways or back. Loads of cap space so zero excuses - Hill, Turner, Risner, OBJ can be re-signed along with a few others like Davis. Get it done quickly so we can still pick up a few free agents and not rely on draft picks to be starters.

i know what your point was...

im saying thats not how anything works

you cant make someone sign.

he would be a god damn fucking FOOL to not test the market first...

so how do they sign him if he has even a remotely competent agent telling him to test the market?

this isnt slavery... he can do what he wants.. and that SHOULD be chasing a payday...

47 minutes ago, GoBengals said:

i know what your point was...

im saying thats not how anything works

you cant make someone sign.

he would be a god damn fucking FOOL to not test the market first...

so how do they sign him if he has even a remotely competent agent telling him to test the market?

this isnt slavery... he can do what he wants.. and that SHOULD be chasing a payday...

They sign him by giving him a fair number and maybe a bit more because we cant afford to go backwards on the OL. You do it by being proactive not reactive.

OL - Would really like Risner back. Karras? Another year or upgrade? Return O. Bown, Mims, Fairchild, Rivers, Ford/Patrick, Lee/McLaughlin, Add a FA for depth and maybe a swing tackle in the draft. Any reason to keep Volson around?

TE - All returns, D Sample & Gesicki signed. I'd be fine with bringing Fant &/or Hudson back

WR - Higgins, Chase, Iosivas, Jones & Williams return. I'd re-up Tinsley and add another decent receiver in the draft/free agency

QB - Burrow of course. I'd actually rather have Flacco back than Browning. Time to find a promising young back-up?

RB - Run it back with C. Brown, Perrine & Brooks. Find a young guy for depth,

DT - wouldn't hate a rotation of Slaton, B. Hill and Jenkins if the add a talented 4th big body to the mix.

DE - Stewart, Murphy, Hendrickson/Ossai, Johnson/C. Sample. Still need at least one more to bring the heat,

LB - Knight, Carter, Burks. Need another starter-quality guy and a depth piece.

CB - OK with Turner, D. Hill, Newton & Ivey. OK with J. Davis on the cheap. Need at least one more starter-quality pick-up. So over CTB.

S - Pray Downs is there for our our first pick and add his starting partner in FA. Possibly hold onto Battle for depth, but Stone goes. Let Anthony/Anderson battle for the fourth slot

ST - return McPherson, Rehkow & Wagner.

OL - Resign Risner, that has to be top priority. I would not be totally mad at extending OBJ, but he jumps the snap too often for my liking if we can improve at the spot I'd be great with that too. I think everyone else is here long term except Kaaras, who we did extend for next year, but finding a long term replacement here should be a priority, unless we feel good about guys already on the roster.

TE - I think we resign our own guys like Hudson and maybe Fant, if a TE falls in the draft I can see us adding but I dont think we do anything to bring in anyone from the outside to the team

WR - Starters are set, Tinsley can get a bump in pay to extend him but Im not breaking the bank either. Yoshi has good games but isnt consistent enough that I would not be opposed to finding a WR3 in the draft. Don't really see adding a FA here.

QB - Burrow is set, doubt we keep Jake. I'd like to keep Flacco, but if he retires my preference is finding a backup in FA, maybe a guy who has won in the league but isnt a starter.

RB - I like the 3 guys we have. Brown, Perine, and Brooks. I'm not sure we need to add here at all, but if something falls in the draft...

DT - They likely already have their starters here, I really really really would love a NT or/and penetrating 3 Tech in the Draft, this is a high priority position imo for the future.

DE - Stewart and Muphy are likely your starters, that said I would not mind adding a 3rd DE here. I'd be surprised if that is Trey or Ossai.

LB - really would like to add a vet here, I think if we can get a guy who may not be a top end guy but is still a starter and is smart and knows how to teach the young guys, that would be huge for the D.

CB - Another position that I would not be mad if we add a guy early in the draft, otherwise CB is usually an expensive position to pay FAs, maybe we can start Turner and Hill, and find a Mike Hilton type? If not keep Hill in the slot and draft a true CB1

S - imo the weakest position on the team, I'm not as down on Battle as most here, but I dont know what Al Golden is talking about with Stone, he can go as far as Im concerned. Find a replacement and hope we can draft Downs.

Teams - no real need here from a kicking unit perspective, would be completely fine extending Evan early, and Rehow too. Otherwise all the other teams positions are likely role players that you find later in the draft.

9 minutes ago, snarkster said:

OL - Would really like Risner back. Karras? Another year or upgrade? Return O. Bown, Mims, Fairchild, Rivers, Ford/Patrick, Lee/McLaughlin, Add a FA for depth and maybe a swing tackle in the draft. Any reason to keep Volson around?

TE - All returns, D Sample & Gesicki signed. I'd be fine with bringing Fant &/or Hudson back

WR - Higgins, Chase, Iosivas, Jones & Williams return. I'd re-up Tinsley and add another decent receiver in the draft/free agency

QB - Burrow of course. I'd actually rather have Flacco back than Browning. Time to find a promising young back-up?

RB - Run it back with C. Brown, Perrine & Brooks. Find a young guy for depth,

DT - wouldn't hate a rotation of Slaton, B. Hill and Jenkins if the add a talented 4th big body to the mix.

DE - Stewart, Murphy, Hendrickson/Ossai, Johnson/C. Sample. Still need at least one more to bring the heat,

LB - Knight, Carter, Burks. Need another starter-quality guy and a depth piece.

CB - OK with Turner, D. Hill, Newton & Ivey. OK with J. Davis on the cheap. Need at least one more starter-quality pick-up. So over CTB.

S - Pray Downs is there for our our first pick and add his starting partner in FA. Possibly hold onto Battle for depth, but Stone goes. Let Anthony/Anderson battle for the fourth slot

ST - return McPherson, Rehkow & Wagner.

OL - Yes to Risner, Karris, Patrick and Ford - there is a severe shortage of good OL in the league so at least keep what we have to start. Not sure we will find a good FA (although we did pick up Risner and Patrick last year). We would keep Lee/McLaughlin but we need to know if either can be the future C or at least also play G so they can be reserves. Toss Volson. I would drfat a Tackle and an interior OL as well (you literally cannot have enough good ones).

WR - probably look to the drfat in mid rounds. Did Tinsley do enough to count on>

DT - for those who pay attention , are any of these guys above just servicable rotation guys? Certainly does not look like any are elite. Would like to see another high round pick at this spot.

DE - I would let Hendrickson walk or at least see what the market is for him. Torn on Ossai but either way i would like to see another higher rou7nd pick on a rush end.

LB - ugg

S - If Downs is gone (or we choose to pass due to position) ther are a few good prospects in rounds 2 and 3 by the looks of it. We literally have the meh Battle and nothing else. Might need another FA or a second draft pick

CB - if we commit to Turner and Hill I actually thionk we are failry solid in this area - also assumming CTB is gone.

When you really break it down, if they sign their key in-house FA's (including Flacco), the could probably make due with a young swing tackle (OBJ's eventual replacement) and a WR to compete with Iosivas for the 3rd/4th spots on offense.

On defense though they need at least one solid addition (FA or Pick) at DT/DE/LB/CB/S. In more than one case you could easily argue for on of each (safety for one).