(12-23-2020, 10:38 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Everybody keeps saying sign Thuney, like it is a given he will even be available. And if he is, 30 other teams will be after him as well. I'd love to snag him, but they better be looking elsewhere as well.

(12-23-2020, 10:42 AM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Agree

But I'd add Hart and Price to the need to be gone list. Perhaps keep Hart as a backup ?

(12-23-2020, 11:00 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Certainly won't be 30 other teams after him. The real key here is the salary cap reduction for 2021. It has been going up ~$10m/yr, and yet this offseason it's projected to go DOWN ~$23m. 

As it stands right now, there's already 10 teams in negative cap space for 2021 and another 4 with $1-10m in cap space. That's with only about 40 players under contract each, on average. So not even a full roster.

There's going to be a pretty decent sized purge of players from teams this offseason as teams get under the cap, and only about 1/3rd of the NFL teams will have the cap space to sign the bigger FAs. The Bengals are among that 1/3rd. They're 6th in cap space for 2021 and that's not even counting no-brainer cuts like Bobby Hart ($5.9m saved), CJ Uzomah ($5.3m saved) and others.


I think you have to get rid of Hart to make space for FA OL. Cutting Hart saves $5.9m in cap space.

Honestly I forgot Price was even a thing, hence his exclusion. Looked it up and while his savings is less, they still save $2.1m in cap space cutting him, too.

So there you go. Hart and Price gone and it saves $8m, that's a good chunk of what it'll cost to sign at least 1 FA OL already covered. 

(12-23-2020, 11:11 AM)Trademark Wrote: Why Hart? He's actually been struggling to playing solid

(12-23-2020, 11:19 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Partly because if you have Sewell and Jonah, you don't need Hart.
Partly because I don't want a guy that has to struggle to be "solid". I want a good OL to protect the franchise QB. (I would also argue he's not solid.)
Mostly because these...

Bobby Hart on what was originally a strip-sack TD, reversed to an incomplete.

No commentary needed. pic.twitter.com/AmDrgvQFIO

— Josh Kirkendall (@Josh_Kirkendall) December 6, 2020

Hope the Bengals keep Bobby Hart forever. TJ Watt's made a lot of money against him. Upright him, shed, make the tackle at the LOS. #Steelers pic.twitter.com/P077yT4kqJ

— Alex Kozora (@Alex_Kozora) December 22, 2020

Bobby Hart taking social distancing very seriously ?‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/q7muebjTgX

— Elite Andy Dalton (@EvilAndyDalton) September 18, 2020

Bobby Hart doing Bobby Hart things. @CincyProblems pic.twitter.com/4NEhgIgVPk

— Elite Andy Dalton (@EvilAndyDalton) September 13, 2020

(That was just a very light effort to find ones from just this year. By no means a complete showing.)

(12-23-2020, 11:19 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: (That was just a very light effort to find ones from just this year. By no means a complete showing.)

(12-23-2020, 10:47 AM)ochocincos Wrote: Hart's cap hit is $6.9 mill next year. I wouldn't pay that much for a backup.

(12-22-2020, 02:59 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: It's what bad teams do and it's what a desperate fanbase clings to.  To beat the Steelers on MNF is awesome and I won't take that away.  But you'd swear with the swagger around here that we just won the Superbowl.  We've won THREE games this year.  We've won FIVE games in nearly two full seasons under Zac.  We've yet to win a road game, yet to put together a string of any kind that matters.  We put 230 total yards on the field last night.  

A win feels great.  Every time.  A win on MNF in front of the nation gives some credibility.  A win over the Steelers feels even better.  But there is real danger that the org rests on their laurels after last night, regardless of what the next two games look like, and continues on status quo for next year.

Celebrate.  Piss on your neighbor's Steeler's flag.  Enjoy the feeling.  But demand that this team gives us that feeling more than once every other month through the football season.

To the original thread topic... I think they've found their interior OL.  For the remainder of this season.  And then they need to address it and bulk it in the offseason.  

(12-23-2020, 10:50 AM)ochocincos Wrote: I don't think Thuney is realistic, as you said.
I'm hoping for Warford, whose asking price was $7 mill APY last offseason before he opted out.

(12-23-2020, 11:26 AM)fredtoast Wrote: Only 4 sacks allowed for an entire season is excellent.

How many available free agents OTs have allowed fewer?

(12-23-2020, 10:51 AM)WychesWarrior Wrote: I did not....I couldn't pick out a lot of the numbers. I just saw Spain getting in his face and separating them on the replay.

(12-22-2020, 02:22 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: agreed, and it happens every year

late in the season the players who have been crap all season start playing well, and now everything's fixed

cut to next year and it's bad just like the season before

rinse and repeat

(12-23-2020, 11:43 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Yeah, Thuney and Scherff are pipe dreams. Warford is probably the best we can hope for.

(12-23-2020, 02:28 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Just a reminder that we traded for the 8th highest paid OT in the league just 2 years ago.

The injury to Burrow was a public relations nightmare.  I think the Bengals will invest soem serious resources to the O-line this offseason.  Either a first round draft pick or a solid established starter in free agency. 

(12-23-2020, 02:31 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Until they prove otherwise history says they won’t pay guards.

(12-23-2020, 04:02 PM)fredtoast Wrote: This is just not true.

When Boling got his last contract it made him the 11th highest paid OG in the league.

(12-23-2020, 05:44 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I think the fans would like someone who will be paid like a Top 10 OG, which would be $10+ mill a year.
The Bengals, to date, have not paid an IOL $10+ mill a year.