06-27-2021, 12:55 PM
(06-26-2021, 12:31 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I don't believe they ever even made an offer to Thuney.
From the link you posted
With Thuney’s numbers checking in at $80 million, it’s clear the team wasn’t going to be in on Thuney.
How much did the family tell you the Bengals offered?
Great and fair question....
I did NOT specifically ask them that directly anything like "How much did the Bengals offer Joe" or give them any crap about that. A question like that would have been incredibly invasive and out of bounds, IMO. We talk about that stuff quite a bit, however, just in terms of what it's like for them (Joe's parents) and Joe. When we discussed it last time I was over they said that everything goes through the agents and the agent checks in with Joe - not with every offer or call, but with anything that comes up as interesting or competitive/alternative offers. They let the agents deal with that other than a short list of teams Joe did NOT want to go to, the family looks at it like a job and they wanted the most money from a quality organization in a place without a crazy tax bracket and that fit Joe's personality and lifestyle.... Who wouldn't? Joe did not love living in NE or the Pats militaristic approach to football, BTW, and was pleased to be moving on.
What I WAS told regarding the Bengals is that they did call the agent with an offer, but the Chiefs offer was so far above what the Bengals were initially coming to the table with (more on that in a sec*) that once the Bengals heard the numbers they backed away from the table because that was wayyyyyy out of the realm of their thinking. That's what it means when the article says "team wasn't going to be in on Thuney". That's from BOTH sides. The Bengals weren't prepared for the number Thuney got and Thuney wasn't interested in accepting the lower number after the Chiefs opened up their vault.
^ This all happened very quickly as soon as FA tampering began. When a team calls with an amazing offer (BTW, Thuney's offer was AMAZING) and a "Take this fast or we move on", the agents are also working out these deals along the same "You do this and we will sign or we move on to the next team who will" kind of thing. From a team's perspective this keeps the players from having weeks to shop deals and from the player's perspective it forces the teams to either commit or move on. For example: According to my source Joe really only wanted to play 3 or 4 more years, but the Chiefs AMAZING deal was for 5 with a ton of guaranteed money. So, that's what was signed.
- After the Thuney info dropped on the Bengals head they moved on to Zeitler where the EXACT SAME THING virtually happened. The Bengals miscalculated the market on the better FA interior linemen..... TWICE after having months to prepare and a TON of money.
* Regarding the Bengals offer vs the Chiefs
- I did not speak to her about this... but there was a twitter report with screen shots (since deleted) of DMs between someone and Joe's sister where Joe's sister confirmed that the Bengals "low balled" (her words) Joe with an offer. This is really just in comparison with the Chiefs. Once that offer was tossed out there virtually any offer was going to look like a low ball. YES, I confirmed that that was her Instagram account that the DMs published had come from. So, that report turned out to be legit even though I was really really speculating that it was not.
- The Chiefs' offer to Joe could have EASILY been matched by the Bengals and I am kind of appalled at the Bengals lack of vision and unwillingness to be creative in order to add Joe to their roster. It's a shame, really.
See, the Chiefs were cap strapped for this year. Compared to the Bengals they had little room. However, the Chiefs saw what was coming with the new TV deal and they forecasted that the cap would be going up TREMENDOUSLY in a short period of time. So they made Joe's deal for a little money THIS season, but for a TON of guaranteed money in the years following. The Bengals could have done the same thing, only given more money THIS season than the Chiefs and it wouldn't have been any kind of issue because the cap is going to go up like crazy. Instead, the Bengals opted to ignore that and assume the cap wouldn't be going up with any kind of huge jump.
The Bengals hedged while the Chiefs gambled all in. The Chiefs won on that bet.
This is why I said the Bengals had to keep going down their list of plans. I don't hate where they ended up, but it certainly wasn't on plan A. It could and should have ended up way way better. If the Bengals had better foresight and some balls to go along with it, massive improvements could have been made to the line. unfortunately, the Bengals conservative nature won the day (once again). Fortune favors the bold and the Chiefs are bold.
