Why Not?

[Whatever]

(03-09-2022, 02:17 PM)Au165 Wrote: There are actually a lot of examples of them from FA's that refused to come here because of it but it's not usually publicized because they simply sign somewhere else and move on. Agents steer their clients away because of this approach in a lot of cases. It was literally just brought up by agents this past weekend at the combine, players want to come here but agents are skeptical of the Bengals contract structure. 

As to saying you get why for a guy like Lawson...it literally was the same deal Trey took with no injury concerns. Point is, this is how we do deals and it is WELL known around the league. Now that isn't saying Burrow and this team can't overcome that issue and be a destination but this is not a one off issue.

They can steer their clients to a point, but at the end of the day, they work for their clients.  It's a lot harder to steer a client away from someplace they really want to go than it is to steer them away from someplace they really don't care to go, which is what we've been in the past.

Agents are going to posture for the structure they want, but the reality is, their clients would have lost a lot of marketability if they had come here in the past, which costs them money.  That's a big reason why bad teams have to overpay in FA, regardless of structure.

I get why Lawson wanted a lot guaranteed at signing because he was highly injury prone.  Obviously, it worked out for him.  For the Jets, not so much.  A lot of places had Hendrickson rated higher as a FA last year and structure didn't seem to be an issue for him.  

With the kinds of players the Bengals are getting linked to, it seems likely that they will have to break their mold just to get '22 cap numbers down, anyways.