Ask Jim Owczarski

[jowczarski]

Hey all! No problem. I enjoy coming on to these things and the sub-reddit. Twitter is a bit crazier, but I still like enjoying people there. You can, of course, get at me on the Facebook in my profile as well. No matter what fans or players/coaches/owners think of us, we’re the direct conduit between those two parties – so I feel it’s important to be accessible. You all come up with questions sometimes I don’t think of, and I can write in a way here that I can’t always under my banner at Cincinnati.com


Now for my question. The packers are the only publicly held NFL team ran like a business. The Bengals are about the only team in the league where the team is the sole family business. Most teams are owned by men who made fortunes in other businesses and just bought a team for entertainment purposes. Do you think the unique ownership situation of the Bengal and Packers have an effect on their conservative personnel strategy?


I do think that matters. As far as I know, the Chicago Bears (McCaskeys), New York Giants (Maras), Oakland Raiders (Davises) and the Pittsbugh Steelers (Rooneys) are the only legacy, family ownerships whose business is football (forgive me if I missed another one or two) but when that’s your main source of income, it does matter.

Now, because of that, the Bears and Bengals (two teams I know a bit about) have long been accused of being “cheap” but in reality, they spend more than enough on a consistent basis.

Now, unlike all of those other families – and even the Packers - I do think the Bengals lag far behind in monetizing their brand within Cincinnati. I’m not as well versed in the details of the lease but all of those other institutions have done a great job of creating revenue that they get to keep and then in turn, put out. The NFL is not a true “revenue sharing” league in some ways. Yes they split TV, but each team can generate their own revenue streams that stay in their pocket. I don’t want to go down the rabbit hole of PBS, but to your question, yes, such ownership structures do directly impact how they operate and how much they spend.

Do you think that the Bengals are willing to let all of the key guys (Reggie, Adam, Iloka, Sanu, and MLJ) walk if the offers they get elsewhere are inlayed beyond what they see as reasonable. I have a bad feeling that they just may for some reason. 15 mil would probably get spent on guys like Vinny Rey if they give him the rumored 5 mil AAV, Wallace at 3 mil AAV, Leon at 3 AAV, Tate's mil or so, and Pat Sims at a mil. Signing all of the lesser guys would be about 3mil short, but they could inflate the deals to meet the 15.

Is it insane to see this as a thing that might come to be?

I wanted to wait a bit on this and obviously now we see how free agency played out and the team probably spent close to $19. They told me they pulled from their allotted injury pool – which is on the high end of the league average. I think I said someone here (or maybe it was on Twitter or whatever) that the $15 was a conservative number. Maybe it was the number they wanted to hit, but they clearly were ready to go higher especially my offering Marvin Jones $40.


wtf is up with the league rescinding the fine on Munchak? Any grumblings from the Bengals on the matter besides Burfict?

Honestly, no idea. No one would answer it in Boca Raton. I had one guy insinuate some racial elements could have been at play – i.e. if Paul Alexander grabbed the hair of Clay Matthews, would his fine have been as low, or rescinded? Now, I think that’s too easy a path to travel – but when something like this happens, considering Reggie isn’t a “star” and all that, the NFL continually allows itself to be questioned in such ways.

And I take it the Bengals are rolling out with unproven rookies and aren't signing a seasoned veteren WR?

They will sign a veteran. I can’t say if it’ll be LaFell but they are working towards that. I think they want some protections if they need to cut the dude, like D. Moore – they don’t want to pay a guy to not be on their roster.

Do you any have post free agency insight into the Bengals thinking for the upcoming draft? Obviously Wide Receiver has become an even bigger need than before, but will this likely be a position targeted in the first round?

Great question and Paul Dehner Jr. and I will really dive into this at Cincinnati.com over the next month. Honestly, it makes so much sense that they HAVE to draft a receiver in the first round that I see them picking a corner.

Hey Jim. I wanted to ask for a breakdown of next years projected comp picks. I realize its not set in stone yet, Cincinnati's front office is killing it with extra draft picks ( this year excluded - what happened ).

I think right now they will get the maximum allotment of four, from rounds 4-7. This is mainly due to the fact that there was SO MUCH MONEY spent elsewhere around the league. Marvin Jones got the biggest contract and it was “just” for $40 million. I guess if he plays every single snap on offense and catches 100 passes in Detroit, he could somehow sneak into the third round but honestly, that formula is so secretive and based more on salary than play time, it could be difficult.


If we were to trade Vontaz( I no we won't just curious) what would be fair value for him?

These are always hard because aside from in-your-prime QBs, NFL players have very little trade value. Seriously. You see a couple here or there, but so much goes into – guaranteed money, contracts being restructured, guys being put into new schemes, new divisions, and really, the new players around them. For instance, Burfict is a really good linebacker – but having an All-Pro DT and a Pro Bowl DE in front of him kind of helps.

So, let’s strip it down. Tez makes basically no money. So that increases his value. He’s proven he’s healthy, and he was a monster at the end of the year. That helps. But, he’s clearly got some on-field issues. Honestly, teams around the league won’t care. He’s not getting arrested. Any coach will think they can coach personal fouls out of a guy.

His value would be “high” – but in that case you’re looking at only say, a mid-round draft pick. Why? Because he plays a position that many teams feel can be easily found in the draft. He’s a good all around ‘backer, makes tackles, but he’s not going to give you 13 sacks. He’s not Brian Urlacher in terms of how he can affect the passing game with his speed and lateral coverage ability. So, there’s value, but really if you’re thinking of guys that could fetch the Bengals a high end first round pick, it’s Dalton and maybe A.J. Green. Geno could get you a first rounder too, IMO. That’s it.