Notable players that have either asked for a trade, being put on the block by their own team , or have been speculated as trade bait.

Cooper Cup ,WR ,Rams , age 32, cap hit 29.8 M, guaranteed money in 2025 5 million- rams looking for trade partner more likely cut

Debo Samuel, WR , 49ers, age 29, Cap hit 15.9 M, guaranteed money in 2025 0- requested trade

Myles Garrett ,E, Browns, age 29, Cap Hit 19.7 M, guaranteed money in 2025 0- requested trade

Micah Parsons,  E, Cowboys,26, cap hit 24 million,  guaranteed money in 2025 24 million-  Cowboys exploring trade possibility

Feel free to add to the list as more players come up.

KC and the Eagles are loaded with free agents. Both have a very good right guard. Smith for KC and Becton for Eagles. Both going against stout DL. Both teams also have several defensive line free agents. Eagles have DE Sweat and DT Milton Williams.

Eagles have RB Gainwell and Chiefs have Hunt who continues to shine in playoffs. Chiefs also have WR Marquis Brown. Chiefs have LB Bolton and Eagles have LB Braun

These are all potential Bengals who can show how they perform in the biggest game of the year.

So grab your favorite beverage and enjoy the game.

Do you think these guys can take over their respective positions? Lee taking over at Center & Grandy at Blocking TE.

I'm more confident in a guy like Lee taking over @ center because he has the Athleticism( Ras score of 8.66), he graded well in college at both UCF & Miami, and he had a pass blocking grade of 87.7 during the preseason.( also a cap hit of 985,438)

I know Karras is a fan favorite but he will be 32 next season, he isn't that Athletic, and he will be carrying a 6.3 million dollar cap(1.5 m in dead money & 4.8 m in cap savings) hit this upcoming season. He did have a nice pass blocking score of 78(overall 64.1).

As for Grandy he was an All American(fcs) at Illinois State and he did have a total blocking grade of 70.25 on 44 blocking snaps during the regular season! That's a very small sample size though.

Its not like Drew killed it this past season with a 49.5 blocking rating(48.9 overall ranking) on 394 blocking snaps. Also drew has a 2.75 million dollar cap hit vs Grandy who has 980,000 cap hit.( that's roughly A 1.8 million dollar difference)

If the Bengals cut Karras & Sample they would save 7, 550,000 in cap space. That can get you a significant player elsewhere on the roster if the FO wants to go in that direction.

The Steelers are expected to play one of the overseas games next season in Dublin and it's thought that it will be against one of the teams in the division.

Given how Cincinnati is a pretty Irish and German area, it would make sense that we play in the game.

I'm all for it because it takes away home field advantage for them and also gives us a pretty cool game overseas.

My friends and I are already talking about going and maybe my mom and her brothers and sisters will too since their Burkes.

You like the idea, especially against the Steelers?

He has always implied it in interviews but today he flat out admitted it.  Its a good thing because his must have list now includes Trey and Mike Gesicki.  He is doing Radio Row today so I suspect we will hear variations of this theme all day

Joe Burrow on Breakfast Ball on @FS1 right now asked if he is willing to restructure to help keep everyone together: "Of course."

On if he has faith #Bengals ownership will be willing to spend and get all these deals done: "I do. I do. We have the cap space to get it done. I…

— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) February 6, 2025

I have a plan. It stinks because Tee Higgins is probably my favorite Bengal. Tag Tee and trade him to Cleveland for Garrett, with maybe a draft pick or two.
We can get Cooper Kupp for a bag of donuts, because Rams want to trade him as a cap casualty. He would be great patrolling the middle of the field and moving the chains and would be a great WR2 to Chase.

Kupp is older but cheaper than Tee ($20 million per year), but is not as good. I realize that. However, knowing Mike and Katie, I just don't think that it is feasible financially to keep Tee and Jamar. We can use the money we save on Tee's extension, $30 million per year at least and apply toward Garrett's salary. Plus, we have ample cap space available. Draft another WR and DT and hopefully sign a couple guards in free agency.

Just like that, the pass rush is fixed. Super Bowl bound.

I haven't been taking Meth today I promise. Lol. But with all the trades going around, why not us? We have to stop thinking 10 years down the road and think about our Super Bowl window or Joe will become another Carson.

Thoughts?

Seems a bit of a stretch to me, but his opinion is his opinion.

https://titanswire.usatoday.com/2025/02/02/tennessee-titans-brian-callahan-compares-shedeur-sanders-joe-burrow/

Quote:Last week, the Tennessee Titans sent a contingent of executives to the East-West Shrine Bowl in Frisco, Texas.

The biggest talk of the week is the conversations between Titans’ brass and Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Sanders is one of the top draft prospects in 2025 and is expected to be in consideration for the Titans’ number one pick.

The Titans began their evaluation process in Texas, and Brian Callahan told ESPN there are three things he looks for in a quarterback: decision-making, timing, and accuracy. When explaining why those three things are important, Callahan compared Sanders to Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.

“People had questions about Burrow’s arm strength in general coming out,” Callahan said. “One of the things that makes Joe so unique, and I think you can probably put Shedeur in the same conversation. … They anticipate when they throw it, they have the timing and accuracy on top of it. That makes up for the arm strength.

“Those things are how you make up for maybe not having the biggest arm. If you’re throwing on time and putting a ball when and where you’re supposed to go, you’re not going to have too many problems.”

Being compared to Joe Burrow, who is currently one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, is high praise for an incoming prospect. Burrow wasn’t expected to have immediate success when the Bengals drafted him, but he broke a few rookie single-game records before injuring his knee and ending his rookie season early. Since then, Burrow is consistently one of the top-performing quarterbacks each year in the NFL.

Sanders’ arm strength isn’t necessarily in question, but his decision-making is. He is accurate and can time his throws well, but only when he’s not holding on to the ball too long. He has a tendency to take unnecessary sacks, which is something he can’t afford to do in the NFL. However, that is an area that is coachable, so if Callahan and Borgonzi think he’s got enough of what it takes, Sanders will likely remain on their board of potential candidates for the top pick in the 2025 NFL draft.

From fantasy gurus Football Guys, perennial all-pro center Ryan Kelly will be testing the free agent waters.

Indianapolis Colts impending free-agent C Ryan Kelly said he would like to re-sign with the Colts this offseason but expects to talk with other teams during free agency.

Our view: Quenton Nelson is the better known name, but Kelly has been a cornerstone of an above average line in his nine years with the Colts. He expressed disappointment when the team didn't offer him an extension last offseason, and then they drafted Tanner Bortolini, a center from Wisconsin, in the fourth round of last year's draft. Kelly could be a big veteran addition for an offensive line, but he'll need to be able to play more than the 10 games he did last year because of missed time with a knee injury.

Both Kelly and his wife are Lakota West grads, which of course makes him a Bengals target, provided his knee checks out and he's willing to take the West Chester discount. As we all know, Karras played a lot of guard at New England.

The Defensive Line rebuild is the most important of off-season and they are nearly a blank slate. 

It doesn't feel like the Bengals have a starting DL on the roster outside of Trey Hendrickson. BJ Hill, Joseph Ossai, Cam Sample, and Jay Tufele are all free agents and only Hill brings any kind of consistency to merit another contract. The three young top 100 picks Myles Murphy, Kris Jenkins, and McKinnley Jackson all looked exactly like their college scouting reports without showing any of the ceiling. Sam Hubbard has dealt with nagging injuries that have kept him limited as a player most of his career which is on thr back end.


The Bengals should add multiple defensive linemen with different skill sets. A starting strong side defensive end, a nose tackle, a pass rushing defensive tackle, and a designated pass rushing edge.

Tee Higgins close to 22 mil,  BJ Hill 10 mil, Mike Hilton 6 mil, Trent Brown close to 5 mil, Davis-Gaither close to 3 mil. Gesicki 2.5 mil, Marco Wilson 2 mil
Then 15 players around 1 mil each.  
If the Bengals wanted them that much, they would be signed already.
The players on Defense especially, because Golden may have other plans on how to fix this Defense.  
The Bengals have finished out of play-offs 2 straight years, so they are in a rebuild mode, not a keep winning team mode.
Fans have favorites, I like Gesicki, but Bengals let TE's go every year.  They also really like this other TE that they tried to play more.

So the bad news some Fans will lose their Fan Favorites.  

The good news this not a year many top names leaving.  Once you get past Tee, it is not a list of big name players in the NFL.

The Bengals freeing up over 63 mil to use in a rebuild will help.  Now resign of Chase long term will cut into this 63 mil.  That right there probably takes it around 40 mil, which is still a good chunk of money to fix the Defense and other weak areas of this team.  

Of course the Bengals will resign some of these players as always, after they hit free agency and teams are not lining up for them.

I see this Free Agency as a Positive.  Dump over 63 mil, to do what needs done to get back in Play-Offs with Joe Burrow who is a winner.  The Offense is pretty much Zac Taylor and Golden should be OK on Defense.  Resign Chase long term and fill the gaps at other positions in Free Agency and Draft.  Maybe even resign Hendrickson to be here after 2025, maybe.  

Bengals will have the salary cap money to try to fix the defense, so that Burrow isn't expected to score 60 points a game.  The Chiefs let Hill go and kept winning, and it's a copy cat league.  Chiefs kept Mahomes to Kelce, Bengals keep Burrow to Chase, and you have Defense and such like Chiefs, you say good-bye to a Hill or Higgins, but Chiefs show that is how you keep winning.

GO BENGALS.....They could use the over 63 mil to get this team from losing back into the play-offs and Super Bowl hunt where they should be with Burrow to Chase. ....GO BENGALS