The following guys are set to hit FA but are actually restricted, so they should be easy to retain if the Bengals want them back:

Restricted Free Agents (RFA):
Tanner Hudson
Mitchell Wilcox
Trenton Irwin

Exclusive Rights Free Agents (ERFA):
Cal Adomitis
Jake Browning

What each means:
RFA - A team places a tender on the RFA. The tender can be either a 1st round, 2nd round, and right-of-first-refusal. A tender is a 1-year contract with a value based on the type of tender that is placed.
The original team would then have opportunity to match an offer that another team has extended to said player.
If another team were to sign that player in FA, the original team would receive that round of tender placed on the player.
It's because of this that you don't often see RFAs leave their original team until they become UFAs.

ERFA - All a team has to do for an ERFA is extend a "qualifying offer" to said FA to retain them. Per Pro Football Network, "A qualifying offer is just a one-year contract at the league minimum salary based on the player's experience level."

I would expect probably Browning, Adomitis, Hudson, and Irwin to be back in stripes next year because of these FA designations.

PFF has Pratt and Wilson rated quite low and honestly I agree on this seasons performances. I hope they bring in some competition through FA
or draft to upgrade this unit. I know PFF isnt the only metric here but it seems to be the baromoter everyone looks at. Im still pissed they didnt bring in Ivan Pace
that kid is a beast.....cant believe he went undrafted!

The airport is opening a few new bars and restaurants, and one is a Bengals bar and kitcken!

Quote:Much of the replacements were scheduled to move in prior to 2020 but were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The remodeling and build-out of the new concepts are set to take place in the coming months, according to a CVG press release.

“Adding creative and new food and beverage options for travelers is critical to elevating the customer experience at CVG,” CEO Candace McGraw said in the release. “We look forward to working with SSP America and Tailwind Hospitality to roll out these concepts for our passengers.”

Bengals Bar & Kitchen

This contemporary sports bar — themed after the Cincinnati Bengals — is set to replace Outback Steakhouse in Concourse B. The menu will have food, beer and cocktails.

The source is a random poster that I don't know from a Bengals Facebook group that I'm in, so it's reliable



It just says that the rumor is that "definitely wants to stay in Cinci" and that he'll most likely tag him. There won't be a new deal until the tag expires but both sides would like to work on a deal.

That makes sense for him because, with Chasing being up for a new deal this offseason, they're likely not going to give two big receivers big contracts at once when we're so close to getting over the hump and the money could be spent elsewhere and on the other extensions, especially Chase.

Not much but hopefully it's somewhat true because, if Higgins is saying he's ok with it this soon, the offseason will go a lot more smoothly!

So if we lose Callahan, the train of thought is Pitcher gets the promotion to OC. Cleveland just fired Van Pelt as their OC. Bengals should rehire him as QB coach again.

Reddit, so take it how you will, seems to be competent.

Orthopedic hand surgeon here. The positives:

1. Dr. Graham is amazing. Operated with him when he was at Curtis National Hand Center and dude is seriously skilled. JB no doubt had one of the most technically gifted surgeons in the country perform his procedure.
2. Given how this injury occurred, it would an acute injury (rather than something chronic occurring slowly over time). Acute SL ligament injuries may allow for a repair rather than a reconstruction. While there are not great studies evaluating outcomes, the existing evidence tells us that he has the highest likelihood of returning to previous level of play with a repair.

Bad news:
1. Even in the most gifted hands, the results of SL ligament repair can be mixed and even worse if the ligament was unsalvageable (for instance if the ligament tore midsubstance rather than off the bone). There are dozens of ways to perform a reconstruction (substitution/replacement) because none of them are very good. Even with a “successful” reconstruction most patients fail to ever regain full range of motion, strength, or endurance. The challenge lies in finding an adequate replacement for a ligament that is not only flexible, but also incredibly stout. So far there just isn’t a great substitute.
2. Time frame for recovery is likely this - he probably has pins holding the bones rigidly in place to allow the bones to heal for 6-8 weeks. After that, pins will be pulled, and he’ll go into a removable splint to begin gentle range of motion followed by strengthening - this is another 6-8 weeks. Around the 3-4 month mark is when he’ll likely feel confident enough in the wrist and will be hopefully cleared by Dr. Graham for more aggressive strengthening with something like throwing (something very dynamic and repetitive) on hold until his strength begins to normalize. It will be unlikely that we know how he feels throwing until about 6 months. So…. we really won’t be able to understand the impact of this injury on our franchise quarterback until Summer 2024 at best.
3. If god forbid things go wrong, there are NO good salvage procedures for this. They all involve disrupting the natural movement of the wrist which is a requirement for throwing a football.

My read on the situation is that he most likely had a ligament repair, and I would guess that they reinforced the repair w fiber tape (essentially rope) then pinned everything in place. After the pins are pulled IF everything is going to plan, we should hope to see him in a removable brace by mid-January, early February. We’ll want to hear news around March that his strength and conditioning is going well. They will be X-raying him every 4-6 weeks and if we hear absolutely anything about needing another procedure we’re absolutely ******.

ADDENDUM: Seeing a lot of downcast comments here
I think the best way to look at this is that the likelihood of a full, uneventful recovery is still higher than a shitty one. As orthopedic surgeons, most of the surgeries we like to do have success rates in the range >90% so when dealing with a procedure that has a 75-80% “success” rate we tend to paint gloomy pictures. Still, when predicting a patient’s likelihood of success we got some great stuff in our corner:
1. Kid is young. Tissues when you’re a healthy, 20-something just handle better. The difference between places stitches in a robust young dude vs. anyone 50+ is so noticeable that even most junior residents can sense it. Also, shit just heals way better. When you look at outcomes in active military populations, which is probably the closest to what we’re dealing with here, they’re considerably better than in gen pop.
2. JB is BIG. Wrist bones are relatively small structures, and sometimes doing an SL related procedure on small bones and ligaments in small patients with friable, frail ligaments the smallness just complicates the procedure. That is NOT Joey B. Dude is a 6’4” BEAST which means huge bones, huge ligaments which translates into monster, satisfying suture stitches which can help hold the repair more reliably. I’m guessing Dr. Graham was deeply satisfied with how the repair went.
3. Major X factor in our favor is JB’s grit and toughness. There are some patients that will do well almost no matter what. I’ve had patients where I’m so down because their X-rays or a particular aspect exam post op just don’t look good - everything seems to be falling apart - and yet because of who they are and their ability to cope they’re doing ***** awesome, blasting away, nothing stopping them. From observing his recovery from the ACL and the calf strain we KNOW he’s a badass MFer. I’ll never forget the story of him doing the tire war at OSU (https://buckeyeswire.usatoday.com/2018/03/28/must-watch-joe-burrow-goes-all-out-to-win-tire-tug-of-war/ ). When so much of recovery is a patient’s ability to understand that they may be feeling pain, but that it’s not necessarily harmful grit is huge. We saw him go through the ACL reconstruction and the mental hurdle of accepting that a certain body part may not ever be the same, but it’s good enough. Joey B has grit in buckets.

If you forced me to put money on the situation, I’d bet big that he’s back firing dimes next Summer.



Dr Jesse Morse adding his two cents:

One of my initial concerns after he injured his wrist was either a scapholunate ligament tear or a TFCC ligament tear.
• It was confirmed that the tore the scapholunate ligament, and Dr. Thomas Graham (Allentown, PA) performed the surgery to repair it (per @KelseyLConway)
• This injury occurs in approximately 10-30% of intra-articular distal radius fractures or carpal fractures.
• The ligament has 3 components that span between the scaphoid and lunate bones (dorsal, proximal and volar components)

What does the data show?
“The mid-term outcome after open subacute SL repair overall shows that > 70% of the patients will have a significant improvement in pain, grip strength will reach approximately 85% of the normal wrist and movement will become almost 80% of that of the normal side.”
With that being said, I’m not overly concerned about this injury as it pertains to Joe Burrow.
He should return for 2024 with no restrictions and back to 100% pre-injury.

Just some info I hadn't seen before and thought was interesting and wanted to share.

If the Dolphins end up not tagging Christian Wilkins, should he be the Bengals #1 priority once the legal tampering period rolls around?

Dolphins GM Chris Grier says Christian Wilkins bet on himself and it paid off for him. He earned the right to be a free agent. They felt they previously made a strong offer.

— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) January 15, 2024

Mike Sans wrote an interesting article about Hill!
https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/news/bengals-film-breakdown-deep-dive-dax-hill-roller-coaster-season

I took refuge with the Cowboys (my girlfriend's team) expecting at least a playoff room.

Watching this meltdown made me realize how good I have it.

After factoring in futures contracts as placeholders and accounting for tag/tenders (Higgins, Browning, Adomitis) the Bengals will have 51 players under contract...and adding an estimated 3.25m for draft picks, they will have an effective cap space number of about 34.4m. 

Let's say they re-sign the 9 players listed below 1 year deals (just as examples). These contracts replace the placeholders for a net cap hit of 15.15m...meaning they will still be at 51 contracts and have around 19.25m in remaining cap space.
   
RB- Trayveon Williams               1 yr- 1.225m
WR- Trenton Irwin                     1 yr- 1.2m
TE- Tanner Hudson                    1 yr- 1.35m
TE- Drew Sample                       1 yr- 1.275m
G- Max Scharping                      1 yr- 1.25m
DT- DJ Reader                           1 yr- 12m
LB- Akeem Davis-Gaither            1 yr- 2.125m 
LB- Joe Bachie                           1 yr- 1.2m
LB- Markus Bailey                       1 yr- 1.175m

*I used a low-end estimate for Reader just because of the uncertainty with the injury and the risk of signing him to more than one year right now. I feel like the high end would be something in the 13-14m range.