Joe Burrow: "We know the standard here. That's what we've got to get back to."
Joe Burrow: "Everyone's expectation is Tee will be back. The offseason plays out in crazy ways to don't expect, but we want Tee back."
Joe Burrow said that the Bengals discussed with him the plan for the future of the roster when he negotiated the contract extension. They talked about these moves over the summer.
Joe Burrow on Tee Higgins: "We'd love to have Tee back. He's a big part of what we've done here. It's no secret, our relationship. I expect Tee to be back. We all want Tee back."
Joe Burrow on the under center offense: "It brought some different things to the offense that we were not able to do at the start of the year because I physically couldn't do it (because of the calf)."
"It was a good couple weeks."
Joe Burrow is lifting with his legs and doing a lot of core work. Tougher to do upper body workouts, but they're modifying a plan to keep his upper body strong.
"It's tough when you watch from the sideline. I was focused on getting myself better every day and doing what I could for Jake."
Joe Burrow: "Feeling good. Getting better every day."
No target date to throw. "I think I should be good for OTAs. We'll see."
Posted by: kevin - 01-08-2024, 04:54 AM - Forum: JUNGLE NOISE
- No Replies
Hopes were high after Super Bowl and AFC Championship 2 years in a row. However had someone told you at beginning of season that Joe Burrow would only win 5 games, hopes would have been low. Joe Burrow started season injured again and Bengals took early losses again as they waited for Burrow to get healthy again. When Burrow got healthy the Bengals beat the 49ers and Bills and looked like the Super Bowl team. Then we saw Burrow on the sidelines trying to throw the ball and bending over in pain. Painful throwing wrist injury. So Burrow started the season injured and left the season early injured. At that point many thought Bengals would not win another game. Enter Browning who kept Bengals in play-off race until tough road games Christmas and New Years of At Pittsburgh and At Kansas City. So Burrow won 5 games and Browning won 4 games
Fans should give Bengals credit for Super Bowl season, AFC Championship Game season back to back and then this 9-8 season with Burrow only healthy enough to win 5 games. They never quit. With Browning they stayed in the play-off race up to the At Kansas City Game, which Bengals played tough. They finished with a win over Cleveland.
The point in season Bengals where beating 49ers and Bills, the Bengals looked on their way back to play-offs. Then Burrow in pain due to wrist injury. Give Bengals and Browning credit, they stayed in the play-off hunt up to New Years weekend. Had somebody told you Burrow would only win 5 games and Bengals would stay in play-off hunt up to New Years, you would have said No Way. Bengals fought Hard. They Never Quit. They never made excuses. They won 9 games for a winning record. Bengals have nothing to be ashamed of. Fans should be Proud of this team and those that aren't are Good Time Charlie's, not true Bengals Fans.
Good Job Bengals.....NO QUIT....Winning Record Season
Despite the disappointing end to the season, the team has the resources (in terms of cap money and picks) to do a lot of needed things.
BUT
It is important to get the priorities straight because some of the needs are going to be expensive and they probably don't have the resources to do everything.
So my order of importance right now is:
1) Fix the interior DL room. This is going to be costly because we probably need a major Free Agent here AND a high pick. This is whether we resign Reader and he fully recovers or not. Trey can't be the only source of pressure up front and ideally you want the other source to be on the inside. Fix this and you see an immediate uptick on the defense.
2) Get a savvy veteran Free Safety.
3) Resign Tanner Hudson so that there is flexibility in the draft, especially as they NEED a blue chip DT and this is not a deep TE draft.
4) If both Tee and Boyd leave a veteran good possession WR is a need also.
Obviously the Tee situation has to be resolved early. The problem is his agent is notoriously hard to work with (not just with us either) and will want terms the team cannot perform if they are keeping Chase. So this may be a tag and trade (especially as draft capital is needed).
I was just thinking about player moves and not the higher level things like potential evolving of the scheme on both sides of the ball to fit the player skillsets better.
But he "just happens to be on a team with a top 5 in the world, and doesn't know what that means for the future."
He mentions this in today's postgame:
I think it's good our backup thinks that and he's simultaneously right about probably being a starter elsewhere, but what are we going to do with this guy in a couple years when he's not an ERFA and we need a good backup behind Burrow?
Browning could definitely come in and win a playoff game if needed. I like to think backups are a huge part of winning super bowls because most teams are injured by the time they make it.
Allright, the off-season is here a lot sooner than we all expected a year ago.
The first step in figuring out where you want to go is knowing where you are. To that end, here is a list of our signed players for next year:
I. 2024 Bengals Signed Players
A. Offense = 14
QB (1): Burrow (IR)
RB (3): Mixon; C. Brown, Evans
WR (3): Chase; Iosivas, C. Jones
TE (0):
OT (3): O. Brown; Carman, D. Smith
OG (2): Cappa, Volson
C (2): Karras, T. Hill
B. Defense = 21
DE (5): Hendrickson, Hubbard, C. Sample, Murphy, Ossai.
DT/NT (4): BJ Hill, Tufele, Bell, Maxwell (IR/PS).
LB (3): Wilson, Pratt; Harper
CB (5): CTB, Turner, Hilton; Ivey (IR), J. Davis.
S (4): Battle, D. Hill; Scott, Anderson (IR)
C. Special Teams = 2/3
PK (1): McPherson
P (1): Robbins
LS (0):
PR (1): C. Jones
KR (1): C. Brown
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Or, if you like to look at it from the other side, here is a list of FAs. UFA unless otherwise noted:
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II. 2024 Free Agent List
A. Offense = 13
Higgins (WR2), Boyd (WR3), J. Williams (RT), D. Sample (TE), Browning (QB2, ERFA), Irwin (WR4, RFA), I. Smith (TE2), T. Hudson (TE3, RFA), Wilcox (TE4), T. Williams (RB2/KR1), Ford (OT3), Scharping (OG3/C3-2), McCarron (QB3).
Adomitis (LS, ERFA), T. Williams (KR1).
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III. Overview
I realize most will likely think the D is more problematic than the O, but numerically, we have more holes of offense. Now, you can certainly have bodies but still need upgrades, but not having any bodies is worse.
I will certainly do a position group by position group breakdown later, but just broad strokes here.
Point #1: We have lots of cap room
Spotrac has it at $70 mil. Functionally less, as that counts only 38 signed players. Nor does it account for Chase's extension. But it is still 6th in the league. We can go FA route to fill a need or two if we want to.
For me this means while we won't necessarily try to retain all our big time FAs (Reader, Higgins, Jonah, Boyd, Chido), we will try to bring back some of them (most likely Higgins & Reader). Similarly, while we could cut a high paid vet to free up cap space (BJ Hill, Hubbard, Cappa, Mixon, Wilson, Pratt) I would be surprised if we do more than 1. This ain't a rebuild. I think the FO thinks we are a contender.
3. WR & DT/NT are the primary areas that need addressed.
Be it re-signing our own guys, FA, or draft. But we also have other pressing needs.
4. Pressing needs: RT, maybe CB.
RT for sure. Turner looked good early but Ivey's injury and DJ's play late would make a good corner hard to pass up.
5. TE, LB depth, P jump out too.
We have no TEs signed. Though there should not be a huge market for Sample or Wilcox. Hudson is an RFA.
Pratt & Wilson were not great. ADG, Bailey & Bachie are FAs. Maybe time for some LB competition?
Gimmee a P who can boom late in the draft. Kid from Iowa.
6. Not averse to: IOL upgrades, a big RB, more S help.
