I fired a dependable and loyal employee today too, it's a business not a charity. Fill the jersey's up with robots as long as it brings me wins.

(04-07-2021, 11:55 AM)XenoMorph Wrote: unless we are about to use the savings on an upgrade i dont see the point

Possible extensions for Hubbard and/or Bates. Or else rollit over to pay them next year. 

Cap savings don't go in the Browns' pockets. 

Running backs now are mere complimentary pieces in a offense.
They are getting moved all the time.look over the last
Few years....Leveon Bell, Melvin Gordon, Mark Ingram
Todd Gurley, todays bellcow, tomorrows chocalate milk.

One of the classiest Bengals ever. He just put his head
And gave it his all. He will be a valuable piece for a playoff
Team in 2021...I could see him fitting in KC or Miami

(04-07-2021, 11:52 AM)ochocincos Wrote: Moving on from Bernard made sense. He was being overpaid for "just" being a good pass blocker and pass catcher.
The big issue is the Bengals waited around to cut veterans like Hart, Atkins, and Bernard instead of letting them go earlier and actually using that saved cap (>$15 mill) to sign a good upgrade at a different position. They could have added another WR and/or a top OL.
Instead, they have all this extra cap and no one good to spend it on.

Some might say they will put a good portion of it toward extensions, but I doubt much of it will go to that.
My expectation is only about $5-10 mill will go toward extensions, about $5 mill will go towards draft picks (after displacement), and the remaining $10-15 mill will get rolled over.

What about using that money for someone cut after June 1st?

(04-07-2021, 12:02 PM)sandwedge Wrote: What about using that money for someone cut after June 1st?

I'll believe it when I see it.

Gio is a great young man. Very best wishes to him. He will land on his feet with a better team. Hope he wins a Super Bowl.

But the incompetents in the Bengals front office  never should have re-signed him under the contract he received. There was almost universal agreement on this board on this issue. ( just like they never should have re-signed Hart)

My continuing gripe- why haven't the Bengals put more money into signing quality o line free agents? It is both baffling and infuriating. 

Will they now use this money to try to sign any quality o linemen that are left ? Are there any left?

Signing one older tackle who is declining is not the solution that is needed to establish a running game and protect Burrow.

Drafting Chase or Pitts would have been reasonable with a more aggressive free agent strategy from a team that has the money to do so.

Now it will be reckless.

(04-07-2021, 11:30 AM)jj22 Wrote: Right. Saving on Gio's number when they had over 20m in cap left and was in the top 8 of available space. 

Exactly. How I loathe this, let me count the ways:

1) Cap space is NOT an issue. We have a lot. We still have a lot.

2) We refused to splash big money in FA, instead going bargain hunting. Which is OK, given the market. But then, why did Gio need to take a pay cut? I mean, if we were gonna use that $5 mil to up the ante for a premier FA (Thuney, Trent Williams, Golladay, even Zeitler), then OK. But to do neither?

3) He asked for a release AFTER we asked him to take a pay cut. To sign no one. When we already had lots of space. Self-inflicted wound.

4) When protecting Burrow should be our #1 priority, we just lost our best pass protecting back.

5) Our WRs created the least separation in the league last year (I believe). Well, at least we have one of the best 3rd down/receiving backs in the league. Oh, nevermind.

6) I cannot believe we could not get something for him.

7) This is how we treat loyal, productive guys.

8) Bates/Hubbard extensions will not kick in until 2022 (right?), Gio's contract expires after this year. So by my reckoning, waiving him does not add 1 penny to make extending guys mire affordable. (I believe I am correct here, someone set me straight if I am wrong).

(04-07-2021, 11:16 AM)pally Wrote: He asked for his release AFTER being asked to take a pay cut.  He'll land a gig someplace else.  Probably for somewhere between what he was making and what he was asked to take.

This move has been on the table since the end of last season.  Re-signing Perrine cemented it.  It was a matter of when not if

And if a trade happened his new team would inherit his contract. If you’re set to make $4.1M with the Bengals or with your new team via trade, it doesn’t make sense on Bernard’s side to ask for his release when he is almost assured to make less if he is released instead of traded.

(04-07-2021, 12:09 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: Exactly. How I loathe this, let me count the ways:

1) Cap space is NOT an issue. We have a lot. We still have a lot.

2) We refused to splash big money in FA, instead going bargain hunting. Which is OK, given the market. But then, why did Gio need to take a pay cut? I mean, if we were gonna use that $5 mil to up the ante for a premier FA (Thuney, Trent Williams, Golladay, even Zeitler), then OK. But to do neither?

3) He asked for a release AFTER we asked him to take a pay cut. To sign no one. When we already had lots of space. Self-inflicted wound.

4) When protecting Burrow should be our #1 priority, we just lost our best pass protecting back.

5) Our WRs created the least separation in the league last year (I believe). Well, at least we have one of the best 3rd down/receiving backs in the league. Oh, nevermind.

6) I cannot believe we could not get something for him.

7) This is how we treat loyal, productive guys.

8) Bates/Hubbard extensions will not kick in until 2022 (right?), Gio's contract expires after this year. So by my reckoning, waiving him does not add 1 penny to make extending guys mire affordable. (I believe I am correct here, someone set me straight if I am wrong).

Not if they get the extension done this Summer. They can allocate a (good) portion of the remaining cap this year to reduce the amount spent in subsequent years.

For example, if they signed someone to a 3-year, $30 mill extension such that they are signed through 2024, they could spend $6 mill of this year's cap to go toward that this year, resulting in only $24 mill of that $30 mill spent for 2022-2024.

Theoretical breakdown:
2021 - Current salary + $6 mill
2022 - $8 mill
2023 - $8 mill
2024 - $8 mill

I wonder if Gio is thinking that if he has to play at a discount that he will go home and play in Miami so that his father can finally watch him play.

(04-07-2021, 12:09 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: Exactly. How I loathe this, let me count the ways:

1) Cap space is NOT an issue. We have a lot. We still have a lot.

2) We refused to splash big money in FA, instead going bargain hunting. Which is OK, given the market. But then, why did Gio need to take a pay cut? I mean, if we were gonna use that $5 mil to up the ante for a premier FA (Thuney, Trent Williams, Golladay, even Zeitler), then OK. But to do neither?

3) He asked for a release AFTER we asked him to take a pay cut. To sign no one. When we already had lots of space. Self-inflicted wound.

4) When protecting Burrow should be our #1 priority, we just lost our best pass protecting back.

5) Our WRs created the least separation in the league last year (I believe). Well, at least we have one of the best 3rd down/receiving backs in the league. Oh, nevermind.

6) I cannot believe we could not get something for him.

7) This is how we treat loyal, productive guys.

8) Bates/Hubbard extensions will not kick in until 2022 (right?), Gio's contract expires after this year. So by my reckoning, waiving him does not add 1 penny to make extending guys mire affordable. (I believe I am correct here, someone set me straight if I am wrong).

Great points. But cutting Gio makes sense if they were intending to use the savings to sign  o lineman this year and if that is the case it should have been done before free agency started.

I still say they way overpaid for Gio when he was re-signed. Way too much money for a second to third string RB and a bad allocation of resources on a team that has below average to  awful lines on both sides and a poor linebacker group.

(04-07-2021, 11:48 AM)PDub80 Wrote: No one in the NFL is trading for a 29 year old, 2nd string RB, with a $7m salary/$4m cap hit.

How can his salary be $7M, but his cap hit is only $4M?

I'm actually surprised by this,I thought zac Taylor's praised him last season and he was like a captain.

Zac's praise means the end is near for a Marvin Vet.

Honestly all these players should have been traded 2 years ago. Miami did it right. The JETS are doing it right. The Bengals find themselves in a rebuild 3 years late, still cutting aged VETS, needing picks, and looking to be 3 years out from competing again because they still don't have enough picks to cover the holes.

(04-07-2021, 10:58 AM)Speedy Thomas Wrote: Hello Trey Sermon in the 4th

not after running a 4.67 no thanks

(04-07-2021, 11:43 AM)BenZoo2 Wrote: It’s not gio’s fault they overpaid him. Was he not supposed to sign the contract? I get asking him to take a pay cut. I get him declining. I don’t get waiting until now to do it.

If they were already planning on his money coming off the books they should have traded or cut him sooner. Imho it looks bad doing that to a loyal player


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That’s the Bengals’ usual pitch. We’ll pay you less up front, but you’ll see all that money on the back end BS.

(04-07-2021, 12:15 PM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: How can his salary be $7M, but his cap hit is only $4M?

Because PDub doesnt know what he's talking about.  We saved a little over 4 mill by releasing him.

(04-07-2021, 12:18 PM)jj22 Wrote: Zac's praise means the end is near for a Marvin Vet.

Honestly all these players should have been traded 2 years ago. Miami did it right. The JETS are doing it right. The Bengals find themselves in a rebuild 3 years late, still cutting aged VETS, needing picks, and looking to be 3 years out from competing again because they still don't have enough picks to cover the holes.

You do have to wonder if the FO thought Taylor could come in and turn Marvin's team into a contender with a new, modern (offensive) philosophy.
Instead, the team nosedived and has been one of the worst in the league since Marvin left.
As such, the previous core was wasted, and now they need a new one.

So this might be on the FO for thinking Taylor would turn this team around faster than he has.

Good luck to Gio wherever he turns up.

(04-07-2021, 11:51 AM)pally Wrote: They knew they had this move in their pocket so from the team perspective it really didn't matter when they released Bernard.  It is almost impossible to get a trade partner for an expensive older player especially when the writing is on the wall is that a release is coming.  Every team has that challenge, not just the Bengals.  Fans tend to way over price trade value for these guys

According to the team they had accomplished the impossible and multiple teams (plural) called. Seems kinda strange to just release a player with multiple teams wanting to give the Bengals compensation to take his contract off their hands.