(07-26-2021, 11:49 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: There absolutely was. This isn’t that hard to understand. All Troy had to say is “we are not comfortable going any higher than our current offer (an offer that was a complete joke - - reportedly about 50-60% of what other teams were offering), and we’ve decided to go in a different direction. We wish Whit the best of luck if he decides to sign somewhere else.”

A little more professional than going on about “aging OT’s” and passive aggressive bullshit like “all good things have to come to end I guess.”

Seriously, I know you literally live to argue, but defending how Blackburn handled that situation is beyond ridiculous.

I agree with you.  I think they also handled it poorly but I don't expect much more from our front office.  

A guy like Whit who was a team leader, who fought and busted his a** every time he stepped on the football field. 

However, Troy calls him an aging OT, and we stick by our offer.  I wonder if they're that dumb that they didn't realize that would ever leak out to the public/team fan base. 

(07-26-2021, 11:49 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: There absolutely was. This isn’t that hard to understand. All Troy had to say is “we are not comfortable going any higher than our current offer (an offer that was a complete joke - - reportedly about 50-60% of what other teams were offering), and we’ve decided to go in a different direction. We wish Whit the best of luck if he decides to sign somewhere else.”

A little more professional than going on about “aging OT’s” and passive aggressive bullshit like “all good things have to come to end I guess.”

Seriously, I know you literally live to argue, but defending how Blackburn handled that situation is beyond ridiculous.

Yeah, I don't understand how anyone can read that and not come away thinking that it reads terribly.  It wouldn't have take much effort at all to word it in a more friendly and positive manner while still getting the same overall point across.  The "I guess" is the cherry on the top.  Woof, does that sound horrible. 

(07-26-2021, 12:07 PM)TJ528 Wrote: I agree with you.  I think they also handled it poorly but I don't expect much more from our front office.  

A guy like Whit who was a team leader, who fought and busted his a** every time he stepped on the football field. 

However, Troy calls him an aging OT, and we stick by our offer.  I wonder if they're that dumb that they didn't realize that would ever leak out to the public/team fan base. 

Tell me he doesn’t have a face you just want to punch…

(07-26-2021, 12:10 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Tell me he doesn’t have a face you just want to punch…

lol yea he looks like the type if it doesn't fit the numbers he could give 2 shits who you are. 

So basically Mike Brown, Jr. 

(07-26-2021, 11:49 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: There absolutely was. This isn’t that hard to understand. All Troy had to say is “we are not comfortable going any higher than our current offer (an offer that was a complete joke - - reportedly about 50-60% of what other teams were offering), and we’ve decided to go in a different direction. We wish Whit the best of luck if he decides to sign somewhere else.”

A little more professional than going on about “aging OT’s” and passive aggressive bullshit like “all good things have to come to end I guess.”

Seriously, I know you literally live to argue, but defending how Blackburn handled that situation is beyond ridiculous.

"we've decided to go in a different direction" would indicate the team doesn't really want him back and the offer on the table is basically just a pity offer.  That could also be interpreted as disrespectful, in fact, more disrespectful that what Troy said.  

The reality is that this was one excerpt out of a long running business negotiation involving a multi million dollar deal.  It's the club's job to devalue the player in negotiations to get a better deal.  It's the agent's job to overvalue their clients in negotiations to get a better deal.  

Troy probably didn't handle it the best.  Whit certainly didn't handle things the best when he complained about the team drafting Og and Fisher in the media, as well as his lack of a contract extension.  His burial of the team after he left was way worse than what Blackburn texted to his agent.  If we're calling out Blackburn for being unprofessional, why is Whit not also being called out for it?  

(07-26-2021, 12:34 PM)Whatever Wrote: "we've decided to go in a different direction" would indicate the team doesn't really want him back and the offer on the table is basically just a pity offer.  That could also be interpreted as disrespectful, in fact, more disrespectful that what Troy said.  

The reality is that this was one excerpt out of a long running business negotiation involving a multi million dollar deal.  It's the club's job to devalue the player in negotiations to get a better deal.  It's the agent's job to overvalue their clients in negotiations to get a better deal.  

Troy probably didn't handle it the best.  Whit certainly didn't handle things the best when he complained about the team drafting Og and Fisher in the media, as well as his lack of a contract extension.  His burial of the team after he left was way worse than what Blackburn texted to his agent.  If we're calling out Blackburn for being unprofessional, why is Whit not also being called out for it?  

In my opinion, Whit can talk as much as he wants.  While he was here the he was a team leader and the team won.

Since Whit was allowed to walk this franchise has skidded back to the "Lost Decade of the 90's".  They've actually been worse than that decade.  

(07-26-2021, 12:34 PM)Whatever Wrote: Troy probably didn't handle it the best.  Whit certainly didn't handle things the best when he complained about the team drafting Og and Fisher in the media, as well as his lack of a contract extension.  His burial of the team after he left was way worse than what Blackburn texted to his agent.  If we're calling out Blackburn for being unprofessional, why is Whit not also being called out for it?  

Because Whit earned the right to be vocal about anything and everything to do with the team he gave a decade + of high level play to. WTH has Troy Blackburn ever done (besides marrying a billionaire) to give him the right to be so abrasive during a negotiation? If I’m an agent or player dealing with him and that’s the norm of how he conducts himself I’m wondering who the **** that little shit thinks he is. It’s not a good look no matter how you slice it.

Dang we got some snowflakes on this board. Blackburn made a business decision and worded it as such. There was no disrespect; we allowed him to play out his contract.

Was it a bad decision? Hell Yes.

Now what we did to Big Willie...that was disrespectful.

How about we make a different thread for people to relive the Whit fiasco for the 100,000th time? This was about Reiter - who should be onsite today. Hoping for a signing here.

(07-26-2021, 01:11 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Dang we got some snowflakes on this board. Blackburn made a business decision and worded it as such. There was no disrespect; we allowed him to play out his contract.

Was it a bad decision? Hell Yes.

Now what we did to Big Willie...that was disrespectful.

Oh please. This wasn’t manufactured outrage simply because we didn’t like the decision. Whit and his wife stated they felt personally offended by the way Blackburn phrased it. That pissed people off. End of story.

(07-26-2021, 12:58 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Because Whit earned the right to be vocal about anything and everything to do with the team he gave a decade + of high level play to. WTH has Troy Blackburn ever done (besides marrying a billionaire) to give him the right to be so abrasive during a negotiation? If I’m an agent or player dealing with him and that’s the norm of how he conducts himself I’m wondering who the **** that little shit thinks he is. It’s not a good look no matter how you slice it.

Sorry, but in my book, you don't get to disrespect someone publicly and then whine and cry because you felt they were unprofessional in private years later.  Whit gave then 10+ years.  They gave him millions of dollars and were willing to give him millions more.  If you're going to be a professional football player, you should conduct yourself as a professional.  Whit did not.  For all we know, part of Blackburn's "abrasiveness" was caused by Whit's whining to the media years before.

Blackburn has negotiated a lot of contracts for the Bengals.  He has as much experience and expertise as the typical player agent would.  

(07-26-2021, 01:51 PM)Whatever Wrote: Sorry, but in my book, you don't get to disrespect someone publicly and then whine and cry because you felt they were unprofessional in private years later.  Whit gave then 10+ years.  They gave him millions of dollars and were willing to give him millions more.  If you're going to be a professional football player, you should conduct yourself as a professional.  Whit did not.  For all we know, part of Blackburn's "abrasiveness" was caused by Whit's whining to the media years before.

Blackburn has negotiated a lot of contracts for the Bengals.  He has as much experience and expertise as the typical player agent would.  

What exactly are you even referring to wrt what Whit said anyway? His reaction to drafting Ogbuehi and Fisher? I must be forgetting if there was something else, because if that was it I don’t really see how being annoyed over who the team drafts is being disrespectful.

(07-26-2021, 01:24 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Oh please. This wasn’t manufactured outrage simply because we didn’t like the decision. Whit and his wife stated they felt personally offended by the way Blackburn phrased it. That pissed people off. End of story.

He wasn't so offended that he wasn't going to resign until the Rams came back with an over the top offer

Seriously, their account raises a lot of questions.  They said the Bengals offer "wasn't competitive," but after his agent's text exchange with Troy(that supposedly offended them), Whit's answer was still "I don't think any of these offers is good enough for me to leave.". It wasn't until the Rams came back with an insane offer that he decided to leave.  If the Bengals offer was that uncompetitive and he was so offended,  why did he then say it wasn't worth leaving?

(07-26-2021, 01:51 PM)Whatever Wrote: Sorry, but in my book, you don't get to disrespect someone publicly and then whine and cry because you felt they were unprofessional in private years later.  Whit gave then 10+ years.  They gave him millions of dollars and were willing to give him millions more.  If you're going to be a professional football player, you should conduct yourself as a professional.  Whit did not.  For all we know, part of Blackburn's "abrasiveness" was caused by Whit's whining to the media years before.

Blackburn has negotiated a lot of contracts for the Bengals.  He has as much experience and expertise as the typical player agent would.  

Thanks Troy.  Now get off the internet and get back on the phones with bates agent and get that deal done.

(07-26-2021, 10:32 AM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: Tell that to the family who has a net worth of probably around 3 BILLION dollars and who refuses to build a practice facility.

Has absolutely nothing to do with the conversation. Whit is trying to play the poor "I wanted to retire in Cincinnati" card, likely to try to get on the Ring of Honor. If he wanted to, there was nothing stopping him from signing the one year deal that was offered. He chose to go for a longer deal. That was his choice, and he was free to make it, just don't now whine and say you wanted to stay. He made his choice.

(07-26-2021, 01:58 PM)Whatever Wrote: He wasn't so offended that he wasn't going to resign until the Rams came back with an over the top offer

Seriously, their account raises a lot of questions.  They said the Bengals offer "wasn't competitive," but after his agent's text exchange with Troy(that supposedly offended them), Whit's answer was still "I don't think any of these offers is good enough for me to leave.". It wasn't until the Rams came back with an insane offer that he decided to leave.  If the Bengals offer was that uncompetitive and he was so offended,  why did he then say it wasn't worth leaving?

The actual offer was not the offensive part. It was the phrasing of the rest. Anyway, I guarantee Andrew Whitworth is lot more respected around the league than Troy Blackburn is. Would any other team hire Troy to work in their FO? Probably not, right? Whit otoh will have a job immediately if he wants get into coaching or stay involved with the game in some other capacity.

(07-26-2021, 02:08 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: The actual offer was not the offensive part. It was the phrasing of the rest. Anyway, I guarantee Andrew Whitworth is lot more respected around the league than Troy Blackburn is. Would any other team hire Troy to work in their FO? Probably not, right? Whit otoh will have a job immediately if he wants get into coaching or stay involved with the game in some other capacity.

You don't know that about Blackburn, it's an assumption. When he says "we don't value a player that much", it's not personal, it's a number. Taking it personal is childish. If Bates said he wanted a new contract worth 50 million a year, the club would not value him that much. It's a simple phrase. Like Marvin said "Be a Pro"

(07-26-2021, 02:03 PM)Sled21 Wrote: Has absolutely nothing to do with the conversation. Whit is trying to play the poor "I wanted to retire in Cincinnati" card, likely to try to get on the Ring of Honor. If he wanted to, there was nothing stopping him from signing the one year deal that was offered. He chose to go for a longer deal. That was his choice, and he was free to make it, just don't now whine and say you wanted to stay. He made his choice.

Ive wanted to stay with companies i worked for in the past.  I told them i got an offer to do the same/similar job with another company...heres my offer letter.  I DO NOT want to leave.  If you pay me the same money they are offering I would love to stay here.  Ive been in this situation multiple times and some companies gave me a raise and other companies told me to kick rocks and take the new job.    He did make a choice but the Bengals essentially made it for him when they told him well offer you alot less money than anybody else and if you dont like it leave.  Pretty much anybody that was in Whitworths shoes would have done exactly what he did.  He wanted to stay, he had been here and liked it here, but his employer gave him an ultimatum to take half of what hes worth or leave.  So he left.

(07-26-2021, 02:14 PM)mikey6866 Wrote: Ive wanted to stay with companies i worked for in the past.  I told them i got an offer to do the same/similar job with another company...heres my offer letter.  I DO NOT want to leave.  If you pay me the same money they are offering I would love to stay here.  Ive been in this situation multiple times and some companies gave me a raise and other companies told me to kick rocks and take the new job.    He did make a choice but the Bengals essentially made it for him when they told him well offer you alot less money than anybody else and if you dont like it leave.  Pretty much anybody that was in Whitworths shoes would have done exactly what he did.  He wanted to stay, he had been here and liked it here, but his employer gave him an ultimatum to take half of what hes worth or leave.  So he left.

Again, he got a better offer and made the choice to leave. It was his choice. Funny how this Ring of Honor thing is going to start bringing all the players who left, some very badly, back around saying they didn't want to leave so they can try to get voted in..... which is all this is, otherwise why is he still talking about it.

(07-26-2021, 02:10 PM)Sled21 Wrote: You don't know that about Blackburn, it's an assumption. When he says "we don't value a player that much", it's not personal, it's a number. Taking it personal is childish. If Bates said he wanted a new contract worth 50 million a year, the club would not value him that much. It's a simple phrase. Like Marvin said "Be a Pro"

Bad comparison. They wouldn’t throw in the dig about being an “aging OT” to a player like Bates. They would just simply keep it to the numbers.

That’s what some of you are not getting. There. Was. No. Reason. To. Say. It. Like. That.

Not to a guy like Whit who was still playing at ALL PRO level, and who had done so much for your organization. But hey, it was hardly the first time they’ve royally screwed up, and it won’t be the last.