Free agents are burning up their agents' cell phones as we speak, saying, "Get me to Cincinnati!" Experienced quality players want to come to the Queen City for what? Graeter's? LaRosa's? Goetta? No! Cincinnati is the most attractive destination to win a Super Bowl in the entire NFL right now and the Front Office should take full advantage of it.

The Bengals -- even with a shitshow offensive line -- nearly won the Super Bowl against the most loaded and stacked team on Planet Earth. Joe Burrow, given more protection, will be the quarterback face of the NFL for the next fifteen years; I'm convinced Tom Brady retired because he knows he can't hang with Joe. The Bengals feature a suffocating shutdown defense, a generational kicker in Evan McPherson, and skill players who are among the best in the league.

Veterans will beg to come here. They will come here and take cuts in salary just to play with Joe Burrow and win a ring. We haven't been here before; not in the modern free agency era anyway. This is a new thing for the Bengals and now it's time to embrace the winning culture.

Can you imagine a two tight end set with CJ Uzomah and Rob Gronkowski? What about Brandon Scherff lining up at right guard?

Free agents want to get paid first and then be on a winning team second.

All of this is moot if we don't offer guaranteed money quality contracts to FAs. If that happens, then yes - quality free agents will want to sign with the Bengals.

(02-21-2022, 12:54 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Free agents want to get paid first and then be on a winning team second.

All of this is moot if we don't offer guaranteed money quality contracts to FAs. If that happens, then yes - quality free agents will want to sign with the Bengals.

Yes and no.
You typically find some players who are in the tail end of their careers willing to take reduced pay in order to play on a contender, as they've made plenty in their career at that point.
With that said, those players typically are 1-year or 2-year rentals.
It's the players who are entering their prime that typically go money first, contender second.
Those are the guys who sign 3-year deals or longer.

(02-21-2022, 12:48 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: Free agents are burning up their agents' cell phones as we speak, saying, "Get me to Cincinnati!"  Experienced quality players want to come to the Queen City for what?  Graeter's?  LaRosa's?  Goetta?  No!  Cincinnati is the most attractive destination to win a Super Bowl in the entire NFL right now and the Front Office should take full advantage of it.

The Bengals -- even with a shitshow offensive line -- nearly won the Super Bowl against the most loaded and stacked team on Planet Earth.  Joe Burrow, given more protection, will be the quarterback face of the NFL for the next fifteen years; I'm convinced Tom Brady retired because he knows he can't hang with Joe. The Bengals feature a suffocating shutdown defense, a generational kicker in Evan McPherson, and skill players who are among the best in the league.

Veterans will beg to come here.  They will come here and take cuts in salary just to play with Joe Burrow and win a ring.  We haven't been here before; not in the modern free agency era anyway.  This is a new thing for the Bengals and now it's time to embrace the winning culture.  

Can you imagine a two tight end set with CJ Uzomah and Rob Gronkowski?  What about Brandon Scherff lining up at right guard?  

There is a lot of truth to your post. Players lose to states like Texas and Florida and maybe a few others as those 2 pay no state tax, but Ohio is reasonable. Players win big if they play in California, New York and Illinois and move to play in Cincinnati. These big cities not only have huge state taxes, but also huge city taxes.

Joey B. and ZT have changed the culture in Cincinnati, as good as Palmer was pre injury, he was not a likable National hero, he was smug. Joey B. has the demeanor and personality to be a face of the nation and is an outstanding QB.

(02-21-2022, 01:02 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Yes and no.
You typically find some players who are in the tail end of their careers willing to take reduced pay in order to play on a contender, as they've made plenty in their career at that point.
With that said, those players typically are 1-year or 2-year rentals.
It's the players who are entering their prime that typically go money first, contender second.
Those are the guys who sign 3-year deals or longer.

Give me an example of a player who has done this. It's not common. 

(02-21-2022, 12:54 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Free agents want to get paid first and then be on a winning team second.

All of this is moot if we don't offer guaranteed money quality contracts to FAs. If that happens, then yes - quality free agents will want to sign with the Bengals.

This is true in most cases, but a lot of guys who have cashed in over the years now want a ring.

We need a combo of both, young great OL who we will have to pay and older vets who want to win now. I hope the FO can pull it off and I think they will. My guess is Joey B. will greet any FA visit with ZT and the FO.

(02-21-2022, 01:04 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Give me an example of a player who has done this. It's not common. 

Tom Brady has taken contracts 100% less than value for 5 years now. Gronk also took less money to come out of retirement. I am sure there are many more examples.

I dont think so.

For offensive lineman its definitely gotta be a destination. You are pretty much GUARANTEED to start if you are anything but LT. You get to block for a power back(Lineman love blocking for power guys), and you get to block for a QB who you know is smart and talented.

Honestly our backup RB spot is probably pretty attractive too. Id love Giovanni back.

(02-21-2022, 01:08 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: This is true in most cases, but a lot of guys who have cashed in over the years now want a ring.

We need a combo of both, young great OL who we will have to pay and older vets who want to win now. I hope the FO can pull it off and I think they will. My guess is Joey B. will greet any FA visit with ZT and the FO.

Gronk will come to Cincinnati for less.  Tom Brady is gone in Tampa Bay and Gronk wants a sure thing; Gronk even says he wants to play with Joe Burrow.

(02-21-2022, 01:04 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Give me an example of a player who has done this. It's not common. 

Antonio Brown is one off the top of my head.
Played for just $1.67 mill last year with TB, played for just $3.1 mill this season with TB.
He had just signed a contract for $16.7 mill APY in 2019 with the Raiders.

Tom Brady for years played on a cheaper contract with the Patriots despite having multiple championship rings.
He could have chosen to get paid a king's ransom if he wanted to.

Gronk signed for relatively cheaper to TB, coming out of retirement to try to win more championships.
You had guys like Austin Hooper signing for $10.5 mill and Travis Kelce and George Kittle signing for $14.3-15 mill the same year Gronk came back to play for just $10 mill. Gronk is the same age as Kelce and was still considered one of the top TEs in the league when he retired for the 2019 season.

(02-21-2022, 01:11 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: Gronk will come to Cincinnati for less.  Tom Brady is gone in Tampa Bay and Gronk wants a sure thing; Gronk even says he wants to play with Joe Burrow.

No one wants Gronk. That money could be better spent elsewhere. 

(02-21-2022, 01:22 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Antonio Brown is one off the top of my head.
Played for just $1.67 mill last year with TB, played for just $3.1 mill this season with TB.
He had just signed a contract for $16.7 mill APY in 2019 with the Raiders.

Tom Brady for years played on a cheaper contract with the Patriots despite having multiple championship rings.
He could have chosen to get paid a king's ransom if he wanted to.

Gronk signed for relatively cheaper to TB, coming out of retirement to try to win more championships.
You had guys like Austin Hooper signing for $10.5 mill and Travis Kelce and George Kittle signing for $14.3-15 mill the same year Gronk came back to play for just $10 mill. Gronk is the same age as Kelce and was still considered one of the top TEs in the league when he retired for the 2019 season.

AB played for cheap because he literally had no other option. No team was willing to break the bank on him because of his off the field stuff. 

Brady is the ONE guy I'll give you. Gronk signed a cheap deal because he was retired and came back. No one knew what they were getting. No exactly a true use case. 

(02-21-2022, 01:24 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: AB played for cheap because he literally had no other option. No team was willing to break the bank on him because of his off the field stuff. 

Brady is the ONE guy I'll give you. Gronk signed a cheap deal because he was retired and came back. No one knew what they were getting. No exactly a true use case. 

In our defense, you only asked for a player who has done this and we gave you Brady and you agreed he did it.

(02-21-2022, 01:22 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Antonio Brown is one off the top of my head.
Played for just $1.67 mill last year with TB, played for just $3.1 mill this season with TB.
He had just signed a contract for $16.7 mill APY in 2019 with the Raiders.

Tom Brady for years played on a cheaper contract with the Patriots despite having multiple championship rings.
He could have chosen to get paid a king's ransom if he wanted to.

Gronk signed for relatively cheaper to TB, coming out of retirement to try to win more championships.
You had guys like Austin Hooper signing for $10.5 mill and Travis Kelce and George Kittle signing for $14.3-15 mill the same year Gronk came back to play for just $10 mill. Gronk is the same age as Kelce and was still considered one of the top TEs in the league when he retired for the 2019 season.

I feel like not many teams want AB.

Maybe OBJ is an example.

TB is also a warm weather city that is nice in Winter. OBJ had an allure to play in LA too.

Cincy...is not really a winter destination city. I guess we'll see.

Yikes. Little heavy on the hyperbole, no?

Did you forget that Dallas, LAR, LAC, KC, Buffalo, Miami, Baltimore and Pittsburgh still play in the NFL? 

(02-21-2022, 01:23 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: No one wants Gronk. That money could be better spent elsewhere. 

 Wrong, plenty of people want Gronk you run 2 TE sets with he and CJ, with chase and higgens on the field, you are smoked.  you have 1 on 1 those guys.  and you cant 1 on 1 Gronk or chase.

Also brady didnt retire because he couldnt hang with burrow.  he retired because he didnt want to go somewhere else, and the chance at a SB in tampa was all but gone.  to many FA losses plus the dude is 45

If Joe Burrow had Joe Burrow'd in the SB and the Bengals had a trophy right now, i'd say it would be more true.

But he didn't so it's not, really.

(02-21-2022, 01:33 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: I feel like not many teams want AB.

Maybe OBJ is an example.

TB is also a warm weather city that is nice in Winter. OBJ had an allure to play in LA too.

Cincy...is not really a winter destination city. I guess we'll see.

The point wasn't how in demand a player is.
It was to give an example of a player.

We don't know what other team(s) Brown was talking with, but we do know he signed with a contender and for cheap compared to the deal he had signed with a different team just a year prior. Yes, I'm sure the things that happened with the Raiders greatly affected his options, but he still had incredible value for the Bucs given his contract.

(02-21-2022, 01:23 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: No one wants Gronk. That money could be better spent elsewhere. 

What?
I would happily take Gronk.
Dude put up a 55-802-6 stat line on a team where he was the 3rd/4th option most of the season.
Had a 79.5 PFF grade. 86.7 receiving grade, 70.1 pass block grade.

Compare that to Uzomah:
49-493-5
63.6 PFF grade. 62.0 receiving grade, 70.6 pass block grade.

If Gronk and Uzomah end up being similar costs, I'd strongly consider Gronk over Uzomah if looking to try to further boost the passing game.

(02-21-2022, 02:02 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: If Joe Burrow had Joe Burrow'd in the SB and the Bengals had a trophy right now, i'd say it would be more true.

But he didn't so it's not, really.

Eh, I think everyone in the football world realizes he was fighting an uphill battle in that game. People make nonstop excuses for Mahomes in last year’s Super Bowl, and he was far, far worse than Burrow was. How Joe was able to put up a 101 rating in that game I have no idea.

Also, I disagree with Pittsburgh being a current top FA destination. Who will be playing the most important position is totally up in the air there.