Pretty interesting.

Mixon out. Moss in.
Tee Higgins? Who knows?
Chase
Gesecki at TE
Boyd? Who knows? Likely gone.

I think Moss is better than the way Mixon had been playing.
Gesecki should be no worse than the TE play we saw last year.
Hopefully Chase is fully healthy.

Then, we'll see what they do at WR.

Likely a new RT too.

Moss is an upgrade at pass blocking but a downgrade at everything else imo
Tee won't go anywhere. Same thing with Williams last year
Gesecki is a big upgrade imo
Yeah Boyd is probably gone

We still have a ton of FA left and the draft. There's still big changes on the way

New OC, too.

It'll be different. Won't have the same aura of "big 3" or even known talent. (if Tee leaves).

If Tee is traded (not likely), then the only starters on Offense from the Superbowl run are Burrow and Chase. Unless I'm missing someone.

In two years... That's how quick the window inches shut.

To me Sample isn't really good at contested catches, but he is good with screens and short routes where they get him in space. And obviously he's a good blocker.
He's our on the line tight end starter for sure.

Gesicki is a solid red zone target, intermediate route target, and 3rd down target. He's our starting tight end off the line.

Chase is obviously dynamic and does everything, playing slot, wideout, etc. Just don't bring him in as a running back... It's not working.

RB Chase Brown will grow into our dynamic every down back. Has breakaway speed and vision. Great in space. Can catch, run, pound the ball. He can do it all. We won't really see what he can do until we use him as an every down back.

Zach Moss is a great 3rd down back that runs well/hard, breaks tackles, is solid in goal-line, catches well, and most importantly blocks well. He will be a great number 2 back, and can certainly be successful as a number 1 back. It's nice that he's still young and doesn't have a tremendous amount of wear and tear due to him being a committe back.

We have some young options at receiver that could fill the slot role for us. I'd like to see us sign Irwin for depth in the slot and out wide. He's been solid and doesn't seem to drop the ball. Iosavas to me is a backup out wide. He needs development, but has potential. Charlie Jones has a lot of potential in the slot. But he hasn't played much, needs development, and needs to stay healthy.

Remaining skill player needs are another balanced tight end that can catch and block, and ideally is another red zone target. Maybe this is a draft pick. Maybe its a developmental player since we have a starting on the line tight end and a starting off the line tight end already.

Need number 2 Wideout to compliment Chase. This is our biggest need right now with Higgins likely traded. Bengals could go a lot of directions with this position as far as wide receiver types go. I assume we fill this need in the draft and pick up a late 1st or early 2nd combined with a mid-late round pick in the trade for Higgins. This would give the Bengals ample ammunition to find a solid number two. Do they go with another big bodied guy like Tee? Someone quicker? Someone who's strength is route running? I prefer a balanced wideout with some speed, height and route running ability that has a reputation of being clutch. If they can find someone like that it will make the offense very versatile. To me Tee got called for pushing off way more than I liked, so I'd prefer someone that can separate with route running ability.

Need a solid RT that can run block and pass block well. Huge need here. I'd be okay with Jonah here if the price were right. A more talented veteran would have been ideal. Someone with size to stand up to the elite rushers. Hopefully the Bengals can find someone in the draft to fill this need. Or someone on our roster like Carmon steps up big time. Either way they need to draft someone to develop.

How they fill the remaining needs at WR, TE, and RT will really put a stamp on what kind of offense the Bengals run. Right now we could play a variety of styles.

With the Zach Moss signing and Gesicki signing I'm guessing they still want to run the shotgun base with Moss staying in to protect, run draws, and screens/short passing routes. Gesicki lining up off the line of scrimmage a lot as well. They really like this style of offense and I'm guessing that's what they are wanting to run more often than not.

They do need to be able to run the balanced approach more successfully though. Adding some oline depth in the draft will be important and likely adding a promising TE that can catch and block. Building up strength in the protection/run game up front will improve the offense more than anything. Obviously they need a solid WR 2 as well.

My strategy would be to spend 2nd-5th round picks on wideouts and develop them. Keep Chase and Burrow long-term. Year 2-4 these skill players should provide great value for us and contribute on game day. This type of player can be signed to a maneagable contract to get a few more years out of them, or they can be sold via trade. Put the money and high picks into more valuable positions that we can afford to spend money on long-term. It doesn't make sense to draft a skill player in round one then let them walk 5 years later because we can't sign him. A corner, dlineman, or olineman make much more sense--as does spending money on those positions in FA. That said, if you have a skill player too valuable to pass up in round 1, maybe it makes sense to utilize him for 4 years and then turn around and trade him for a 1st round pick.

Overall though, we invest a lot in our QB and WR1. I'd spend the majority of the remaining money on Oline, Dline, and defense. Utilize buying low and selling high for the rest of the skill players.

Running backs are a position where the wise thing to do is draft a dynamic starter, then let them walk or trade them when it comes to paying them. (1) cant afford the contract (2) injury risk is high (3) It's easy to draft good backs and they are best when they are young.

Look closely at the stats and you see Moss is a pretty major upgrade in the areas where Mixon was killing us (poor YAC, not making the first defender miss / break tackle, short yardage scenarios). Moss is a power back with upper tier pass blocking skills and upper tier balance and tackle breaking - a much better scheme fit.

(03-12-2024, 01:26 PM)Brownshoe Wrote: Moss is an upgrade at pass blocking but a downgrade at everything else imo
Tee won't go anywhere. Same thing with Williams last year
Gesecki is a big upgrade imo
Yeah Boyd is probably gone

We still have a ton of FA left and the draft. There's still big changes on the way

Wrong on a couple of those things Brownshoe. Moss is an upgrade over Mixon, he is harder to tackle, better in pass protection, better in short
yardage, is younger and costs less. Tee won't be here now that he requested a trade. He was had for an early 2nd round pick and we should 
trade him for an early 2nd round pick.

(03-12-2024, 02:10 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Wrong on a couple of those things Brownshoe. Moss is an upgrade over Mixon, he is harder to tackle, better in pass protection, better in short
yardage, is younger and costs less. Tee won't be here now that he requested a trade. He was had for an early 2nd round pick and we should 
trade him for an early 2nd round pick.

Eh I don't see how Moss is an upgrade over Mixon on those things other than the pass blocking. He's never had very good stats and he's never had a ton of TDs either, which would indicate him being good at short yardage. Definitely no where close to as good of a pass catcher either. I hope he has a breakout year though, since he has 2k yard on the ground his whole career. 

(03-12-2024, 02:44 PM)Brownshoe Wrote: Eh I don't see how Moss is an upgrade over Mixon on those things other than the pass blocking. He's never had very good stats and he's never had a ton of TDs either, which would indicate him being good at short yardage. Definitely no where close to as good of a pass catcher either. I hope he has a breakout year though, since he has 2k yard on the ground his whole career. 

He breaks tackles at a much better rate.

(03-12-2024, 02:44 PM)Brownshoe Wrote: Eh I don't see how Moss is an upgrade over Mixon on those things other than the pass blocking. He's never had very good stats and he's never had a ton of TDs either, which would indicate him being good at short yardage. Definitely no where close to as good of a pass catcher either. I hope he has a breakout year though, since he has 2k yard on the ground his whole career. 

Moss has been behind some really good backs. Last year when Jonathan Taylor got hurt he came in and ran great for the Colts
and had some monster games. We needed a RB that can break tackles, Mixon was one of the worst RB's in the NFL for years in 
this aspect and he had terrible balance and vision at times.

Mixon was good with ball security and yes as a pass catcher, we will see if we miss this part of his game. But I have a feeling that
Moss, Brown and whoever we add in the Draft will be much better than what we had going on last year.

(03-12-2024, 02:48 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: He breaks tackles at a much better rate.

(03-12-2024, 02:50 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Moss has been behind some really good backs. Last year when Jonathan Taylor got hurt he came in and ran great for the Colts
and had some monster games. We needed a RB that can break tackles, Mixon was one of the worst RB's in the NFL for years in 
this aspect and he had terrible balance and vision at times.

Mixon was good with ball security and yes as a pass catcher, we will see if we miss this part of his game. But I have a feeling that
Moss, Brown and whoever we add in the Draft will be much better than what we had going on last year.

We'll see how he does behind this line. Hopefully I'm wrong and he's much better than Mixon. I just don't see it yet.

(03-12-2024, 12:56 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Pretty interesting.

Mixon out. Moss in.
Tee Higgins? Who knows?
Chase
Gesecki at TE
Boyd? Who knows? Likely gone.

I think Moss is better than the way Mixon had been playing.
Gesecki should be no worse than the TE play we saw last year.
Hopefully Chase is fully healthy.

Then, we'll see what they do at WR.

Likely a new RT too.

Moss is step back in passing game (not pass blocking).. Mixon past two years has been solid. Also Mixon has been a TD maker for the team.. last three years 12 a season.. and Moss is slower (i thought we would get faster at RB).. understand moving Mixon just not replacing him with Moss

(03-12-2024, 03:01 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Moss is step back in passing game (not pass blocking).. Mixon past two years has been solid.  Also Mixon has been a TD maker for the team.. last three years 12 a season.. and Moss is slower (i thought we would get faster at RB).. understand moving Mixon just not replacing him with Moss

Ravens just added Derrick Henry too.

Steelers Patrick Queen.

(03-12-2024, 03:00 PM)Brownshoe Wrote: We'll see how he does behind this line. Hopefully I'm wrong and he's much better than Mixon. I just don't see it yet.

Well the OL should play much better with a healthy Burrow this year who plays under Center much more so Defense's cannot just
tee off on the OL aggressively knowing we are always going to pass out of the Shotgun. Zack Moss helps in the Shotgun more as 
well and is a lot like Samaje Perine who I think we missed big time last year.

(03-12-2024, 03:01 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Moss is step back in passing game (not pass blocking).. Mixon past two years has been solid.  Also Mixon has been a TD maker for the team.. last three years 12 a season.. and Moss is slower (i thought we would get faster at RB).. understand moving Mixon just not replacing him with Moss

Pretty much guarantee we draft another RB with this class. Tons of speed and also lots of bruiser backs if we just want Chase Brown
as our speed back. Moss is a lot like Perine but seems to be a little quicker with more burst when he runs.

(03-12-2024, 02:44 PM)Brownshoe Wrote: Eh I don't see how Moss is an upgrade over Mixon on those things other than the pass blocking. He's never had very good stats and he's never had a ton of TDs either, which would indicate him being good at short yardage. Definitely no where close to as good of a pass catcher either. I hope he has a breakout year though, since he has 2k yard on the ground his whole career. 

He is a much more efficient player.  He has a higher YPC, is noted as being able to break tackles, good in short yardage/goal line.  Whereas the past few seasons, Mixon has just been a volume guy that gets yards from a ton of touches.

(03-12-2024, 01:26 PM)Brownshoe Wrote: Moss is an upgrade at pass blocking but a downgrade at everything else imo
Tee won't go anywhere. Same thing with Williams last year
Gesecki is a big upgrade imo
Yeah Boyd is probably gone

We still have a ton of FA left and the draft. There's still big changes on the way

This just isn't true. People don't realize how bad Mixon was the past couple of years. 

(03-12-2024, 05:00 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: This just isn't true. People don't realize how bad Mixon was the past couple of years. 

agreed. 

Tons of RB's to draft this year as well in the later rounds. Dillon Johnson, Shipley, Estime, Guerrendo etc..

(03-12-2024, 02:10 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Wrong on a couple of those things Brownshoe. Moss is an upgrade over Mixon, he is harder to tackle, better in pass protection, better in short
yardage, is younger and costs less. Tee won't be here now that he requested a trade. He was had for an early 2nd round pick and we should 
trade him for an early 2nd round pick.

Requesting a trade is meaningless. It's a negotiation tactic. See Jonah Williams. The Bengals "MAY" trade Tee, but if they do someone is going to have to pony up a lot, and I do not believe a 2nd alone gets it done.

(03-12-2024, 05:10 PM)Sled21 Wrote: Requesting a trade is meaningless. It's a negotiation tactic. See Jonah Williams. The Bengals "MAY" trade Tee, but if they do someone is going to have to pony up a lot, and I do not believe a 2nd alone gets it done.

I honestly don't think there's a big market out there to pay a WR $26 million a year when there are a bunch in the draft on cheap rookie deals.

(03-12-2024, 05:10 PM)Sled21 Wrote: Requesting a trade is meaningless. It's a negotiation tactic. See Jonah Williams. The Bengals "MAY" trade Tee, but if they do someone is going to have to pony up a lot, and I do not believe a 2nd alone gets it done.

Well then we are in a bad spot. I don't like having players on the team that are unhappy. I would take an early 2nd round pick for Tee 
in an instant. 

(03-12-2024, 05:14 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: I honestly don't think there's a big market out there to pay a WR $26 million a year when there are a bunch in the draft on cheap rookie deals.

Probably right, but maybe a player for player deal might be something we could pull off yah never know. Just trying to stay positive here.

I don't like the thought of a franchise year like the Bates and Green franchise tag years with Tee where he plays not to get hurt.