This off-season the Bengals have kept their contracts fluid without locking themselves into any long term deals. Outside of the 3 core players (Burrow, Chase, Brown) they don't have a contract that has heavy dead cap. Alex Cappa would carry the largest dead cap of 2.25m if he is cut anytime after June 1st 2024.



Tanner Hudson, Trent Irwin, Treyveon Williams, Cody Ford, and even Mike Gesiki can all be cut right now for less than 1 million dead cap total. None of these guys even have a guaranteed roster spot in 2024. You can add in Trent Brown to that for a total of 3m 2024 dead cap for all 6 players. Drew Sample was a 3 year 10mish deal but its also a 1 year/4.9m with a zero dead cap out before 2025. Zack Moss is a 1.5m 2025 dead cap after this season. Cordell Volson can be cut after June 1st 2024 for 164k dead cap.... and of course Tee Higgins is on the 1 year Franchise Tag.


Long winded way of saying the Bengals are in an important Offensive Rebuild. How the Bengals construct their long term core weapons and OL around Burrow will be a large portion of the prime of his career. I expect the Bengals to be looking closely at the 1st round Offensive Weapons in this draft class like Brock Bowers, Brian Thomas Jr, and AD Mitchell... and of course all the Right Tackles.


Happy Easter TBB.

Mini rebuild. Same with the defense. But we knew this was gonna happen. Last year was supposed to be the year they got back to the Super Bowl before having to do this

When you have a QB like Burrow the offense needs to be in a constant retooling to keep the highly paid QB and have players who are both affordable and talented.

It's why I ultimately am comfortable with losing Tee. I think it's best for the team in the long run.

(03-31-2024, 09:56 AM)Synric Wrote: This off-season the Bengals have kept their contracts fluid without locking themselves into any long term deals. Outside of the 3 core players (Burrow, Chase, Brown) they don't have a contract that has heavy dead cap. Alex Cappa would carry the largest dead cap of 2.25m if he is cut anytime after June 1st 2024.



Tanner Hudson, Trent Irwin, Treyveon Williams, Cody Ford, and even Mike Gesiki can all be cut right now for less than 1 million dead cap total. None of these guys even have a guaranteed roster spot in 2024. You can add in Trent Brown to that for a total of 3m 2024 dead cap for all 6 players. Drew Sample was a 3 year 10mish deal but its also a 1 year/4.9m with a zero dead cap out before 2025. Zack Moss is a 1.5m 2025 dead cap after this season. Cordell Volson can be cut after June 1st 2024 for 164k dead cap.... and of course Tee Higgins is on the 1 year Franchise Tag.


Long winded way of saying the Bengals are in an important Offensive Rebuild. How the Bengals construct their long term core weapons and OL around Burrow will be a large portion of the prime of his career. I expect the Bengals to be looking closely at the 1st round Offensive Weapons in this draft class like Brock Bowers, Brian Thomas Jr, and AD Mitchell... and of course all the Right Tackles.


Happy Easter TBB.

I would say no to a rebuild mode on either offense or defense, as the schemes are likely staying the same, just plugging in some new pieces.

If they were replacing Burrow, I would say the offense is rebuilding. He is the foundation and not going anywhere.

For defense, I would say the same, as the scheme is likely the same, but improving the pieces. I have a mock I am thinking of posting which has the Bengals going trench heavy with Murphy in the first and o-line in two of the next three picks. If the Bengals bolster the lines, anything is possible.

Imagine Burrow having 4 seconds to throw the ball each play.
Imagine the running back having a hole to hit, instead of having to make the first cut in the backfield.
Imagine a d-line that can stop the run and generate pressure, outside of Hendrickson.

I hope the Bengals look to fix the trenches before they go looking for toy, albeit I am a fan of Bowers in the first. 

Not necessarily a rebuild but more a minor retooling to support the evolution of the offensive scheme. Moss is both a response to the issues with poor pass protection from the backs and poor YAC and a back whose running style fits the line blocking style. Gesicki adds a mismatch in the slot. Brown holds down RT while we draft the long term RT.

I do feel like the Bengals are going through somewhat of an offensive rebuild. I think that they liked the results of the version of the offense that Burrow ran against SF and Buffalo, and Browning continued to run after the wrist injury. Coaches and players were both quoted as saying that the "new" offense wasn't really anything new, it was all stuff that they had been working on, but were unable to use due to Burrow's calf injury.

So to clarify, be prepared for less 3WR 11 personnel sets out of shotgun, and be ready for more lining up under Center and allowing our OL to operate in a fashion that gives their body styles and skill sets a fair chance to dominate.

I hope the playbook uses alot more
Pre snap motion and diversified formations
Anything to keep the defense in a state of confusion.
2 RBs that can be threats in the passing game is
A huge huge plus.
I see the playbook being more opened up
With the addition of Geisicki where he can be
Moved around like a chess piece is only a good thing

(03-31-2024, 09:56 AM)Synric Wrote: This off-season the Bengals have kept their contracts fluid without locking themselves into any long term deals. Outside of the 3 core players (Burrow, Chase, Brown) they don't have a contract that has heavy dead cap. Alex Cappa would carry the largest dead cap of 2.25m if he is cut anytime after June 1st 2024.



Tanner Hudson, Trent Irwin, Treyveon Williams, Cody Ford, and even Mike Gesiki can all be cut right now for less than 1 million dead cap total. None of these guys even have a guaranteed roster spot in 2024. You can add in Trent Brown to that for a total of 3m 2024 dead cap for all 6 players. Drew Sample was a 3 year 10mish deal but its also a 1 year/4.9m with a zero dead cap out before 2025. Zack Moss is a 1.5m 2025 dead cap after this season. Cordell Volson can be cut after June 1st 2024 for 164k dead cap.... and of course Tee Higgins is on the 1 year Franchise Tag.


Long winded way of saying the Bengals are in an important Offensive Rebuild. How the Bengals construct their long term core weapons and OL around Burrow will be a large portion of the prime of his career. I expect the Bengals to be looking closely at the 1st round Offensive Weapons in this draft class like Brock Bowers, Brian Thomas Jr, and AD Mitchell... and of course all the Right Tackles.


Happy Easter TBB.

I think it’s simply Chase’s and to a lesser degree Higgins contracts who they had hoped to keep and both looming.They are running scared,conservative, or whatever you want to call it. I think their goal always going into the draft is not being pigeon holed in that first pick. Brown sealed that. They’ve got some flexibility. I very much agree about Brian Thomas. Bowers ain’t gonna be there. I’ve said many times I’d like to see a trade with Zac’s friend Kevin McConnell with the Vikings. I’d trade Tee & Browning ( they only have Darnold really) to them plus a first round pick swap and give them our best 3rd rounder for Justin Jefferson. The Vikings have no second or third rounder. May be wishful thinking but you could still do the deal for Browning and just the pick swap. Moving up guarantees you a shot at several RT’s, WR, and a better chance at Bowers. But I think Gesicki is going to be huge. I think Chase Brown they will really scheme well. I think the offense will be more explosive. Picher in interviews is harping on our lack of explosiveness. Well he,Zac, and the rest of the staff need to wake up. Get a run game.

(03-31-2024, 02:50 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I do feel like the Bengals are going through somewhat of an offensive rebuild.  I think that they liked the results of the version of the offense that Burrow ran against SF and Buffalo, and Browning continued to run after the wrist injury.  Coaches and players were both quoted as saying that the "new" offense wasn't really anything new, it was all stuff that they had been working on, but were unable to use due to Burrow's calf injury.

So to clarify, be prepared for less 3WR 11 personnel sets out of shotgun, and be ready for more lining up under Center and allowing our OL to operate in a fashion that gives their body styles and skill sets a fair chance to dominate.

I liked the results of the 2021 offense where they weren't just throwing passes around the LoS and instead were pushing the ball down the field and making big plays. Burrow intended 1.8 yards less per attempt and 2.0 yards per completion in 2023 than he did in 2021.

Just don't understand the point of the highest paid QB in the league is if you're just going to have him throwing passes at the LoS that any accurate weak armed QB can make. Wasn't just a 2023 calf thing either, because we saw it start in 2022, it just got worse in 2023.

To me the bigger question is why they have waited to get more offensive pieces to help the offense (OL) since Burrow arrived.

Bengals best offensive ranking in yards was 13th in the league. In 2022, 15th in the league and in an injury year to Burrow 22nd.

Those ranking hardly scream great. So, yes, the Bengals offense needs to execute better in 2024. It does not help us playing 6 games against very good defenses in the AFCN, but did our FO build our offense to compete and win within the AFCN and the rest of the league.

We know the TE position has been weak compared to the rest of the league. Hurst did well but was not a top 10 TE. Hopefully Gesicki came lead a group t be top 10 i 2024, but I am not so sure he will.

Some may call me crazy, but I would love to see us trade up in round 1 to grab Bowers. Bowers and Gesicki with Sample's blocking would give us a tough group to defense with Tee, Chase, Moss and Brown.

I love Burrow, but to date we have yet to sniff a top 10 offense. Hopefully, we get there in 2024 and the defense can also get into the top 10.

Re-Build? more like Re-Tooling for another run. If we were re-building we'd be cutting ties with alot of players, that's not happening, we are still actively trying to sign/draft players that improve the current team. We aren't trying to go backwards, Reader didn't work out, but other moves did. Now let's hope we find a way to minimize what we will be missing from Reader.

(03-31-2024, 01:19 PM)Joelist Wrote: Not necessarily a rebuild but more a minor retooling to support the evolution of the offensive scheme. Moss is both a response to the issues with poor pass protection from the backs and poor YAC and a back whose running style fits the line blocking style. Gesicki adds a mismatch in the slot. Brown holds down RT while we draft the long term RT.

Yeah retool is better. Rebuild is more of a term of a major overhaul. If players stay healthy or improve they may stay long term starters.  Though I want competition for Volson but he may somehow improve enough to be extended. Cappa may very well get an extension of a year or two.  You plan to be ready to replace players because you have the resources, not solely as an indictment on their play.  

Would say retool as well because Burrow and Chase will still be the main features but the supporting cast is getting tweaked somewhat. Maybe for the better.

We are transitioning from a pre-Burrow contract offense to a post-Burrow contract offense.

I wouldn't call it a rebuild. We're just cutting the pie up differently now.

(03-31-2024, 04:40 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: To me the bigger question is why they have waited to get more offensive pieces to help the offense (OL) since Burrow arrived.

Bengals best offensive ranking in yards was 13th in the league. In 2022, 15th in the league and in an injury year to Burrow 22nd.

Those ranking hardly scream great. So, yes, the Bengals offense needs to execute better in 2024. It does not help us playing 6 games against very good defenses in the AFCN, but did our FO build our offense to compete and win within the AFCN and the rest of the league.

We know the TE position has been weak compared to the rest of the league. Hurst did well but was not a top 10 TE. Hopefully Gesicki came lead a group t be top 10 i 2024, but I am not so sure he will.

Some may call me crazy, but I would love to see us trade up in round 1 to grab Bowers. Bowers and Gesicki with Sample's blocking would give us a tough group to defense with Tee, Chase, Moss and Brown.

I love Burrow, but to date we have yet to sniff a top 10 offense. Hopefully, we get there in 2024 and the defense can also get into the top 10.

2021 - yards per game 361 (13th), PPg 27.1 (7th)
2022 - yards per game 360.5 (7th), ppg 27.1 (7th)

In 2021, Joe burrow was 3rd in passing yards/game.
In 2022, Joe burrow was 2nd in passing yards/game.

I think this comes down to what people consider a rebuild vs retool.

Some consider a rebuild to require a change in scheme/coaching along with players.

Personally, I think a majority change in players can be considered a rebuild too.
We might see that next year once Higgins, Karras, Brown, and Gesicki all hit FA next year.
We're already going to see a new RT, slot WR, and RB this year.
A potential changing of seven out of 11 starters in two seasons is a pretty big change, even if the offensive playcalling is basically the same.

(04-01-2024, 10:28 AM)ochocincos Wrote: I think this comes down to what people consider a rebuild vs retool.

Fair point. I framed my initial retool post as the Bengals are in win-now window. They should not look at roster deconstruction but rather how to continuously add talent to support Burrow as a QB with the skill set to win it all.

I'd offer a rebuild only begins post Burrow.

(04-01-2024, 10:43 AM)TecmoBengals Wrote: Fair point. I framed my initial retool post as the Bengals are in win-now window. They should not look at roster deconstruction but rather how to continuously add talent to support Burrow as a QB with the skill set to win it all.

I'd offer a rebuild only begins post Burrow.

I agree with this. Only I call it, fine tuning. Adding the pieces that fit our scheme a little better than before.

(04-01-2024, 10:03 AM)Bengalbug Wrote: 2021 - yards per game 361 (13th), PPg 27.1 (7th)
2022 - yards per game 360.5 (7th), ppg 27.1 (7th)

In 2021, Joe burrow was 3rd in passing yards/game.
In 2022, Joe burrow was 2nd in passing yards/game.

My bad, I was looking at playoff averages versus regular season. 

Still, look at the numbers and outcome was nearly identical, 360.5 was 7th and 361 was 13th.

My point stands, we have yet to have a great offense (top 5) under Burrow. IMHO, it is due to our OL, so I am hopeful a much better OL from week 1 (last year was tough with Burrow hurt and new pieces at RT and LT) and a much better pass catching TE assuming we have Tee and Chase as well. 

Yeah, I wouldn't call it a rebuild myself. Adding players that fit the scheme are good moves though, I really like the Zack Moss,
Mike Gesicki and Trent Brown additions. Moss fits like a glove as he is much better running out of the Shotgun and pass protecting.

Gesicki is the most athletic pass catching TE we have had in a long damn time. Trent Brown when healthy is a stud swing tackle.

The Offense is built around Burrow and what he likes to do, but I think that maybe him getting injured last year and seeing what
Jake Browning and the Offense did with more under Center QB play will help him and the entire Offense.