(12-13-2024, 11:30 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: defelcting? money should be spent elsewhere. No need for an often injured expensive player on the offensive side of the ball

Yes, why are you concerned about what Higgins makes? Who gives a hoot what he makes? We just want him to play football and help the team win games. If he costs too much, the team needs to find a suitable replacement. 

(12-13-2024, 11:37 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Yes, why are you concerned about what Higgins makes? Who gives a hoot what he makes? We just want him to play football and help the team win games. If he costs too much, the team needs to find a suitable replacement. 

who cares what I think, bro. youre really fixated on this

(12-13-2024, 11:36 PM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: I wouldn't say this is a layup at all, but it goes from a 5% chance to a 50% chance absolutely.

It’s more than 50 at this point. Between Joe’s comments and the agency switch (to Chase’s agent of all people) I’d probably put it more like 75-80%.

Wonder if he will become Trey's agent.

(12-13-2024, 05:56 PM)jj22 Wrote: This is a hostage takeover and Chase's agent will hold MB hostage. This is not great news at all if you wanted to keep Chase and not Tee.

And Burrow isn't doing anyone but himself any favors if you all consider restructuring his contract some sort of favor to MB. All that means is he gets a chunk of money upfront. He isn't sacrificing anything. Most players are happy to take that payday. It actually hurts the FO in the long run. His help could have come when he was negotiating his contract (and it didn't).

This was probably the worst case scenario for MB and Co. At least they had a shot at keeping Chase before. Now it's Chase and Tee or likely neither.

The FO clashed pretty bad with Chase's agent let's not forget.

Not should Burrow give up anything or do favors for Mike Brown. Tee, Ja'Marr, and Joe should get paid what they're worth, and the family that is wealthier than them should figure out how to do it.

Oh damn

They may actually be tryna sign together and cut a deal

Holy shit



This is what Burrow gets you. No one but Burrow will throw that TD Chase caught at the phylon last week

The front office can kill 2 birds with one stone and find a way to f#%k this up in a whole new level even for them.

(12-14-2024, 02:00 AM)Housh Wrote: Oh damn

They may actually be tryna sign together and cut a deal

Holy shit



This is what Burrow gets you. No one but Burrow will throw that TD Chase caught at the phylon last week

You're setting yourself up for disappointment, Housh.

"If I want to beat Justin Jefferson, I’m going to beat the s--t out of Justin. Not by a penny, brother,"  - Ja'Marr Chase in 2024 on wanting more than Justin Jefferson's contract

Chase paid to take a $50m insurance policy out on himself rather than settle for less than he felt he was worth. This sounds exactly like everyone getting all excited about how blue collar local boy Burrow was going to take less to keep the trio together... and then he got a record setting $55m/yr.

(12-13-2024, 05:58 PM)FormerlyBengalRugby Wrote: Who likes a talented WR who will cost the team a king's ransom to keep, but is injury prone and cannot be relied upon to be worth said ransom?

Use that same money in the trenches, and the team improves a heck of a lot more than burning it on Tee Higgins.

He's green bean casserole! 

I empathize with this position but the Bengals are in a very unique position.

They are going into the offseason with at least 60M in cap space, less than 1 million dollars in dead cap and they've set up their cap space such that they have no reckoning coming any time soon (unlike similar teams like the Eagles). And we could have even more if we cut some of the dead weight on this roster like Sheldon Rankins, Geno Stone, and Sam Hubbard.

Tee Higgins is a top 5 free agent in the entire NFL this coming off season. I would argue he is the 4th or 5th best player on this team (behind Burrow, Chase, Trey and maaaaaaybe Brown Jr).

We also happen to have virtually no big free agents that we must sign because our 2021 and 2022 NFL draft classes have not yielded many impact players.

I was looking at a list of free agents in 2025, and there is no star pass rusher on the market. At least not one that we would consider signing. Khalil Mack is out there, but he's going to be 34 next year. 

There are a fair number of safeties, who I wouldn't be opposed to signing, but if our front office was interested in giving a premium contract to a safety, we probably would have just signed Bates.

My point is, we will have a lot of money, very few high priced internal free agents set to leave and the market does not really have premium players at our biggest areas of need on defense. If we have a free agent, who is top 5 player on our team and a top 5 player on the entire market, and he wants to be here and seemingly willing to work with the team in some nebulous way to make that happen (even going so far as to fire the agent that the Bengals have struggled to make a deal with)....why let that kind of player walk out the door? 

Chase and Higgins https://t.co/bllZamM9Lv pic.twitter.com/awijsBDIul

— Matt (@CoachMinich) December 14, 2024

(12-14-2024, 02:39 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: You're setting yourself up for disappointment, Housh.

"If I want to beat Justin Jefferson, I’m going to beat the s--t out of Justin. Not by a penny, brother,"  - Ja'Marr Chase in 2024 on wanting more than Justin Jefferson's contract

Chase paid to take a $50m insurance policy out on himself rather than settle for less than he felt he was worth. This sounds exactly like everyone getting all excited about how blue collar local boy Burrow was going to take less to keep the trio together... and then he got a record setting $55m/yr.

Team friendly is not just expressed in how much money. Burrow DID do team friendly in structure terms - the deal was structured both to make the cap hit manageable and to get around the funding rule. 

The agents have a very fine line to walk to insure both players are represented equally. I don’t think a situation like this has ever occurred before. 2 stars in the same position group negotiating simultaneously with the same team.

And while there are concerns about his injury history, there is zero doubt that he will command and receive a large contract on the open market

(12-14-2024, 03:02 AM)CJD Wrote: I empathize with this position but the Bengals are in a very unique position.

They are going into the offseason with at least 60M in cap space, less than 1 million dollars in dead cap and they've set up their cap space such that they have no reckoning coming any time soon (unlike similar teams like the Eagles). And we could have even more if we cut some of the dead weight on this roster like Sheldon Rankins, Geno Stone, and Sam Hubbard.

Tee Higgins is a top 5 free agent in the entire NFL this coming off season. I would argue he is the 4th or 5th best player on this team (behind Burrow, Chase, Trey and maaaaaaybe Brown Jr).

We also happen to have virtually no big free agents that we must sign because our 2021 and 2022 NFL draft classes have not yielded many impact players.

I was looking at a list of free agents in 2025, and there is no star pass rusher on the market. At least not one that we would consider signing. Khalil Mack is out there, but he's going to be 34 next year. 

There are a fair number of safeties, who I wouldn't be opposed to signing, but if our front office was interested in giving a premium contract to a safety, we probably would have just signed Bates.

My point is, we will have a lot of money, very few high priced internal free agents set to leave and the market does not really have premium players at our biggest areas of need on defense. If we have a free agent, who is top 5 player on our team and a top 5 player on the entire market, and he wants to be here and seemingly willing to work with the team in some nebulous way to make that happen (even going so far as to fire the agent that the Bengals have struggled to make a deal with)....why let that kind of player walk out the door? 

Great post. I’ve wanted to trade tee for assets (draft and cap). And I haven’t done the research but this is the main reason I would want to keep Tee. Are there any FA defensive players out there worth a $25M-30M year deal? If not, then my opinion shifts a little, a little closer to 50/50 on what to do. Idk I need to look at 2025 FA lists. And we also have to realize those players could still be retained by their team.

(12-13-2024, 11:45 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: who cares what I think, bro. youre really fixated on this

Exactly, that's why I keep bringing up your fixation on how this impacts Higgins' finances.

(12-14-2024, 02:32 AM)GodFather Wrote: The front office can kill 2 birds with one stone and find a way to f#%k this up in a whole new level even for them.

Man, any used car salesman could get a deal done and the Bengals FO would find a way to screw his up. If they do screw this up, we would need the location of front lawns and renting a few trash trucks.

(12-13-2024, 05:58 PM)FormerlyBengalRugby Wrote: Who likes a talented WR who will cost the team a king's ransom to keep, but is injury prone and cannot be relied upon to be worth said ransom?

Use that same money in the trenches, and the team improves a heck of a lot more than burning it on Tee Higgins.

He's green bean casserole! 

I get it, but that's easier said than done.  Their return on investment for spending in the trenches has been piss poor lately.  They invested a number 1 pick in Murphy and only recently felt the need to give him a meaning full number of snaps.  2 years in and we still have no idea what he is.  Rankins wasn't exactly cheap, either, and he looks completely done.  I have hope for Jenkins and maybe Jackson, but both have a lot to prove yet.

You can say similar things about the DBs.  That situation is probably even worse.  They've invested a 1st and 2 2nd rounders in the secondary.  At worst, all 3 of those guys should be solid starters if they lived up to expectations.  That's far from the case.  They failed to find a position for Hill for 3 years.  Taylor Britt is brain broke.  Turner is decent but not playing.  These guys were supposed to be the future of the defense.  Throw in FA investments like Scott and Stone and you have nothing but misses over the last few years.  

Tee is a known.  There's no doubt that he's a major asset when out there.  Could they get by with Ja'marr and some dudes?  Probably, but you have to think that they team is going to view his absence as a hole to be filled in the draft or FA.  That's less capital for more defensive upgrades.  Sign Tee and you can go nuts on defense in the draft and with remaining FA money.  

You spend that money on Tee and you know what you're getting.  Spend money on something else and there's significant risk of getting magic beans in return.  I'm okay with spending on knowns. They're in the position we see them in now for letting go of known veterans.  

The defense IMO is a cultural problem.  They need a new leader on the field and at coordinator.  Shitty tackling is absolutely a culture issue.  Bad communication on the back end is as well.  I they aren't willing to gut those areas, then we're in for more of the same.  You need new personel, but personnel investments will fall flat if the underlying issues aren't addressed.  Stone and Rankins should tell us that.  They were not chopped liver FAs.  Not until they became Bengals, anyway.  

(12-14-2024, 03:19 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote:

Chase and Higgins https://t.co/bllZamM9Lv pic.twitter.com/awijsBDIul

— Matt (@CoachMinich) December 14, 2024

Would be funny if Burrow ended up with the same agent.

We may even end up losing both.. because business, you know.

(12-14-2024, 03:02 AM)CJD Wrote: I empathize with this position but the Bengals are in a very unique position.

They are going into the offseason with at least 60M in cap space, less than 1 million dollars in dead cap and they've set up their cap space such that they have no reckoning coming any time soon (unlike similar teams like the Eagles). And we could have even more if we cut some of the dead weight on this roster like Sheldon Rankins, Geno Stone, and Sam Hubbard.

Tee Higgins is a top 5 free agent in the entire NFL this coming off season. I would argue he is the 4th or 5th best player on this team (behind Burrow, Chase, Trey and maaaaaaybe Brown Jr).

We also happen to have virtually no big free agents that we must sign because our 2021 and 2022 NFL draft classes have not yielded many impact players.

I was looking at a list of free agents in 2025, and there is no star pass rusher on the market. At least not one that we would consider signing. Khalil Mack is out there, but he's going to be 34 next year. 

There are a fair number of safeties, who I wouldn't be opposed to signing, but if our front office was interested in giving a premium contract to a safety, we probably would have just signed Bates.

My point is, we will have a lot of money, very few high priced internal free agents set to leave and the market does not really have premium players at our biggest areas of need on defense. If we have a free agent, who is top 5 player on our team and a top 5 player on the entire market, and he wants to be here and seemingly willing to work with the team in some nebulous way to make that happen (even going so far as to fire the agent that the Bengals have struggled to make a deal with)....why let that kind of player walk out the door? 

Great post. I could not agree more. 

(12-13-2024, 11:37 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Yes, why are you concerned about what Higgins makes? Who gives a hoot what he makes? We just want him to play football and help the team win games. If he costs too much, the team needs to find a suitable replacement. 

you should be concerned about what Higgins makes..you simply cannot pay a quarterback and two receivers one third of  NFL allowed salaries for the team..Tee Higgins makes some brilliant catches..but as it stands now he has a chronic injury..he misses many games and on many occasions drops easy passes..This keeping Tee Higgins talk is nonsense