I am an optimist but I normally hate predictions prior to draft and FA period. I have read thread after thread knocking our FO (a lot deserved), but it is the same group that assembled a team getting to the playoffs 5 years in a row (no easy feat).

So here we go in 2020:

We draft Burrow and trade AD for a 3rd and a 5th round pick.
We re-sign AJ Green to a 3 year deal.
Jonah Williams plays like a 1st round pick in his first official year shoring up our OL.
The Bengals add a very good LB in FA (using Dalton money)

Bengals improve to 9-7 and are in running for playoffs in 2020.

By 2021, Bengals are back in the playoff hunt every year for the rest of the decade as Burrow becomes the next Peyton Manning.

ZT ends up being a great hire.

There it is, an entire post of positives (this will drive the naysayers crazy)

Thoughts?

Duke Tobin had some good drafts but recently he/they have missed the boat.....and honestly should be gone........too many misses as of late......for a team that lives and dies by the draft we can't afford early round misses....

Look at Billy Price, John Ross, Cedric O, Drew Sample, Fisher........these pics hurt us.....bad.......

I'm not confident in his/their later round selections of evaluating talent anymore

As long as burrow is part of this equation I believe we can do these things. I believe in Zac and Burrow enough.

But if Mike takes one of these deals that teams are throwing at him they will not climb out of the cellar any time soon.

They've got a GREAT opportunity in front of them this offseason.

The question is whether they will capitalize on it.

Man, I hope they do!

(01-16-2020, 06:06 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: I am an optimist but I normally hate predictions prior to draft and FA period. I have read thread after thread knocking our FO (a lot deserved), but it is the same group that assembled a team getting to the playoffs 5 years in a row (no easy feat).

So here we go in 2020:

We draft Burrow and trade AD for a 3rd and a 5th round pick.
We re-sign AJ Green to a 3 year deal.
Jonah Williams plays like a 1st round pick in his first official year shoring up our OL.
The Bengals add a very good LB in FA (using Dalton money)

Bengals improve to 9-7 and are in running for playoffs in 2020.

By 2021, Bengals are back in the playoff hunt every year for the rest of the decade as Burrow becomes the next Peyton Manning.

ZT ends up being a great hire.

There it is, an entire post of positives (this will drive the naysayers crazy)

Thoughts?

i am kinda worried about Williams last time we draft a "really good" LT that didnt play year 1 well.... um yeah we got set back for 4 years

(01-16-2020, 07:13 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: i am kinda worried about Williams last time we draft a "really good" LT that didnt play year 1 well.... um yeah we got set back for 4 years

Totally different Cedric was a bad player with a High athletic ceiling. Williams was a great player who has all the tools to be great. 

My only concern about this team is if Geno, Carlos, and AJ fall off a cliff which I don't expect but age is a funny thing for athletes. If there still them this will be a very dangerous team. I know people will laugh at that but they impressed me a lot at the end of the season.
With the way the defense and running game played at the end of the season and adding a healthy Burrow, Green, and Williams should help out a lot.

(01-16-2020, 06:26 PM)corpjet Wrote: Duke Tobin had some good drafts but recently he/they have missed the boat.....and honestly should be gone........too many misses as of late......for a team that lives and dies by the draft we can't afford early round misses....

Look at Billy Price, John Ross, Cedric O, Drew Sample, Fisher........these pics hurt us.....bad.......

I'm not confident in his/their later round selections of evaluating talent anymore

I don't think you can blame Billy Price on Tobin. We needed a center, BP was the best out there if I remember correctly. As for Ross? Yikes, he was a highly questionable pick when we took him and I think he got caught up in Bengal politics and his own immaturity. This year he started out hot, then injury took him out (again). Cedric is a no brainer but Sample might still be a good pic when properly utilized (probably will never prove he was worth a 2nd rd pick). I don't know a helluva lot about Fisher other than the heart issue and he was really not more than a backup - but definitely needed something more from a 2nd rounder.

All-in-all however, your pretty spot on with success early and not so great since. 

(01-16-2020, 06:26 PM)corpjet Wrote: Duke Tobin had some good drafts but recently he/they have missed the boat.....and honestly should be gone........too many misses as of late......for a team that lives and dies by the draft we can't afford early round misses....

Look at Billy Price, John Ross, Cedric O, Drew Sample, Fisher........these pics hurt us.....bad.......

I'm not confident in his/their later round selections of evaluating talent anymore

Things started downhill when Zimmer and Gruden left.  This is where I expect the Bengals to blow it.  Taking Burrows at this point is a no brainer. I could do that.  They are as likely to pick the wrong guys picks 2-7 as I would if I ran their draft and that's a problem.

(01-16-2020, 07:13 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: i am kinda worried about Williams last time we draft a "really good" LT that didnt play year 1 well.... um yeah we got set back for 4 years

This is the optimistic thread. Believe me look around as negative threads all around. 

I think if we had a seasoned Burrow QBing the last half of the season when Mixon was going off, we would have been kicking asses. We need to build and stock the lines on both sides of the ball and get some more good LBs and no doubt we could be a good team pretty fast. I feel like Burrow is the real deal and ZT will end up building a good team around him. Why not?

(01-16-2020, 06:06 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: I am an optimist but I normally hate predictions prior to draft and FA period. I have read thread after thread knocking our FO (a lot deserved), but it is the same group that assembled a team getting to the playoffs 5 years in a row (no easy feat).

So here we go in 2020:

We draft Burrow and trade AD for a 3rd and a 5th round pick.
We re-sign AJ Green to a 3 year deal.
Jonah Williams plays like a 1st round pick in his first official year shoring up our OL.
The Bengals add a very good LB in FA (using Dalton money)

Bengals improve to 9-7 and are in running for playoffs in 2020.

By 2021, Bengals are back in the playoff hunt every year for the rest of the decade as Burrow becomes the next Peyton Manning.

ZT ends up being a great hire.

There it is, an entire post of positives (this will drive the naysayers crazy)

Thoughts?

I mean it isn't rocket science on how to make this team a contender. We should have the next great QB, we need to protect him 
and open up lanes for our stud RB in Mixon, we need to improve the LB's, we need to add a few weapons for our next great QB 
to work with so we can score some points. I think all could happen this season with what should be the next great QB. 

You don't bring this guy in here and say, oh we are getting there just need to add the QB. 

Winning only 2 games last year we are a ways away and it needs to be admitted and addressed and I think it will with Burrow.

MB needs the fans back, this is the easy path to bringing them back. This will make the most money and we might actually win
something with a QB with ice water in his veins here that can lead a team to the promised land.

Dude, it would be awesome! Obviously we all pray this will happen, and ya never know, maybe our bad luck this year is actually amazing magical luck. Fingers crossed!

Thank you for starting this thread, Luvinit. The negativity and hysteria is really bringing me down right now.

I understand people wanting to only be cautiously optimistic, but when every single thread on the first page is about Burrow pulling an Eli, or how we’re going to ruin Burrow, or that we should trade the pick and not draft Burrow...it’s exhausting.

I just want to be excited for a little while.

(01-16-2020, 11:48 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Thank you for starting this thread, Luvinit. The negativity and hysteria is really bringing me down right now.

I understand people wanting to only be cautiously optimistic, but when every single thread on the first page is about Burrow pulling an Eli, or how we’re going to ruin Burrow, or that we should trade the pick and not draft Burrow...it’s exhausting.

I just want to be excited for a little while.

Me too

But come to think of it we could trade back.......JK

(01-16-2020, 06:06 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: I am an optimist but I normally hate predictions prior to draft and FA period. I have read thread after thread knocking our FO (a lot deserved), but it is the same group that assembled a team getting to the playoffs 5 years in a row (no easy feat).

So here we go in 2020:

We draft Burrow and trade AD for a 3rd and a 5th round pick.
We re-sign AJ Green to a 3 year deal.
Jonah Williams plays like a 1st round pick in his first official year shoring up our OL.
The Bengals add a very good LB in FA (using Dalton money)

Bengals improve to 9-7 and are in running for playoffs in 2020.

By 2021, Bengals are back in the playoff hunt every year for the rest of the decade as Burrow becomes the next Peyton Manning.

ZT ends up being a great hire.

There it is, an entire post of positives (this will drive the naysayers crazy)

Thoughts?

I appreciate the optimism and admit I'm pessimistic by nature when it comes to the Bengals. I always believed a franchise QB and a good head coach were two of the most important parts of a team along with a good front office which we lack. If Burrow is the real deal and if Taylor turns out to be a good coach that's huge,  far as the rest 

- I think the most we could get for Andy is a 4th it's a great free agent QB class Brady, Rivers, Bress, Tannehill and Cam Newton might be traded along with a strong QB draft class / we still win by releasing Dalton because it frees up cap space   
- My fear with signing Green is the Bengals cry poor in free agency saying we spent big money on Green/ or Green can't stay healthy and declines 
 - Williams being a good LT would be huge but it won't solve all our O-line issues. We need to sign a good starting free agent linemen/  still draft one high. Fear is the Bengals go status quo and role with Hart and company settling for below average. The best free agent linemen this year are guards which the Bengals don't typical like paying for.
- The only good free agent backer is Corey Littleton not sure if the Bengals would be willing to spend the cash or get in a biding war. The defense is a mess and needs multiple upgrades. 
- I think the Bengals could go win 6-7 games in 2020 which is still good considering they won two the year before and that would show progress. 
- A playoff push is more likely to happen in 2021 if the Bengals have a good draft, paired with them signing players to make the roster better. 

I wouldn't trade dalton. If he doesn't want to be a backup so what. He can cry his butt all the way to the bank. I doubt mb will use that money anyway and a good backup qb is a smart thing to have

(01-17-2020, 12:48 AM)TheUberHuber Wrote: I wouldn't trade dalton. If he doesn't want to be a backup so what. He can cry his butt all the way to the bank. I doubt mb will use that money anyway and a good backup qb is a smart thing to have

No thanks. This needs to be Joe’s team, and there are guys in that locker room that have played with Andy a long time.

As for the money Mike will not have a choice with the cap going up. He’s going to have to do some spending. Even if he extends Mixon and AJ.

(01-17-2020, 12:48 AM)TheUberHuber Wrote: I wouldn't trade dalton. If he doesn't want to be a backup so what. He can cry his butt all the way to the bank. I doubt mb will use that money anyway and a good backup qb is a smart thing to have

Dalton’s cap hit for 2020 is like $17 million and we owe him nothing if we cut him. If we wanted a vet backup we could sign one for cheap or roll with Finely considering we spent a 4th round pick on him.

Sorry I started a thread on 2020 and missed this, I dont know how to delete mine. But my point in that thread with the draft of AJ and Dalton we flipped it from a 4 win season to 9 win, I dont see how we cant be capable of the same if Burrow is really as g great as he has shown we can win 9 games especially if we resign AJ.