(02-18-2022, 06:16 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I am a UT fan.

Trey Smith is an absolute stud when healthy.  

(02-17-2022, 03:44 PM)casear2727 Wrote: CincyWestside made an interesting post in the thread "The minimum for me to be satisfied".

His take seems to cover a majority of the posters here and on twitter. I thought it would be interesting to see how these numbers work.

First, sign Bates long term. Front load the contract so we are hampered when it comes time to pay Burrow, Chase, and Higgins.

Second, sign CJ. Great team leader and provides adaquate production from the TE considering the WR group we have.

Third, sign either Ogunjobi or Hill. I prefer Og, but if he gets too pricey then divert that to Hill. Or if both are cheap enough, then sign both.

Fourth, see if Gronk is serious about playing with Burrow. He'd be great to use in redzone and late game situations. He might enjoy it more when he's not leaned on as much as the Pats and Bucs needed him to do.

Fifth, rebuild the OL in FA. No more drafting players to fill OL holes. We have a bad record of it. I prefer maybe 1 top tier OL FA (pricey) and then 2 solid ones. I trust Zac to find guys who fit our system like he did last offseason.


Sign Bates, CJ, Hill, Gronk, 1 Top OL, 2 Solid OL totals around $78M and that is without front loading Bates.

$78M is more than we have after cutting Waynes, zero for the draft, and we still need to sign/replace 13 more players:

Larry Ogunjobi
Josh Tupou
Vernon Hargreaves
Kevin Huber
Brandon Allen
Clark Harris
Eli Apple
Jordan Evans
Mike Thomas
Jalen Davis
Tre Flowers
Darius Phillips
Auden Tate

It is crazy how fast the dollars add up and this is with our our LBers and offensive stars still on rookie contracts.  We might need to temper our expectations for this offseason and be prepared for some tough biz decisions down the road once the rookie contracts expire.

I am sure we can all find more savings but this is the data I used:

Signing Bates longterm to meet his terms as one of the highest paid safeties is $16M - 18M

CJ is projected to be at $8.3M

Hill is projected to be at 8.75M.  Ogunjobi prior to injury was projected higher than Hill.

Gronk was paid $8M this past season.

1 top tier Oline.   Armstead (T) 20M, Scherff (G) 17M, Jensen (C.) 13M.  (used 17M avg for calculation, replaced Reiff on player list)

2 solid oline.   T Brown (T) 10M, Moses (T) 8M, Tomlinson (G) 9M, Daniels (G) 10M.  (used 19M for calculation, replaced Spain and Johnson on player list)

(02-17-2022, 03:44 PM)casear2727 Wrote: $78M is more than we have after cutting Waynes, zero for the draft, and we still need to sign/replace 13 more players:

Larry Ogunjobi
Josh Tupou
Vernon Hargreaves
Kevin Huber
Brandon Allen
Clark Harris
Eli Apple
Jordan Evans
Mike Thomas
Jalen Davis
Tre Flowers
Darius Phillips
Auden Tate

(02-18-2022, 08:05 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: I do think we'll have less than many of us thought, initially.

That said, of the players on this list, most of them won't cost much at all, and some of them will be replaced by draft picks.

- Ogunjobi's injury works in our favor
- Eli Apple didn't do enough to wash away the stench of the rest of his career
- Lot of small contracts and guys who will be replaced by rookies among the rest

I'm starting to lean towards "free agency will still be fun, but not quite the fiesta we thought when we first heard $78 million though".

We should be able to land a big lineman and maybe another decent one. Do that and use the #31 pick on the line as well, and we'll be in great shape. Plus I foresee being able to retain most of our own.

(02-18-2022, 08:25 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: The idea of spending $33-35m/yr on just Bates, Uzomah, and Hill is hilariously bad.

Bates isn't worth anywhere near $16-18m/yr. I'm not even sure he's worth a $13m franchise tag. $18m/yr would make him tied for the 27th highest paid non-QB player in the entire NFL. Also.. why would you ever front load? That's nonsense.

Uzomah isn't worth anywhere near $8.3m/yr. That would make him the 8th highest paid TE in the league and he's heading into his age 29 season and has never reached 500 yards receiving before.

Hill isn't worth anywhere near $8.75m/yr. That would make him the 19th highest paid DT in the league and he's a part-time player non-starter. Jonathan Fanene part 2.

- - - - -

I get people have been reading Hobspin articles for years and years now, but you don't need to regurgitate that line of thinking in order to preemptively cover up for the 7th Annual Not Fixing The OL offseason.

(02-18-2022, 08:25 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: The idea of spending $33-35m/yr on just Bates, Uzomah, and Hill is hilariously bad.

Bates isn't worth anywhere near $16-18m/yr. I'm not even sure he's worth a $13m franchise tag. $18m/yr would make him tied for the 27th highest paid non-QB player in the entire NFL. Also.. why would you ever front load? That's nonsense.

Uzomah isn't worth anywhere near $8.3m/yr. That would make him the 8th highest paid TE in the league and he's heading into his age 29 season and has never reached 500 yards receiving before.

Hill isn't worth anywhere near $8.75m/yr. That would make him the 19th highest paid DT in the league and he's a part-time player non-starter. Jonathan Fanene part 2.

- - - - -

I get people have been reading Hobspin articles for years and years now, but you don't need to regurgitate that line of thinking in order to preemptively cover up for the 7th Annual Not Fixing The OL offseason.

(02-18-2022, 08:14 PM)Bengalfan4life27c Wrote:  If Burrow winds up like Luck would be  absolute travesty. 

(02-18-2022, 08:25 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: I get people have been reading Hobspin articles for years and years now, but you don't need to regurgitate that line of thinking in order to preemptively cover up for the 7th Annual Not Fixing The OL offseason.

(02-18-2022, 11:55 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Hobson is full of beans.  But so are the fans who say we should have spent $16 million on Thuney last year when we ended up with less than $6 million in cap space.  We could have manipulated the contract so that we could have had less than a $6 million cap hit last year, but then we would be looking at replacing 6 starers plus Hill and a bunch of other players for about $30 million.

(02-18-2022, 11:55 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Hobson is full of beans.  But so are the fans who say we should have spent $16 million on Thuney last year when we ended up with less than $6 million in cap space.  We could have manipulated the contract so that we could have had less than a $6 million cap hit last year, but then we would be looking at replacing 6 starers plus Hill and a bunch of other players for about $30 million.

(02-19-2022, 12:27 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Sure but there's also a chance that if they had made that signing they wouldn't have to worry about how to fill back up the roster until after their Super Bowl Parade.

(02-19-2022, 12:17 AM)Bengalbug Wrote: You can’t always keep building for the future.  At some point you need to put your chips in the middle of the table. 

(02-19-2022, 01:41 AM)fredtoast Wrote: The worst time to sacrifice the future for a one time shot is when you don't know if your injured QB will be 100% healthy.

If we sign Thuney we probably cut back in other areas that helped us make it to the Super Bowl this year.

(02-19-2022, 09:03 AM)Bengalbug Wrote: Without upgrading the line, it’s apparent burrow won’t be 100% healthy.  This is a silly argument Fred.   it.

(02-19-2022, 09:03 AM)Bengalbug Wrote: We could have signed thuney to a contract that had a cap hit that would have worked.  It would escalate this year,  but we could have done it.

(02-19-2022, 09:03 AM)Bengalbug Wrote: Without upgrading the line, it’s apparent burrow won’t be 100% healthy.  This is a silly argument Fred.  

We could have signed thuney to a contract that had a cap hit that would have worked.  It would escalate this year,  but we could have done it.