(11-21-2017, 10:42 PM)Shepdawg Wrote: What has been up with Gio Bernard?  He has played in all 10 games this season, yet he only has 49 total touches.  31 carries and 18 receptions.  I get that he's not a guy that you would want with 30 touches a game.  He's simply not built that way.  But 11-14 touches a game has been his workload throughout his career, and he has been effective in this role and has held up pretty well physically.  Is he not 100% from last seasons injury?  If not, why not IR him as well at this point?

(11-21-2017, 10:59 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Over the last 6 games, Gio has 13 carries for 20 yards and 10 catches for 70 yards. He went from integral part of the offense to only seeing the field to give Mixon a breather. If this is Gio's permanent role going forward, we need to think long and hard about cutting him after the season.

Gio has the 11th highest salary among RB's in the entire league, and he's down to 3.8 touches over his last 6 games. It's a total waste of cap. There's an easy out in his contract for 2018, but I doubt we use it "cuz loyalty". It's a dumb move to pay him this much though, if he's not going to be a central part of the offense.

I like the guy, but it is what it is.

(11-21-2017, 11:04 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: I agree with you if he were on any team in the NFL...but we all know that here if they waive him that money will likely not be spent.

But...yeah the team needs to do whatever it can to add 3-4 new lineman in the offseason.

Then maybe 1 new quality starting LB that can cover a TE.

IF we do those things...we should be much better.

(11-21-2017, 10:59 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Over the last 6 games, Gio has 13 carries for 20 yards and 10 catches for 70 yards. He went from integral part of the offense to only seeing the field to give Mixon a breather. If this is Gio's permanent role going forward, we need to think long and hard about cutting him after the season.

Gio has the 11th highest salary among RB's in the entire league, and he's down to 3.8 touches over his last 6 games. It's a total waste of cap. There's an easy out in his contract for 2018, but I doubt we use it "cuz loyalty". It's a dumb move to pay him this much though, if he's not going to be a central part of the offense.

I like the guy, but it is what it is.

(11-21-2017, 11:15 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Right. Cutting Gio and Michael Johnson probably should be first order of business before free agency...but there's no guarantee Mike uses that extra money to improve the roster. Heck we're sitting on how much cap space right now?

(11-21-2017, 11:19 PM)Shepdawg Wrote: I get that they have diminished Gio's role on the team.  My question is why?  When Jeremy Hill burst onto the scene, Gio still got his touches.  Mixon has not shown anything compared to the early Jeremy Hill.  Gio agruably has actually outperformed Mixon.  I'm not understanding why they haven't taken a similar approach with Gio and Mixon as they did with Hill and Gio. 

As for cutting him, if Gio doesn't get more touches, he'll likely want out of here anyway.  There are too many teams that could and would use Gio for the 10-14 touches a game he is used to.  

(11-21-2017, 11:20 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Yeah after the Burfict extension something like $12 million. They could have gave Zeitler a $10 million contract before he hit free agency and had a couple million left.

They could have waived Jones and/or MJ to create more.

They could have signed John Sullivan at Center for what $1.5 million a year?

Line would be Smith/Zeitler/Sullivan/Boling/Fisher or Ced.

Or instead of Zeitler...giving Ronald Leary $8.5 million a year.

Plus Kirkpatrick has been pretty bad this year. They could have signed Zeitler instead and sat at exactly the cap space as now.

There were definitely ways to improve the team.

(11-21-2017, 11:41 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Your guess is as good as mine. I know Gio hasn't done anything special this year. He's averaged 1.5 YPC over his last 6 games. 3.5 on the year. That's not exactly begging for more carries. Love or hate Mixon, you have to admit he's proven every bit as capable a receiver as Gio, so that negates some of the need for Gio.

I'd like to see more Gio, personally...but if I'm being 100%, Gio isn't to help the run game. I can pretty much guarantee that. The problem is the line. We could hop in a time machine and grab a prime Barry Sanders. It wouldn't matter if he's running behind a messy glob of inept linemen. I'm not sure how many more RB's people need to see before they start realizing that RB isn't the problem.


Unfortunately, the team's method of avoiding big guaranteed money makes it so they can't be creative even if they wanted to be.

In return for accepting less guaranteed money, the team offers to keep players for the full length of their contracts...even when they vastly under perform their cap figure. Jim O confirmed that this is how they do things.

So instead of cutting or restructuring to make more room to improve the roster, we're stuck with guys like an aging Leon Hall at $9 million, or Gio...or Michael Johnson.

It hurts us in so many ways. The Bengals are the only team who runs things this way. Are we to believe the team with 0 playoff wins in 27 years is the team that is smarter than everyone else? 

(11-21-2017, 11:46 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Yes - We haven't won a single playoff game since modern free agency began.

(11-21-2017, 10:59 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Over the last 6 games, Gio has 13 carries for 20 yards and 10 catches for 70 yards. He went from integral part of the offense to only seeing the field to give Mixon a breather. If this is Gio's permanent role going forward, we need to think long and hard about cutting him after the season.

Gio has the 11th highest salary among RB's in the entire league, and he's down to 3.8 touches over his last 6 games. It's a total waste of cap. There's an easy out in his contract for 2018, but I doubt we use it "cuz loyalty". It's a dumb move to pay him this much though, if he's not going to be a central part of the offense.

I like the guy, but it is what it is.

(11-22-2017, 07:59 AM)coachmcneil71 Wrote: Has anyone considered the fact that the new OC is in over his head? Mixon is not, and never has been the answer.
Gio should be more involved in the offense. If he were playing for NE,KC,NO, or Pitt,he would be putting up numbers.

(11-21-2017, 10:42 PM)Shepdawg Wrote: What has been up with Gio Bernard?  He has played in all 10 games this season, yet he only has 49 total touches.  31 carries and 18 receptions.  I get that he's not a guy that you would want with 30 touches a game.  He's simply not built that way.  But 11-14 touches a game has been his workload throughout his career, and he has been effective in this role and has held up pretty well physically.  Is he not 100% from last seasons injury?  If not, why not IR him as well at this point?

(11-22-2017, 07:59 AM)coachmcneil71 Wrote: Has anyone considered the fact that the new OC is in over his head? Mixon is not, and never has been the answer.
Gio should be more involved in the offense. If he were playing for NE,KC,NO, or Pitt,he would be putting up numbers.

(11-21-2017, 11:41 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: Considering the offense has taken the fewest offensive snaps in the league, is anyone surprised that Gio's touches are down?  We have had 100 offensive drives this season, averaging 5 plays per drive.  If he only gets every third drive  as has been the norm the last few seasons, that would only put him on the field for 155 snaps. Does 49 touches on 155 snaps sound low?  It actually sounds pretty reasonable to me.