Lions Showing Interest In Iloka

[GreenCornBengal]

"Per the Detroit Free Press, Iloka is expected to draw some heavy interest from the Lions in free agency. The 25-year-old was a former fifth-round pick by the Bengals and might be too rich for short-pocketed Cincinnati once he hits the open market."

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000639934/article/report-lions-have-interest-in-safety-george-iloka











You can't let every free agent get sniped away, its time to pay the man.

[leonardfan40]

Short pocketed? Lol we've got close to $39 mil in cap space. Although once the front office takes out its ridiculous cushions for injury and the draft we might be...

[ItsOdellThurman]

Short-pocketed because we probably won't use 1/3 of that cap space.

[Au165]

Everyone is interested in Iloka...

[BengalChris]

If the cap were $200M we'd still have short pockets.

Of course, I never can figure out why we need so much injury reserve when the only guys available mid-season are guys who weren't good enough to make a team and you don't need $7M to sign them. More like vet minimum times 2 is what you need. And that might be a bit much since we generally promote someone from the practice squad.

[*ochocincos*]

(02-29-2016, 04:01 PM)BengalChris Wrote: If the cap were $200M we'd still have short pockets.

Of course, I never can figure out why we need so much injury reserve when the only guys available mid-season are guys who weren't good enough to make a team and you don't need $7M to sign them. More like vet minimum times 2 is what you need. And that might be a bit much since we generally promote someone from the practice squad.

It's a classic case of being overly prepared. Hold onto the extra money just in case something big were to happen...only to find out you held onto it forever because you worried too much about the worst case scenario that never came.

[Bengal Dude]

(02-29-2016, 06:00 PM)ochocincos Wrote: It's a classic case of being overly prepared. Hold onto the extra money just in case something big were to happen...only to find out you held onto it forever because you worried too much about the worst case scenario that never came.

It's definitely annoying, but the Bengals have been like this since 2009 and 2010 when we got hit with injuries. They basically set aside enough money for 5-6 veteran players.

[fredtoast]

Jesus I feel like I stepped into a Midol commercial.

The Benglas have always paid top dollar to keep their best players. And we have plenty of cap space. So being "short pocketed" does not apply here.

[NATI BENGALS]

(02-29-2016, 03:49 PM)leonardfan40 Wrote: Short pocketed? Lol we've got close to $39 mil in cap space. Although once the front office takes out its ridiculous cushions for injury and the draft we might be...

Thats been happening pretty often. Even the NFLs own website taking shots at the Bengals. You would think they would want an unbiased presentation. Ask Leon Hall who we overpaid last year how short our pockets are. Or Dunlap AJ Atkins Boling Whitworth...

[wolfkaosaun]

More teams than the Lions are interested in Iloka. At least Iloka tweeted he wanted to be re-signed by the Bengals.

[jj22]

They can tag someone, so you can't feel too sorry for them for losing Iloka (0r Nelson, MJ for that matter). Not sure what they've got planned for all that cap space besides getting fed the line that 1/2 needs to roll over for Eifert and Gio. And out of the big name Bengal free agents, they covet Rey.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(03-01-2016, 12:09 AM)jj22 Wrote: They can tag someone, so you can't feel too sorry for them for losing Iloka (0r Nelson, MJ for that matter). Not sure what they've got planned for all that cap space besides getting fed the line that 1/2 needs to roll over for Eifert and Gio. And out of the big name Bengal free agents, they covet Rey.

I'm not touching the rest of your post, but yes they "can" tag someone, but there's absolutely zero instances where anyone that's currently a FA is worth a tag. You mentioned two safeties and one wide receiver.

2016 Tag Numbers...
WR: $14.6m
S: $10.8m

None of them are worth that kind of money, and it would be just ridiculous if the Bengals tagged any of them for that amount.

[Garrus]

(03-01-2016, 07:05 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: I'm not touching the rest of your post, but yes they "can" tag someone, but there's absolutely zero instances where anyone that's currently a FA is worth a tag. You mentioned two safeties and one wide receiver.

2016 Tag Numbers...
WR: $14.6m
S: $10.8m

None of them are worth that kind of money, and it would be just ridiculous if the Bengals tagged any of them for that amount.

Not advocating that we tag anyone, but if we were to tag Iloka, couldn't we still sign him longterm, and avoid that big $10M hit?

[Stormborn]

(03-01-2016, 10:27 AM)Garrus Wrote: Not advocating that we tag anyone, but if we were to tag Iloka, couldn't we still sign him longterm, and avoid that big $10M hit?

Yes. Which is why it's most likely the best course of action.

He's one of our top young players, do whatever you can to keep him.

[jj22]

We tagged MJ and he wasn't near the top free agent in the class. Iloka is worth the tag, young, going into his prime, and until last season has played 99% of the snaps on defense. He will break the bank when free agency opens up. We get accused of overvaluing our talent each offseason, but this offseason, we have the top free agents in the league and it isn't even close. This isn't like years past when we thought Andre Smith was a strong candidate and he sat til the draft. Our players are coveted. By multiple teams. The tag is a resource available for teams to use, and we have that option. We have 3 top free agents in the league. You can't say none is worth the tag. They are the top of the class for their positions. All I'm saying is we have 40k in cap space and if we don't use the tag, and lose our top players then you can't feel sorry for the front office.

The truth is we are rebuilding. No one will say it because Marvin remains for yet another reboot, but the fact we are willing to let our starting secondary (and all the other free agents outside of Vinnie Rey) walk, when they are highly coveted should tell you everything you need to know. We have the money, but Hobs already hinted to where that is going to go (Vinnie Rey, Eifert, and Gio)

[fredtoast]

(03-01-2016, 11:54 AM)jj22 Wrote: The truth is we are rebuilding. No one will say it because Marvin remains for yet another reboot, but the fact we are willing to let our starting secondary (and all the other free agents outside of Vinnie Rey) walk, when they are highly coveted should tell you everything you need to know. We have the money, but Hobs already hinted to where that is going to go (Vinnie Rey, Eifert, and Gio)

No.  The reason non one is saying it is because it is not true.

You are completely delusional if you think we are going to let all our current free agents except Vinnie walk.  I'll make any kind of sig bet you want that this is not true.

Aren't ypou the same one who kept claiming that Mike Brown could have gotten a shorter suspension for Burfict if he had just complained to Goodell?  Where do you come up with this crazy stuff?

[jj22]

We'll see Fred. I do believe with the new coaches, and roster turnover (we will lose a number of good players, and rightfully so we have coaches across the league that has worked with them and many are top of the free agent classes) this season is a reboot. Marvin hinted to it already as fuel behind his motivation and energy. The "newness" of it all. Hobs talks about it. I think you are selling yourself short by not noticing it's a new day we are entering into this season. A "new start". Per Marvin.

And you are the only one that seems to think that Owners (specifically ones close to the league) don't have influence. I've only heard you argue that, so I'll maintain that's your issue not mine or the majority of fans and league insiders that agree.

Hey, while your at it, can you name players we won bidding wars for? Most of our players we've re-signed never hit the open market. Once they do....

[Benton]

(02-29-2016, 06:25 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Jesus I feel like I stepped into a Midol commercial.

The Benglas have always paid top dollar to keep their best players.  And we have plenty of cap space.  So being "short pocketed" does not apply here.

Agreed.

We will make Iloka as good an offer (or better) than he will get anywhere. If a player wants to leave, there's not much you can do to stop them.

And, just my opinion, I don't think Iloka does.

[Benton]

(03-01-2016, 11:54 AM)jj22 Wrote: The truth is we are rebuilding. 

I'm not seeing it. We're going to have the bulk of our OL back, most of our LB, probably all of our CBs, all our decent DL, RBs, QBs, TEs. Really, WR is the only place we might take a hit and S if Iloka does go somewhere else. We're (probably) going to have the least turnover at starter in our division, outside of maybe Pittsburgh that has been rebuilding for a couple years now.

[BonnieBengal]

I really hoped they would tag Iloka, but apparently they won't tag anybody. My guess is we re-sign Nelson and Iloka gets a fat contract elsewhere.