ESPN's coverage of our free agent signings

[CJD]

I just found this nonsense funny

https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/31010041/nfl-free-agency-grades-every-big-signing-trade-2021

Quote:Trey Hendrickson, DE, Cincinnati Bengals
The deal: Four years, $60 million, including $16 million guaranteed
Top 100 ranking: 7

Grade: B

This is a very Bengals deal. They let their own guy, Carl Lawson, leave for a deal with the Jets and signed away Hendrickson from the Saints to replace him. Why not just keep your own guy? The answer lies in the Bengals' preferred contract structure. They don't like to guarantee any money other than the signing bonus, and they kind of didn't here. (The $16 million guarantee is made up of a $10 million signing bonus and a $6 million roster bonus that gets paid on Monday.)

Hendrickson will get $4 million in salary and bonuses this year in addition to that, so he'll get $20 million in the first year, but there'll be no guarantee after that, so the Bengals will have the flexibility they like to have in their free-agent deals. Having not seen the Lawson details yet, I'm left to assume the Jets put second-year guarantees in and that's where the Bengals balked.

Anyway, nerdy contract stuff aside, this basically works out to $32 million for two years for a 26-year-old pass-rusher who had 13.5 sacks last season. Lawson's career high in sacks is 8.5, and it was four years ago. The Bengals did fine here, and as always, they did it their way. -- Graziano

Quote:Chidobe Awuzie, CB, Cincinnati Bengals
The deal: Three years, $21.75 million, $7.5 million guaranteed
Top 100 ranking: 30

Grade: C

Until he signs elsewhere, it's possible that William Jackson could still return to Cincinnati. But assuming he does not, this looks like the Bengals finding his replacement on the cheap. In typical Bengals style, the only guarantee is a $7.5 million signing bonus, and the first-year salary is $1.35 million with the ability to earn $400,000 in per-game roster bonuses. So if they wanted to move on after 2021, they'll have paid Awuzie between $8.85 million and $9.25 million for one year's work.

He's a good player who turns 26 in May and missed eight games last season because of an early-season hamstring issue and a late-season COVID-protocols issue. Dallas let him walk because it basically didn't like anything about its defense in 2020, but he's fine. Just a downgrade from Jackson.

Bengals fans will feel better if the team starts applying some of the savings to offensive line help for Joe Burrow. -- Graziano

He ranks Awuzie as the 30th best free agent out there, we got him for 7 million per year, and this guy grades it as a C and calls him a "cheap replacement" for WJ3, who they rank as their 31st best free agent. He says "in typical Bengals style" as a way of saying we cheaped out.

That's actually even more funny than I thought. I didn't realize they literally ranked Awuzie better than WJIII when I saw his grade.

And then, for Trey Hendrickson, this guy says "this is a very Bengals deal" and basically downplays the signing when they had him as the 7th ranked free agent whereas Lawson is ranked as 37th.

You can't make this shit up dude. It's pathetic how biased they are. They can't even realize their discrepancies even when they post links to their free agent rankings in the very free agent grading article in which they're contradicting their top 100 ranking list. It's top notch comedy.