03-14-2023, 01:46 PM
(03-14-2023, 11:48 AM)NotBigzo Wrote: Seriously.
How do we lose TWO starting safeties in day one, especially knowing that we're out of the market for one of them?
"We want to go younger" is just a euphemism for "we want to be cheap skates". Vonn Bell and Bates is what got us to the SB two years ago, LITERALLY. Look at that overtime interception.
If the Bengals decide to pay for one of the remaining good ones, it's STILL a downgrade. But I get a feeling that they're just fine with Tycen Anderson, which will be a disaster against the Bills and the Cheifs.
The Bengals can't afford to have its episodes of buttcheek offense anymore. The Defense won't be top 10 next season.
This feels a like more like a decline. The Bills and Cheifs addressed core issues day one. Bengals objectively are worse off.
1) FA isn't over yet.
2) For the first time in the Burrow era, we really have to worry about the cap. Guys are coming off first contracts (with us) and rookie deals. We have big money extensions on the horizon for Higgins (2024), Logan Wilson (2024), Burrow (2025), and Chase (2026). Guys we sign now to 3 year deals will overlap with ALL those extensions. Paying player X may lose you player Y. We have to prioritize guys. Before, we could just pay people. Now, we cannot.
3) Most people with half a brain got this going into FA. Everyone knew Bates was gone. No surprise there. Most expected Pratt to leave, but he stayed! And most expected Bell to stay, and he left. I don't get how swapping one for the other (and keeping the younger, better olayer at that) makes this such a disaster.
4) Though I think Bell was worth the money Carolina paid, I think we have done a good job prioritizing the right positions. QB, WR, and OT on offense and DE, CB, and DT on D are the most valuable positions. We have 12 guys on the team making $6 mil or more a year. 10 of them play those positions: Burrow, Chase, Boyd, Williams, Collins, Hendrickson, Hubbard, Awuzie, Reader, & BJ Hill. 2 do not: Cappa (OG) & Mixon (RB).
We paid our safeties $20 mil last year (or close to it). Bates & Bell will be $23 mil this year. We just did not want to invest that type of money at the position. Bates would have been the highest paid player on the team. And Bell is signing his 3rd contract. Something I think we are wary of after the end of the Marvin era.
