03-15-2023, 04:57 PM
1) Be patient.
2) Realize the aporoach has to be somewhat different going forward as some furure financial planning is already baked in (Burrow, Chase extensions) and current deals will start to overlap with that reality. And has to be compatible with it. Extensions/decisions for Higgins, Wilson, Reader, & Awuzie are coming soon as well.
3) Realize that no one we lost is at a high value position. Safery, TE, RB. This is a deep TE & RB class in the draft. It is also a good FA class for S's and RB's.
4) Realize that no one we lost is an elite player. Bates comes closest. But we knew we were not gonna pay him $16 mil a year long term. Bell is a good player, but not a great one. We have a rookie 1stcrd pick waiting to take over. If we can sign a decent/Bell level S in FA, we'll be paying $7-$10 mil apy forr starting safeties instead of the $23 mil Bates + Bell costs. That's good business. Hurst is average but energetic. So was CJ. Perine is a great backup, but a backup nontheless. Being more cost controlled at S, TE, RB, and LB is the right general idea, in my book.
5) I'd argue that Pratt's 2022 campaign was elite. He had THE BEST coverage grade for an off ball LB from PFF and graded out over 80 overall. One of 5 Bengals starters who did: Burrow, Chase, Reader, Hendrickson. That deal is a VERY friendly one for us.
6) Smart FA signings were more common, and more instrumental, to the turnaround than the splash ones. While we made some splashy FA signings (Reader, Hendrickson), most of the ones we made were good value signings: Bell, Awuzie, Hilton, Apple, Flowers, Hurst, Karras. Even Collins' deal is pretty team friendly. Cappa not a budget buster. We need those kind of FA deals to keep the ball rolling more than the big ones. Pratt's deal qualifies. That just has not happened this year, yet.
7) Avoiding long term bad deals/overpays is something we need to avoid. Mission accomplished so far.
2) Realize the aporoach has to be somewhat different going forward as some furure financial planning is already baked in (Burrow, Chase extensions) and current deals will start to overlap with that reality. And has to be compatible with it. Extensions/decisions for Higgins, Wilson, Reader, & Awuzie are coming soon as well.
3) Realize that no one we lost is at a high value position. Safery, TE, RB. This is a deep TE & RB class in the draft. It is also a good FA class for S's and RB's.
4) Realize that no one we lost is an elite player. Bates comes closest. But we knew we were not gonna pay him $16 mil a year long term. Bell is a good player, but not a great one. We have a rookie 1stcrd pick waiting to take over. If we can sign a decent/Bell level S in FA, we'll be paying $7-$10 mil apy forr starting safeties instead of the $23 mil Bates + Bell costs. That's good business. Hurst is average but energetic. So was CJ. Perine is a great backup, but a backup nontheless. Being more cost controlled at S, TE, RB, and LB is the right general idea, in my book.
5) I'd argue that Pratt's 2022 campaign was elite. He had THE BEST coverage grade for an off ball LB from PFF and graded out over 80 overall. One of 5 Bengals starters who did: Burrow, Chase, Reader, Hendrickson. That deal is a VERY friendly one for us.
6) Smart FA signings were more common, and more instrumental, to the turnaround than the splash ones. While we made some splashy FA signings (Reader, Hendrickson), most of the ones we made were good value signings: Bell, Awuzie, Hilton, Apple, Flowers, Hurst, Karras. Even Collins' deal is pretty team friendly. Cappa not a budget buster. We need those kind of FA deals to keep the ball rolling more than the big ones. Pratt's deal qualifies. That just has not happened this year, yet.
7) Avoiding long term bad deals/overpays is something we need to avoid. Mission accomplished so far.
