03-08-2025, 03:05 PM
Take a second and look at it this way.
The Bengals could have signed players to lower numbers in previous years, than what they're lowballing them for this year. (Ex. Chase to 32M APY last year, compared to 40M this year...or the 37M they're reportedly offering).
Bates, (Burrow doesn't apply to lowball), Higgins, Trey, Chase.
If anyone...ANYONE...in that front office had any kind of ability to look ahead and know the cap was going up, to project what market price would be, they could have signed all these players in the last 2/3 years and it would not be hurting their cap at all and some of those contracts would be below current market price.
Instead, they deal with what is going on right now and how it affects this years cap, and how they can keep from maxing that, so they don't have to 'pay for it in the future'.
You can look at bottom line numbers all you want and talk about how it's "fair" but it's not really fair because the structure rarely if ever is competitive to what other teams do.
This FO is very reactionary and it ALWAYS ends up biting them in the ass. A tiny bit of foresight would have this team sitting pretty.
The funniest part is, it's no different right now. If they went ahead and paid Tee, Ja'Marr and Trey what they're looking for, in 2 years, those numbers are going to look good for what the current market would be at that time.
Reactionary, mom and pop, cheap, stingy. All those things apply to this front office.
Foresight is nowhere to be found.
The Bengals could have signed players to lower numbers in previous years, than what they're lowballing them for this year. (Ex. Chase to 32M APY last year, compared to 40M this year...or the 37M they're reportedly offering).
Bates, (Burrow doesn't apply to lowball), Higgins, Trey, Chase.
If anyone...ANYONE...in that front office had any kind of ability to look ahead and know the cap was going up, to project what market price would be, they could have signed all these players in the last 2/3 years and it would not be hurting their cap at all and some of those contracts would be below current market price.
Instead, they deal with what is going on right now and how it affects this years cap, and how they can keep from maxing that, so they don't have to 'pay for it in the future'.
You can look at bottom line numbers all you want and talk about how it's "fair" but it's not really fair because the structure rarely if ever is competitive to what other teams do.
This FO is very reactionary and it ALWAYS ends up biting them in the ass. A tiny bit of foresight would have this team sitting pretty.
The funniest part is, it's no different right now. If they went ahead and paid Tee, Ja'Marr and Trey what they're looking for, in 2 years, those numbers are going to look good for what the current market would be at that time.
Reactionary, mom and pop, cheap, stingy. All those things apply to this front office.
Foresight is nowhere to be found.
![[Image: 4CV0TeR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/4CV0TeR.png)
"The measure of a man's intelligence can be seen in the length of his argument."
