Franchise Tag

[Murdock2420]

(02-16-2017, 08:36 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Justin Smith, Maddieu Williams, Eric Steinbach, Takeo Spikes, Sanu, Jones, Reggie Nelson.

Those guys all left and went on to have great careers...so far.

I wouldn't say that the Bengals are any better at retaining their own than any other team.

While I am not a defender of the front office (as I said earlier in this thread, they sign some guys but fail to keep other key pieces) some of your names aren't really fair.

Justin Smith was a better fit in the 49ers' defense than he was in the defense here in Cincy. 

Williams had 1 productive season after leaving. He signed a 6 year deal with Minnesota and got cut after 3 years, spent a year with SF and made all of 6 tackles before one last season with Washington then retiring. I liked the guy, but he never developed into what he should or could have been.

Steinbach -  The Browns signed Steinbach to a seven-year, $49.5 million contract (of which $17 million was guaranteed), making him at the time one of the highest paid offensive lineman in the league. He wasn't worth that kind of money. He was only named a Pro Bowl alternate one time and was released in 2012. 


Takeo Spikes - This one hurt... but is wasn't about money. The Bengals had tagged him previously but he wanted to play for a contender and left. Not much more they could have done with this one other than get him signed sooner or stop sucking sooner. Still..hated losing this one.


Sanu - Was the 4th option behind Green, Jones and Eifert. Honestly, with what he got paid, there was no way they would match that and keep him

Marvin Jones - This one I do blame the front office for, he never should have been allowed to hit FA. Should have locked him up before he started playing his final contract year, same thing they should have done with Zeitler.

Reggie Nelson - This was a perfect example of dropping the ***** ball. This guy rebuilt his career here and wanted to stay here....and for some reason, the team was afraid to sink the money into it. I know they wanted to see Shawn Williams play, but damn... letting Nelson go was just a bad move.