Supposedly the Bengals Extension Offer to Zeitler was $5.5 Million

[BengalChris]

(09-27-2017, 04:20 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: I keep hearing that Zeitler was overpaid with the Browns and not worth the money. While I agree that he was paid a lot, lets look at if the Bengals made a strong attempt at retaining him:

This was before Zeitler hit free agency:

“I don’t see it, I mean cause Kevin Zeitler turned down good money, turned down an offer that was something like $5.5 million per year average. But, you know, when you look at it, (Kelechi) Osemele got like $12 million bucks a year from the Oakland Raiders last year, as a guard. So Zeitler’s like, hmm. Osemele made the Pro Bowl team, Zeitler is second team. So Kevin Zeitler is thinking, I’ve gotta be eight, nine, 10, seven (million) worst case scenario. And not just Kevin, Kevin and his agents. But I don’t see the Bengals paying that kind of dollars to a guard when they have other guys they feel they can plug in and play,” Lapham said.

https://www.cincyjungle.com/2017/1/3/14157272/dave-lapham-doesnt-see-bengals-re-signing-both-kevin-zeitler-and-andrew-whitworth

Then once he was a free agent:

And, they don't pay guards big money. Zeitler is at the top of his game. He was rated the best guard on the market after not missing a snap in 2017. That translated to $12 million per year, but the Bengals don't believe guards win enough games on their own to warrant top of the market money. The Bengals didn't offer a contract but told his agent, "If you don't get what you want, come back."

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Facelift/6f86968a-e26b-4fa0-95c3-75c043ecf393

Then they went out and gave Andre Smith $3.25 million to stay.

It was 2016 that was his last year here, BTW.

It is true that this is an old story it is an all too familiar story from the Bengals front office. Bengals claim they make competitive offers, but when you compare $5.5M to the $10M DeCastro got it's hard not to believe that the Bengals management are simply just fooling themselves.

Expect to see more of this in the next couple of years, if not this off season.

Dennard is a guy, who if the team doesn't re-sign, is going to leave a gaping hole in the secondary. We don't have anyone on the roster who can replace him at close to his level of play. And not re-signing him means we'll need to either use a high draft pick or just sort of throw darts at the draft board with our 5 6th round picks and hope to find a gem.

Then there's AJ Green. He's going into a contract year and is getting up there in age and was injured part of last year. The typical Mike Brown thinking is that he should be able to get Green relatively cheap because he was injured last year and he's getting older, so his value is diminished. Think Whitworth, except with an injury. The team spent a top 10 pick on Ross, therefore he should be as good as Green, in their minds, as they were the ones who made the pick against the coaches advice.

Why did the team keep Ogbuehi on the roster last year? He did nothing and the coaches knew he couldn't do anything to help the team and kept him inactive a lot. So why waste the roster spot? There's only 53 roster spots and they are valuable. Filling them with a bust isn't a good idea. But, the team parted with Whitworth and they spent a 1st round pick Ogbuehi.

The front office just cannot admit a mistake. Therefore they cannot fix a mistake. One has to know something is a mistake before one can even begin to fix it, if it's not a mistake why fix it?

My biggest fear with the Bengals is that Mike Brown has so poisoned thinking of the next generation of his family that the team will never be able to right itself. Mike Brown is the real life version of the scene from Scary Movie's bad decisions, Banana over the knife and Death/Safety, except in Mike Brown's case it's Extreme Gamble/Smart Move.