ESPN - Troy Blackburn comments on Bobby Hart signing

[Whatever]

(03-29-2019, 09:24 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: I think you have your cause and effect mixed up on your statements.

Honestly, IF they let this kind of stuff leak to the press and stuff like the Whitworth text message gets out...what do you think they really think? They candycoat a lot of their PR on Bengals.com like Compensatory Picks are great! In reality, no one should believe that. You get special teamers year 1 through those picks generally and your probably lost a player that was a decent starter.

The reality is, they want to retain their own...but they do operate under a very strict budget. That budget doesn't allow for signing high priced free agents. That budget likely also applies to having a small scouting staff.

I don't think these people are inept. I think they have a view of the Bengals as some small market team like in baseball that could go bankrupt if they spent too much. The reality is that with revenue sharing, EVERY team can compete.

The scouts thing is the way it is because that's what Mike's dad thought was best.  That's more of a case of being stuck in the past than cheap.  It's a double edged sword, though.  We've had some great drafts under that system, but when you start having success and your staff gets picked over, it's a double blow.

A hidden issue is that Mike has spent a ton of money consolidating the family's ownership of the team.  Paul Brown actually only had a very small stake in the team when it was founded.  Over the years he bought out some of his partners to get a 51% majority, then stopped.  

I would say the stadium situation is another factor.  PBS is going to need big renovations to keep up in a few years and there's not going to be tax dollars for it.