Legal tampering period

[Isaac Curtis: The Real #85]

(03-13-2023, 03:32 PM)ochocincos Wrote: It's not really expensive OL, QB, or WR taking up money.
It's the DL.
The entire DL is comprised of higher-paid veterans.

Cap hits this year:
Reader - $15.5 mill
Hendrickson - $15.5 mill
BJ Hill - $10.8 mill
Hubbard - $10 mill
--------------------------
Total - $50+ mill

That position group is where all the money is right now.

The OL makes pretty decent money. 

Jonah is $12.6. Collins $9.4. Cappa $8.75. Karras $5.6. That's $36 amongst those 4 guys.

Next year, when Jonah comes off the books, will be the year for spending on OT. Collins also has a lower dead cap #. And we will have a year to evaluate Carman's development, and Volson's. We have 5 OTs under contract. Plus we could draft one. 

No way are we gonna spend $20 mil in a mediocre OT this year in FA. I wouldn't spend $20 mil on Brown. Tunsil, maybe. 

[cinci4life]

(03-13-2023, 03:53 PM)Schmitbuck Wrote: Pratt back to the Bengals. 3 year $21M

Hell yeah!

[*ochocincos*]

(03-13-2023, 03:50 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: This is exactly why I hesitate to sign Higgins. 

Investing so much money in WR just isn't the way. I'd rather take care of the OL and DL and let Burrow and Chase cook and draft a Higgins replacement. 

I am kind of getting pissed off that the Bengals won't do what it takes to get a good tackle. 

I agree not paying too much on offensive weapons. Bengals are good at finding guys in the draft, and they are not good at finding OL in the draft (so far).
Draft weapons, sign FAs for OL.

For why Bengals don't seem to want to upgrade OL starting group, I suspect a couple things:
1) Jawaan Taylor may not have appealed to Pollack because he's so terrible in the run game
2) They believe that a combo of Williams/Collins/Carman/draft pick (and/or cheaper swing OT in FA) will cover OT just fine, even if we have skepticism

[Isaac Curtis: The Real #85]

Pratt back!

Hell, yes!

[BuildTheWall]

https://twitter.com/MikeGarafolo/status/1635354752677543937
Looks like the TE market is going to be more expensive than I thought. Hurst is probably getting $10M a year.

[CJD]

(03-13-2023, 03:43 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Go look at their cap distribution.

Yes, they have Mahomes at $49.3 mill this year cap space.
Jones at $28.3 mill.
Thuney at $22.1 mill.
Kelce at $14.8 mill.

But other than Justin Reid ($12.7 mill) and MVS ($11 mill), they got no one else above their kicker ($5.1 mill).
They are able to do what they do because they don't have a plethora of mid-to-high-priced vets.
They're getting by with a bunch of guys on rookie contracts:
- CEH
- Trent McDuffie
- George Karlaftis
- L'Jarius Sneed
- Nick Bolton
- Creed Humphrey
- Trey Smith

I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting, but they are able to do what they do because many of their rookie contract guys are key contributors. The Bengals have had to rely heavily on veteran guys to have their run.
If they can draft better and/or force their rookies into action even if they don't do great initially (e.g. if they put Dax Hill right into FS instead of tagging Bates), they could probably look to do the same.

Fair enough. I agree that we need to lean on our rookie classes a bit more. Drafting a guy in the first round and him not starting a single game in the first of his 4 to 5 year rookie scale contract is very painful. Building for the future is important, but the future is now for the Bengals at the moment. They have the cap space and the luxury of the core of their offense still on rookie contracts. I would have really liked to see us go all in on the next 2 years and then re-calibrate in 2025/26, if needed. Or maybe by that time the "huge contracts" that we could have handed out this off season to upgrade the Oline seem more reasonable by comparison due to inflation of the cap each year.

[phil413]

(03-13-2023, 04:04 PM)BuildTheWall Wrote: https://twitter.com/MikeGarafolo/status/1635354752677543937
Looks like the TE market is going to be more expensive than I thought. Hurst is probably getting $10M a year.

That's fine, let him walk.  The draft is deep, and you can get a fringe starter/solid backup type in the 4M range. 

[cinci4life]

Appears Pratt will get $10.35M in year 1.

https://www.profootballrumors.com/2023/03/bengals-to-re-sign-lb-germaine-pratt

[BuildTheWall]

(03-13-2023, 04:07 PM)phil413 Wrote: That's fine, let him walk.  The draft is deep, and you can get a fringe starter/solid backup type in the 4M range. 

Yeah, I'd love to draft Mayer in the first, and complement him with either Sample back for a year on the cheap, or take a flyer on Trautman from the Saints (entering a contract year, would save them $2.7M in cap, and they need the space badly).

[Nepa]

(03-13-2023, 03:37 PM)TecmoBengals Wrote: For sure, again lol. They went into the playoffs down 3 starting OL. Zac has to think the AFC Championship game has a different outcome if the 3 OL remained healthy.

Although, if they'd had a better backups than Adeniji and waiver-wire pickup Scharping, the Bengals might have been Super Bowl champs. There were a lot of calls on this board to get better backups for the OL, and those calls seem prescient after the injuries to the line. I'm hoping they can get some solid backups this FA period, or a good RT.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(03-13-2023, 04:07 PM)phil413 Wrote: That's fine, let him walk.  The draft is deep, and you can get a fringe starter/solid backup type in the 4M range. 

Happy Hurst turned his career around here, hope he does well and goes to the NFC. Want to still root for him.

Nice that we have such a deep draft for TE's, we might get a real talent yah never know.

Also, was wrong about Pratt being back which is awesome. That is a good deal for both sides.

[phil413]

(03-13-2023, 04:09 PM)cinci4life Wrote: Appears Pratt will get $10.35M in year 1.

https://www.profootballrumors.com/2023/03/bengals-to-re-sign-lb-germaine-pratt

They did the same with Hill last year to get the deal done.  This is the right structure as the main focus should be on 2024 class FA to be retained.  This actually may help Wilson negotiations either way.  His agent can't handcuff the Bengals like they could if the players around Wilson don't step up knowing they won't want to start a 2024 rookie, also frees up this year's draft too. 

[*ochocincos*]

(03-13-2023, 04:09 PM)BuildTheWall Wrote: Yeah, I'd love to draft Mayer in the first, and complement him with either Sample back for a year on the cheap, or take a flyer on Trautman from the Saints (entering a contract year, would save them $2.7M in cap, and they need the space badly).

I'd be stoked for two guys in the draft who I think not only can catch, but they're stud blockers too.
Darnell Washington in Rd 1
Payne Durham on Day 3 (likely Rd 5 or 6).

Durham can be exactly what we envisioned Sample to be.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

Apparently the rumors about Josh Oliver possibly being way overpaid this offseason were true.

3yr/$21m to the Vikings

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(03-13-2023, 04:18 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I'd be stoked for two guys in the draft who I think not only can catch, but they're stud blockers too.
Darnell Washington in Rd 1
Payne Durham on Day 3 (likely Rd 5 or 6).

Durham can be exactly what we envisioned Sample to be.

Same, I like both Washington and Durham. The best 2 blocking TE's in this Draft but have high upside as pass catchers as well.

Especially Washington. We may have seen all that Mayer can do, but he was the most productive TE.

[Isaac Curtis: The Real #85]

(03-13-2023, 04:04 PM)BuildTheWall Wrote: https://twitter.com/MikeGarafolo/status/1635354752677543937
Looks like the TE market is going to be more expensive than I thought. Hurst is probably getting $10M a year.

No chance Hurst gets $10 mil a year. 

[WeezyBengal]

(03-13-2023, 04:09 PM)BuildTheWall Wrote: Yeah, I'd love to draft Mayer in the first, and complement him with either Sample back for a year on the cheap, or take a flyer on Trautman from the Saints (entering a contract year, would save them $2.7M in cap, and they need the space badly).

No way in hell I take a TE in the first with how stacked this class is. 

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(03-13-2023, 04:25 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: No way in hell I take a TE in the first with how stacked this class is. 

Still want Darnell Wright RT Tennessee the most by far...

[Schmitbuck]

Vonn Bell to Panthers. Ugh. Per Ian Rapoport and Tom Pellisaro.

[WeezyBengal]

Vonn Bell to Panthers...****.