This is the Worst Free Agency I've Ever Seen since Burrow was Drafted.

[Soonerpeace]

(08-05-2023, 12:39 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: and I guess people need something to ***** about, so they’ve magically picked Dax Hill to be the whipping boy for whatever reason

Dax Hill will be fine. The other safety spot is a much bigger question mark. Just don’t have Dax Hill play special teams anymore

I liken Dax Hill to the five star freshman at Ohio State or Alabama that is just too talented not to play. You live with the mistakes and hope he makes enough great plays to compensate for it. But the thing I’m really digging about the Bengals is it seems all their decisions these days come with an eye on the future. It seems they are really positioning themselves for a long successful run. Their OL is going to have some continuity for a change. Their linebackers are going to have a long spell together. Their QB/WR group longevity together. The secondary is trending with continuity.

[SunsetBengal]

(08-04-2023, 09:35 PM)NotBigzo Wrote: Two linebackers but it'll cost DJ Reader and Tee.

The latter I knew wasn't happening, but I hope they got a plan for DJ.

What are you even talking about?  Both of our LBs are signed to very team friendly deals.  Sure, each of them likely could have made significantly more on the open market, but they like it here, they developed into the players that they are with this team.  The intentions of the team to retain both of them allowed for the flexibility in going younger and cheaper at Safety.

Signing those two for essentially bargain contracts didn't "cost" the team anything, in terms of being able to solidify the offensive contract extensions.  As I mentioned earlier in another thread, I'm just hoping that DJ Reader isn't the odd man out in the capenomics equation.  Even if he is, I'm sure that the team already has a plan or a direction that they intend to go when that time comes up.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-05-2023, 02:49 AM)casear2727 Wrote: Really?  Bates was not fast and not a ball hawk by any measure.  Dax should be able to cover much more graound.  But will he make the best decisions? 

That is the question with Dax, it sure isn't ability, he can do everything Bates can do and more athletically.

(08-05-2023, 12:39 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: and I guess people need something to ***** about, so they’ve magically picked Dax Hill to be the whipping boy for whatever reason

Dax Hill will be fine. The other safety spot is a much bigger question mark. Just don’t have Dax Hill play special teams anymore

Yep, keep him at Safety to help him get comfortable and quit moving him around. But heck, he might be comfortable moving around 
he has done it so much in his career lol

Between Nick Scott, Jordan Battle and Tycen Anderson we should be fine next to Dax. Hearing good things about both Scott and Battle
with their smarts. This is what we need at the Safety position, Bates and Bell were smart, that really was what made them a top duo.

Still, they weren't perfect and Bates was a bad tackler at times. We can be better, but it should take a bit with the new Safeties.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-05-2023, 03:46 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: What are you even talking about?  Both of our LBs are signed to very team friendly deals.  Sure, each of them likely could have made significantly more on the open market, but they like it here, they developed into the players that they are with this team.  The intentions of the team to retain both of them allowed for the flexibility in going younger and cheaper at Safety.

Signing those two for essentially bargain contracts didn't "cost" the team anything, in terms of being able to solidify the offensive contract extensions.  As I mentioned earlier in another thread, I'm just hoping that DJ Reader isn't the odd man out in the capenomics equation.  Even if he is, I'm sure that the team already has a plan or a direction that they intend to go when that time comes up.

Spot on as usual Sunset. Letting Bates, Bell, Hurst, Apple, etc go allows us to pay about all these guys. Wouldn't surprise me that Katie
has the numbers all figured out to keep everybody just like Burrow said. Lots of number crunching though. Also hope The Gravedigger 
isn't the odd man out. Dude helps us win when we need it. We can put him in and he can single handedly shut down the run.

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(08-05-2023, 03:46 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: What are you even talking about?  Both of our LBs are signed to very team friendly deals.  Sure, each of them likely could have made significantly more on the open market, but they like it here, they developed into the players that they are with this team.  The intentions of the team to retain both of them allowed for the flexibility in going younger and cheaper at Safety.

Signing those two for essentially bargain contracts didn't "cost" the team anything, in terms of being able to solidify the offensive contract extensions.  As I mentioned earlier in another thread, I'm just hoping that DJ Reader isn't the odd man out in the capenomics equation.  Even if he is, I'm sure that the team already has a plan or a direction that they intend to go when that time comes up.

And the Bengals don’t need to spend draft picks on replacement players or sign more costly outside free agents.

I think it is hard to argue for a more ideal outcome than what we got.

[Housh]

(08-05-2023, 12:39 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: and I guess people need something to ***** about, so they’ve magically picked Dax Hill to be the whipping boy for whatever reason

Dax Hill will be fine. The other safety spot is a much bigger question mark. Just don’t have Dax Hill play special teams anymore

Dax is the question mark. Nick Scott has started and played decent. We know we got an average safety with him. We won’t know about Dax until the real season starts

[SunsetBengal]

(08-05-2023, 05:33 PM)Housh Wrote:
Dax is the question mark. Nick Scott has started and played decent. We know we got an average safety with him. We won’t know about Dax until the real season starts

Is Dax really a "question mark"?  I remember him showing incredible make up speed, when he made the rookie mistake of biting on a move.  I think that once he's settled into a distinct role, such as FS, he will roam the back middle and get to where the help is needed in lightning speed.

[Frank Booth]

(08-05-2023, 05:33 PM)Housh Wrote: Dax is the question mark. Nick Scott has started and played decent. We know we got an average safety with him. We won’t know about Dax until the real season starts

well he played well his rookie year, I expect him to play well again. Though the snaps were limited overall

[sandwedge]

(08-04-2023, 09:35 PM)NotBigzo Wrote: Two linebackers but it'll cost DJ Reader and Tee.

The latter I knew wasn't happening, but I hope they got a plan for DJ.

I would so never want to be in a real life or death situation with you....

Exactly how do you know Tee isn't getting resigned?

[NotBigzo]

(08-05-2023, 12:39 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: and I guess people need something to ***** about, so they’ve magically picked Dax Hill to be the whipping boy for whatever reason

Dax Hill will be fine. The other safety spot is a much bigger question mark. Just don’t have Dax Hill play special teams anymore

He was so raw Lou didn’t give him any reps until he had too out of fear of emotionally stunting him. That’s Sus.

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(08-05-2023, 07:34 PM)NotBigzo Wrote: He was so raw Lou didn’t give him any reps until he had too out of fear of emotionally stunting him. That’s Sus.

He had an established starter playing under the franchise tag ahead of him on the depth chart. I suspect in that situation the plan was to have Hill learn from Bates as well as the other roles of the secondary last year to prepare him to take over the starting FS role this year.

If they couldn’t get Bates to re-sign for a reasonable amount like they have done with Pratt and Wilson, it seems to me they prepared for his departure about as well as could be expected.

Making lemonade out of lemons basically.

As much as I have bitched about mismanagement for about 3 decades, it is damn hard to find fault with what they have done the past four years. When the Bengals drafted Mixon I turned the draft off, canceled Sunday Ticket because I was fed up with the personnel decisions, approach to free agency, turning the noses up to money from stadium naming rights while bickering with Hamilton County over money, and the general resistance to operating this team like a modern day franchise. All that’s changed. New management made a believer out of me over the past four years. It’s like they went down a check list of all my complaints and crossed them off the list. We might be living in a golden edge of being a Bengals fan. This is a Super Bowl caliber team that finally has a front office with a Super Bowl mentality to match. If you can’t recognize the difference you’re about as blind as Jpoore’s pre-draft analysis of Joe Burrow.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(08-05-2023, 03:46 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: What are you even talking about?  Both of our LBs are signed to very team friendly deals.  Sure, each of them likely could have made significantly more on the open market, but they like it here, they developed into the players that they are with this team.  The intentions of the team to retain both of them allowed for the flexibility in going younger and cheaper at Safety.

Signing those two for essentially bargain contracts didn't "cost" the team anything, in terms of being able to solidify the offensive contract extensions.  As I mentioned earlier in another thread, I'm just hoping that DJ Reader isn't the odd man out in the capenomics equation.  Even if he is, I'm sure that the team already has a plan or a direction that they intend to go when that time comes up.

Pratt spent all season talking about money, FA started, and the market seemed awfully quiet about him. He WAS on the open market and I don't think he could have gotten significantly more.

We'll never know about Wilson because he was extended before FA, but Pratt absolutely was out there and tested it. Must not have found what he was hoping for/expecting.

Not to say he isn't paid well for what his roll is. I believe he was made the highest paid 2-down non-pass-rush LB in the league. It just sure seemed like he wasn't viewing himself in that category.

[PDub80]

(08-05-2023, 07:34 PM)NotBigzo Wrote: He was so raw Lou didn’t give him any reps until he had too out of fear of emotionally stunting him. That’s Sus.

The only thing "SUS" here, kid, are your hot takes.

I think we deserve whomever Bigzo is because NotBigzo is struggling. You make a post that BEngals FA sucks... it turns out GREAT.

You say they can't extend the people they've got, but then they go extend people.

You have so many bad takes. Why are you publishing them in writing to document them?

Now Dax Hill didn't play much last year because the DC decided it would emotionally stunt him? WTF?! Every time you post I can't help but think that somewhere out there there's a coloring book not being colored.

[SunsetBengal]

(08-06-2023, 04:10 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Pratt spent all season talking about money, FA started, and the market seemed awfully quiet about him. He WAS on the open market and I don't think he could have gotten significantly more.

We'll never know about Wilson because he was extended before FA, but Pratt absolutely was out there and tested it. Must not have found what he was hoping for/expecting.

Not to say he isn't paid well for what his roll is. I believe he was made the highest paid 2-down non-pass-rush LB in the league. It just sure seemed like he wasn't viewing himself in that category.

Didn't he make a statement to the effect emphasizing that he viewed himself as a 3 down LB?

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(08-06-2023, 11:26 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Didn't he make a statement to the effect emphasizing that he viewed himself as a 3 down LB?

Yeah... things like how he needs to play 3rd down because there was too much money left on the table, or how he would have went off (statistically) last season if he played 3rd down.

He very very much sounded like someone who was interested in a big payday and viewed himself as a 3-down player. So when his FA window was so overwhelmingly quiet and then he came back here at top 2-down money, it sure felt a lot more like here was his best (or near-best) offer because nobody else was offering him the 3-down LB payday he was expecting.

Now if someone told me he got offered like $250k/yr more to play for a bad team and turned it down? I would buy that. From everything he was putting out and how little chatter there was about him in FA, though, I highly doubt anyone was offering him significantly more than he got and he turned it down to come back here.

[PDub80]

(08-04-2023, 09:17 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: The roster was such dog _____ when Zac took over. Just not their performance but the culture and character. And certainly not the whole roster. I remember discussing it with a still an assistant coach in the AFC who said it was just awful. The whole organization has done so well.  It’s going to benefit us in that some teams may be interested in our reserves via trade because of injuries

100%!

There were a few main stream members on here - one who is long since been banned - who disputed the condition of the roster and said that culture didn't matter.

Well, it was bad and it does. Very excited and hopeful for the players who have to get cut to have a chance elsewhere becasue they were looked at by the Bengals. And guys who shine in preseason to possibly be traded so the roster gets stronger and they get a chance to stick on another team.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-06-2023, 01:59 PM)PDub80 Wrote: 100%!

There were a few main stream members on here - one who is long since been banned - who disputed the condition of the roster and said that culture didn't matter.

Well, it was bad and it does. Very excited and hopeful for the players who have to get cut to have a chance elsewhere becasue they were looked at by the Bengals. And guys who shine in preseason to possibly be traded so the roster gets stronger and they get a chance to stick on another team.

I assume you are speaking of Fredtoast. Yeah, he didn't believe in the culture or that Zac was handed a shit roster that was terrible 
in the trenches. You try and coach a team that is terrible in the trenches and see if you can win games in the NFL...

Nearly impossible. Zac and everybody has done a great job in working on getting us solid in the trenches while adding the talent at 
the skill positions. Been a pleasure to behold.

[PDub80]

(08-06-2023, 02:06 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: I assume you are speaking of Fredtoast. Yeah, he didn't believe in the culture or that Zac was handed a shit roster that was terrible 
in the trenches. You try and coach a team that is terrible in the trenches and see if you can win games in the NFL...

Nearly impossible. Zac and everybody has done a great job in working on getting us solid in the trenches while adding the talent at 
the skill positions. Been a pleasure to behold.

Something SUPER obvious in the ZT era is that the Bengals are NOT looking to sign guys to their 3rd contracts.

Have you noticed that? They have virtuallyone or 2 guys on their 3rd deal. This is why I think  reader is going to be gone. Not that he isn't an A++ dude and player, but I just think they got killed with Atkins contract and some others and just want to keep reloading with 2nd contract guys.

MArvin, however, was going balls deep on vets. ZT is nearly the exact opposite.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-06-2023, 03:01 PM)PDub80 Wrote: Something SUPER obvious in the ZT era is that the Bengals are NOT looking to sign guys to their 3rd contracts.

Have you noticed that? They have virtuallyone or 2 guys on their 3rd deal. This is why I think  reader is going to be gone. Not that he isn't an A++ dude and player, but I just think they got killed with Atkins contract and some others and just want to keep reloading with 2nd contract guys.

MArvin, however, was going balls deep on vets. ZT is nearly the exact opposite.

I hope Reader is the outlier here, he doesn't play a ton of snaps so he could last longer than people think. Also the fact that he doesn't
play a lot of snaps and he is getting older should make him affordable for a couple more years while he still has it. I don't want to go back
to getting ran over by the Browns and Nick Chubb. We lose Reader and we have no one to take his place.

We would of drafted Benton or one of the other NT's if we thought about letting Reader go after this year IMO.

[PDub80]

(08-06-2023, 03:08 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: I hope Reader is the outlier here, he doesn't play a ton of snaps so he could last longer than people think. Also the fact that he doesn't
play a lot of snaps and he is getting older should make him affordable for a couple more years while he still has it. I don't want to go back
to getting ran over by the Browns and Nick Chubb. We lose Reader and we have no one to take his place.

We would of drafted Benton or one of the other NT's if we thought about letting Reader go after this year IMO.

We shall see!