Their Bengals Careers are Over

[t3r3e3]

Not sad to see Apple packing his bags. The mouth wasn’t worth the money. Let him run his yap somewhere else. Clark Harriss and Huber are quality dudes; wish them all the best, and Ruler of the Jungle would be a nice touch. It’d be even cooler if they started their own podcast covering the team.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(05-05-2023, 02:00 PM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: Not because he was a Bengal, but Harris is the best LS in NFL history: he had, I'd say over a thousand snaps for both punts and kicks, if not significantly more.

And I watched them all.

And he never had a SINGLE bad snap.

That is some cool stuff Truck and Clark Harris has a Guiness Book of world record as well for the longest snap. Great career by Harris.

Probably is the best LS in NFL history.

(05-05-2023, 02:37 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Wilcox should be added to compete with Sample and Asiasi for backup duties.

For damn sure, I like Wilcox better than both of those guys honestly, don't care where they were drafted.

[Danimal]

I kind of figured Harris was going to retire. Not sad to see Apple go, just tired of the drama with him. I hope to see Wilcox back in stripes and would like to see Flowers back as well.

[samhain]

Moving on from Apple is a mistake. People thought we were done after the Browns loss and Chido's knee injury. We were down to Eli and a second round rookie. They both acquitted themselves well.

For the price he commands, Eli is found money. He's dependable enough to run out there every week in a loaded AFC quarterback field come playoff time. This team won 5 more playoff games with Apple as a starter than they did in 3 decades. He's definitely not the main reason for that, but he didn't prevent it, either.

Everyone upset about him being a shit-talker should also want Mike "Burrowhead" Hilton gone. Chase talked a ton of shit before the first KC game, too. I don't know why anyone cares about that kind of thing, and I guarantee most don't when the team is winning.

Turner is a 2nd round rookie and Jones is an injury-prone journeyman. At the start of the season, I'd much rather have a guy that's been manning the position for 2 years out there than those kinds of unknowns.

[WhoDey Hooligan]

(05-05-2023, 02:14 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Yep - he's still a pretty solid corner back. He will get picked up by someone. If not, he will be a short phone call away this season if our secondary gets depleted. 

Apple could be the present day Chris Crocker. Sign as needed if/when someone goes down during the season.

[Isaac Curtis: The Real #85]

Eli did a good job for us the last couple years. Considering his salary, an excellent value. We were 1 bad Spain block away from winning the SB with him at CB2 and won 10 in a row & lost in the AFC title game (on a bad punt/penalty) with him at CB1.

But he is not a good culture fit. Plus, even though Apple might be marginally better than Turner or CTB at the moment, he is what he is at this point. Those guys have higher ceilings and are both cheaper. They need to play. And their floors are close to Eli's as well. Jones' durability as CB5 does not bother me as much as if he was a starter or CB4. Eli is very durable.

If Eli could be had for $1.5 mil or so, and wouldn't cause waves being CB5, I'd be fine with it. But if Burrow & Higgins sign extensions, the cap may get pretty tight. Tighter if Wilson does, too. I'd rather save our last pennies for a TE or IOL that gets released.

Plus, George looked decent last year and we drafted Ivey. Eli is not a slot guy. He is competing with Jones, George, Ivey, & Flowers for CB5.

[*ochocincos*]

(05-05-2023, 04:50 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: That is some cool stuff Truck and Clark Harris has a Guiness Book of world record as well for the longest snap. Great career by Harris.

Probably is the best LS in NFL history.


For damn sure, I like Wilcox better than both of those guys honestly, don't care where they were drafted.

I've been trying to look around other rosters for guys the Bengals might be able to trade for, but I'm struggling to find one.
Maybe former Bearcat Josiah Deguara from GB? They just drafted both Musgrave and Kraft, so perhaps they feel after 3 years that Deguara ain't their guy.
Or take a flier on OJ Howard or Austin Hooper from the Raiders now that they drafted Mayer.
Options aren't great, especially for players who are cheap.

[Frank Booth]

(05-05-2023, 05:21 PM)samhain Wrote: Moving on from Apple is a mistake. People thought we were done after the Browns loss and Chido's knee injury. We were down to Eli and a second round rookie. They both acquitted themselves well.

For the price he commands, Eli is found money. He's dependable enough to run out there every week in a loaded AFC quarterback field come playoff time. This team won 5 more playoff games with Apple as a starter than they did in 3 decades. He's definitely not the main reason for that, but he didn't prevent it, either.

Everyone upset about him being a shit-talker should also want Mike "Burrowhead" Hilton gone. Chase talked a ton of shit before the first KC game, too. I don't know why anyone cares about that kind of thing, and I guarantee most don't when the team is winning.

Turner is a 2nd round rookie and Jones is an injury-prone journeyman. At the start of the season, I'd much rather have a guy that's been manning the position for 2 years out there than those kinds of unknowns.

Great point about Hilton and his mouth. People here don’t even realize they’ve been influenced by media to dislike Apple. Apple busted for the NY Giants and became a big joke. He wouldn’t have nearly as bad of a reputation if he stunk on Jacksonville

Hilton doesn’t have a past reputation of bad play, nor did he ever have the NY media at his throat, so he gets a pass.

Very hypocritical for people here to bash Apple and give Hilton a pass. Eli has been solid for his 2 seasons here. People here have been influenced by the other fans/media. I live in NY, people here will bring him up as one of the biggest busts in team history. They just naturally dislike him, social media trash talk be damned

Too many fans here care about what the fans on Twitter think about the bengals. To a fault

[samhain]

(05-05-2023, 06:50 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: Great point about Hilton and his mouth. People here don’t even realize they’ve been influenced by media to dislike Apple. Apple busted for the NY Giants and became a big joke. He wouldn’t have nearly as bad of a reputation if he stunk on Jacksonville

Hilton doesn’t have a past reputation of bad play, nor did he ever have the NY media at his throat, so he gets a pass.

Very hypocritical for people here to bash Apple and give Hilton a pass. Eli has been solid for his 2 seasons here. People here have been influenced by the other fans/media. I live in NY, people here will bring him up as one of the biggest busts in team history. They just naturally dislike him, social media trash talk be damned

Too many fans here care about what the fans on Twitter think about the bengals. To a fault

Yeah, it's annoying.  Eli would be nothing more than a solid journeyman cb if it wasn't for the social media narratives.  He may not be particularly remarkable, but he's a solid player at a premium position.  Hell, I'd argue that minus the reputation, Eli would probably be a fairly expensive player in free agency.  

It's not quite fair to judge by social media presence, either.  yes, it's self caused, but people generally are not the people they pretend to be on social media.  I met Eli at a Bengals autograph event that I took my 10 year old son to, and he was one of the if not the nicest guy out of the dozen or so we met.  He was very talkative with the boy and seemed like a very normal, humble guy.  None of them are really jerks (that we've met), but some are more engaging and mentally present than others, and Eli was def one of them.  

[SunsetBengal]

(05-05-2023, 02:00 PM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: Not because he was a Bengal, but Harris is the best LS in NFL history: he had, I'd say over a thousand snaps for both punts and kicks, if not significantly more.

And I watched them all.

And he never had a SINGLE bad snap.

Tough to replace the GOAT, but someone has to step forward and do it.  

[NUGDUKWE]

(05-05-2023, 05:21 PM)samhain Wrote: Moving on from Apple is a mistake.  People thought we were done after the Browns loss and Chido's knee injury.  We were down to Eli and a second round rookie.  They both acquitted themselves well.  

For the price he commands, Eli is found money.  He's dependable enough to run out there every week in a loaded AFC quarterback field come playoff time.  This team won 5 more playoff games with Apple as a starter than they did in 3 decades.  He's definitely not the main reason for that, but he didn't prevent it, either.  

Everyone upset about him being a shit-talker should also want Mike "Burrowhead" Hilton gone.  Chase talked a ton of shit before the first KC game, too.  I don't know why anyone cares about that kind of thing, and I guarantee most don't when the team is winning.  

Turner is a 2nd round rookie and Jones is an injury-prone journeyman.  At the start of the season, I'd much rather have a guy that's been manning the position for 2 years out there than those kinds of unknowns.

Eli apples contract last year was for 3.75 mil. For a player that can step into a #1 role is beyond what you can hope for. The only thing he doesn't really give you is turnovers. But he still has the 1st Rd talent to hold his own. I think it's foolish to close the door on him even if his #s have gone up some. Especially going into a year when your gonna have a lot of new faces in the secondary and Awuzie coming back from injury. I don't really understand people getting so upset about the trash talk either. I was a little put off after the playoff buffalo game but those were special circumstances. 

I also agree that I would 100% prefer Apple over Jones even if the #s are higher and I'm sure they would be.

[kalibengal]

(05-05-2023, 01:16 PM)jj22 Wrote: Teams can do a lot worse than the starting CB on a Conference/Superbowl caliber team that was key in 5 post season wins.

Eli may just need to lower his asking price. I doubt his career is over.

watch him go to Balt, Pitt or Cleveland and wreak havoc on us. I think he gets alot of bad press around here mainly due to his social media BS but I think he always brought a good effort and made some key plays for us (we wouldnt have made SB without his play on Tyreek on goal line in AFC championship) . He definitely helped shore up our DB issues when Tre Waynes couldnt even get on the field.   I appreciate what he did and I hope he lands somewhere outside AFC N.

[casear2727]

(05-05-2023, 03:05 PM)t3r3e3 Wrote: Not sad to see Apple packing his bags.  The mouth wasn’t worth the money.  Let him run his yap somewhere else.  Clark Harriss and Huber are quality dudes; wish them all the best, and Ruler of the Jungle would be a nice touch.  It’d be even cooler if they started their own podcast covering the team.

The Eli Apple hate here and on social media is clear evidence that some fans are truly uninformed when it comes to the NFL and the state of the Bengals organization.  Due to injuries we can only hope that we have several Eli Apples in the future.

Apple saved our butts 2 years in a row and during both years he was, by far, the #1 vet when it came to production over expectation and cost.

CB is the most difficult position to play in the NFL, yet...

in 2021, Apple was paid 1.2M to play CB4.  Due to injuries he was forced to start every game at CB2, all the way to the SB.....

in 2022, Apple was paid 3.5M to play CB2 until CBT came along, and then back to CB4.  Due to injuries he was forced to start at CB1 for 10 straight wins, all the way to the AFCCG.....

Had his name been Jalen Davis we would hail him as a great backup.

Some people are more concerned about social media than actual production.  And the Apple bias is real as mentioned previously.  Hilton ran his mouth and followed it up by being torched nonstop by KC.  Bates basically gave up 2 TDs - but nothing about these guys.  Eli and CBT played their best games in the biggest game of the year. 

As the big contracts come along, we can only hope to find more Eli Apples in reserve roles that step up and help us continue to win as we will undoubtedly lose starters every season. 

[Isaac Curtis: The Real #85]

(05-05-2023, 07:33 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Tough to replace the GOAT, but someone has to step forward and do it.  

Adomitis already did it all last year. OK, adter Game 1. 

[SunsetBengal]

(05-05-2023, 08:36 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: Adomitis already did it all last year. OK, adter Game 1. 

Thank you for saying his name, I couldn't remember, and didn't want to go look it up mid-post.  But yes, Adomitis did a fantastic job, just the same way Harris did for ever after the Bengals were having long snap issues prior to his arrival.

[Isaac Curtis: The Real #85]

(05-05-2023, 07:47 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: Eli apples contract last year was for 3.75 mil. For a player that can step into a #1 role is beyond what you can hope for. The only thing he doesn't really give you is turnovers. But he still has the 1st Rd talent to hold his own. I think it's foolish to close the door on him even if his #s have gone up some. Especially going into a year when your gonna have a lot of new faces in the secondary and Awuzie coming back from injury. I don't really understand people getting so upset about the trash talk either. I was a little put off after the playoff buffalo game but those were special circumstances. 

I also agree that I would 100% prefer Apple over Jones even if the #s are higher and I'm sure they would be.

I would take Apple over Jones as well, but it is fairly close. The big question is, would you take Apple over Jones if it meant, say, we couldn't get a Wilson extension done or did not have the money to sign a TE/IOL if one comes available. 

And though that transaction sounded pretty final, remember we turned down Wilcox's option earlier this year as well. We may be a no at one number, a maybe at a lower number, and a yes still lower. But I woukd think something would have to happen to bring one back. 

If Adomitis got hurt, I bet Harris' phone rings pronto. 

[samhain]

(05-05-2023, 08:06 PM)casear2727 Wrote: The Eli Apple hate here and on social media is clear evidence that some fans are truly uninformed when it comes to the NFL and the state of the Bengals organization.  Due to injuries we can only hope that we have several Eli Apples in the future.

Apple saved our butts 2 years in a row and during both years he was, by far, the #1 vet when it came to production over expectation and cost.

CB is the most difficult position to play in the NFL, yet...

in 2021, Apple was paid 1.2M to play CB4.  Due to injuries he was forced to start every game at CB2, all the way to the SB.....

in 2022, Apple was paid 3.5M to play CB2 until CBT came along, and then back to CB4.  Due to injuries he was forced to start at CB1 for 10 straight wins, all the way to the AFCCG.....

Had his name been Jalen Davis we would hail him as a great backup.

Some people are more concerned about social media than actual production.  And the Apple bias is real as mentioned previously.  Hilton ran his mouth and followed it up by being torched nonstop by KC.  Bates basically gave up 2 TDs - but nothing about these guys.  Eli and CBT played their best games in the biggest game of the year. 

As the big contracts come along, we can only hope to find more Eli Apples in reserve roles that step up and help us continue to win as we will undoubtedly lose starters every season. 

Agree.  Don't get me wrong, I think Hilton is great and I love him as a player.  All I'm saying is that the standard is applied unfairly with Eli.

I worry a bit about the secondary turnover even if Awuzie starts in week 1.  We just left a golden age for safety play in Cincinnati.  You don't just replace that quality right away.  I'd have preferred to have as much continuity as possible back there.  There's an excellent chance that this team starts the year vs another premier AFC team with a stud quarterback.  I have a legit concern that this group won't quite be the sum of it's parts when they start playing real games.

[Destro]

Apple

People still wrapping a cape around him because he was on the team when they went to the SB and AFC Championship, yet the organization that got there too said "nah, you can go." They went and got a bunch of rookies in the secondary and I knew Apple would be gone. They obviously think they have better options.

[casear2727]

(05-05-2023, 08:48 PM)Destro Wrote: Apple

People still wrapping a cape around him because he was on the team when they went to the SB and AFC Championship, yet the organization that got there too said "nah, you can go." They went and got a bunch of rookies in the secondary and I knew Apple would be gone. They obviously think they have better options.

This is a prime example of the uninformed fans that we have. 

Again CB is the MOST difficult position on defense. 

The Bengals did NOT get a bunch of rookies, they drafted ONE to play this year and a project that may or may not make the team. They return 3 starters, 2 veteran backups, a practice squad player.

Low football IQ fans want to compare Apple to much higher paid CBs which is comically wrong.  Again, due to the difficulty of position and production over expectation and cost, Eli was one of the best options in the league.  

Teams replace CBs approaching 30 every year.  I do appreciate you helping to prove my point. 

[Frank Booth]

I can’t believe this crap I’m reading about Ademitis. You guys really just watch Burrow and the receivers. That’s it lmao

Ademitis was a big downgrade from Clark Harris. Wanna know a big reason why Mcpherson had a down year? Those snaps to the holders were not very accurate.

Once again, what are you people watching?