{The Ultimate Bengals Offseason Extravaganza Thread}

[THE PISTONS]

(03-18-2025, 07:32 PM)Bronxbengal Wrote: People bitching and moaning about signing Tee unbelievable.  GM wannabes

I think its just something very new. No team has ever had that much money invested in a qb and 2 wrs...by far.

We've seen the correlation of QBs on rookie deals getting to SBs. This is exact opposite.

Time will tell how it works out.

[NUGDUKWE]

(03-18-2025, 07:40 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: I think its just something very new. No team has ever had that much money invested in a qb and 2 wrs...by far.

We've seen the correlation of QBs on rookie deals getting to SBs. This is exact opposite.

Time will tell how it works out.

It's BRACKET TIME!

The top spending teams in the NFL and how much of their cap is going to their Top Four players in 2025.

Fill out your bracket with which foursome you'd rather have. pic.twitter.com/24OZKpvUU9

— Goodberry (@JoeGoodberry) March 17, 2025

 


While not exactly the 2wr like you said. But several teams have a similar cap% allocated to they're top 4 players. It does look like the Bengals have arguably the best 4 to allocate those funds to.

[jj22]

Our safety situation is a major red flag. Reminds me of 2023 when they forced a bad situation on us and we all knew they weren’t ready to fill bell and bates. And somehow the Defense got worse in 2024.

Missing out on the FA safety class was a misstep. Forcing the drafting of one early. 

Watts is the day 2 pick. We need a starting caliber safety. 

[NUGDUKWE]

(03-18-2025, 06:29 PM)coachmcneil71 Wrote: That's shaky at best, unfortunately. I like Battle in the run game but not so much in coverage. Stone scares the shit out of me too!

I do like the young CBs though and let's not forget that Dax was drafted a Safety. Different DC may have a different opinion of where he fits best. 

Dax to me had a noticeable improvement in play when he finally moved to the slot. Unfortunately we got a very limited look at him in that position before he was injured.

[Stewy]

(03-18-2025, 06:18 PM)Housh Wrote: That would’ve made our defense top 5?


Iv been seeing the media say the dumbest shit ever in regards to us signing Tee and Chase.


If you are saying we would’ve been able to get a big fish you are talking about Milton Williams

So that’s 1 guy. Even if we had Milton Williams it’s not like he turns us top 5 by himself.


You could also say maybe with the 28M we could’ve gotten 2 mid tier guys. Like a Chase Young and a Jevon Holland.


Yeah our D would likely be better but 2 mid level guys ain’t taking our D into the top 5.







I guess I’m saying Iv seen ppl say we could’ve done so much more to help the defense with Tee’s money….

Ok give me the exact moves then. It’s everyone saying we messed up but not one media pundit has put together a plan with the 28M that would’ve taken our D to new heights. Mofos just wanna complain about us making a move right after they complained that we weren’t making moves.

Your topic is fine but your failure is for giving two fuks what the national media says.

[coachmcneil71]

(03-18-2025, 08:02 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: Dax to me had a noticeable improvement in play when he finally moved to the slot. Unfortunately we got a very limited look at him in that position before he was injured.

I agree! Just pointing out that his switching back to S isn't out of the realm of possibility if needed. 

[Essex Johnson]

Well its done and the trio needs to win more and get back to playoffs  and SB , it not we were wrong to stick with all the $$ going to offense.

[kevinsea]

(03-18-2025, 08:17 PM)coachmcneil71 Wrote: I agree! Just pointing out that his switching back to S isn't out of the realm of possibility if needed. 

Justin Simmons is still available 

[SunsetBengal]

(03-18-2025, 06:59 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: I think I'd tell him to put on 5-10 pounds and just play LB for us.

Have you watched him in deep coverage? He is fluid and athletic, he don't need any more mass. However, if the team had true press-man CBs that could do the job, he would be a monster in the box. He actually grades about 12 points higher in coverage than versus the run though.

[pulses]

(03-18-2025, 07:59 PM)jj22 Wrote: Our safety situation is a major red flag. Reminds me of 2023 when they forced a bad situation on us and we all knew they weren’t ready to fill bell and bates. And somehow the Defense got worse in 2024.

Missing out on the FA safety class was a misstep. Forcing the drafting of one early. 

Watts is the day 2 pick. We need a starting caliber safety. 

Should of signed Just Reid for his price.

[kevinsea]

(03-18-2025, 08:12 PM)Stewy Wrote: Your topic is fine but your failure is for giving two fuks what the national media says.

Because we all know the media in this city and country is just chock full of responsible journalists 

[pulses]

(03-18-2025, 06:34 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: The debate has been in the forum for months. I was on the side of use the Tee money and fix the trenches. I do agree the FA class is so bad and unpredictable it would be a huge risk. Last year our biggest FA signing (most money spend) was a dud in Rankins.

Williams for 21 million, maybe a great deal, but he only played in 50% of the defensive snaps on a very good DL so teams could not afford to double team him.

Chase Young, another possibility, but now if those 2, we are over budget already.

Fries another overpay at 21 million.

In the end, the decision was made. Bengals know they have 3 huge weapons for at least 4 more years, add a young RT and that is 4 huge weapons in the fold.

The key will be hitting on the mid level FA signings like Slayton, doiing better drafted NFL ready players right now and development of the existing roster and rookie by the coaching staff.

I did love Tobin's comment, we have our 2 WR's, other teams can go find their own. Peopl love to blast the FO for being cheap andthen switch gears when they are not cheap and sign Tee changing Bengals overpaid or he is bad investment.

Bengals have proven they are far from cheap signing Chase and Burrow to not one of best, but best contract for their positions in past few years. I hope our fans can try another attack line for the FO, saying they are cheap is lazy and wrong.

Fries got 5 years and 88 million that's not even close to 21 million. But i get the jist.

[schroomytunes]

These moves make our offense elite in many ways for years to come, with the upcoming draft I think we can do damage. Moves to be made after this are pretty obvious for me they are:

1) Reach an agreement with Trey, something like a 2 yr extension.

2) release Zac Moss, need that extra 3.5 million maybe sign a vet CB on a 1yr deal with it.

3) Sign a solid older Guard on a 1-2 yr contract

- This draft will probably see us draft 5/6 players for the defense, which is a good thing as its a solid defensive loaded class. (S, Dt, DE, LB) is what I'm expecting, I do think we draft a G as early as rds 2/3. Its also very deep at RB, so I look for us to add a solid guy to be the #3 as an UDFA.

[*ochocincos*]

(03-18-2025, 07:21 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: We will never be able to say if not signing Tee would have been great or failed. All we can do now is wait and see the results. But, the key also is using the resouces (lefover cap and draft) wisely to get us big and win the Lombardi.

Yes I know, but the scenario outlined in the OP was who would we have signed with Tee's money.

If you're saying the thread is pointless because Tee is signed, well that's for the OP

[samhain]

Tough to imagine the sorcery that would beat the chemistry that the big 3 have.  

I think the real question is what we would have done if some of the recent draft picks actually panned out.  What if Dax was looking like Bates 2.0 and ready to cash in?  What if Murphy was a terror off the edge and getting ready to demand a 25 mil payday?  What if CTB continued to trend in a good direction in 24?  That would have made paying 2 receivers crazy money a lot harder to justify.

Unluckily for us, those guys haven't done squat in a combined 5 seasons.  Makes keeping your 3rd or 4th best player a whole lot easier to digest regardless of position.

[*pally*]

Interview with Rocky Arceneaux on how the deals got done

He didn't think he could both done until after the combine. He was proceeding like the plan was tag and trade but realized after the combine that the Bengals really did want to sign Tee.

Tee's deal was done first, then Ja'Marr's, then they redid Tee's

Garrett's deal did not impact Ja'Marr's. They signed for the number they were trying for in Jan.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/nfl/bengals/2025/03/18/jamarr-chase-tee-higgins-contract-agent-rocky-arceneaux-cincinnati-bengals/82527326007/

[007BengalsFan]

The Bengals could have signed Justin Reid + Josh Sweat for about the same price as signing Tee Higgins at his base price not counting incentives which could push Tee's contract higher.  

Also if you sign Sweat, you dont need to spend 7 million dollars to bring back Ossai on a 1 year contract so that saves you 7 million dollars which could have been spent toward a guard like Zeitler.  There are many possibilities freeing up that money would have allowed + getting a 1st or 2nd round draft pick

[007BengalsFan]

This should be a hard lesson to learn for the Bengals front office.  Get your deals done early.  They cost themselves millions by not doing so.

[NUGDUKWE]

(03-18-2025, 10:02 PM)007BengalsFan Wrote: The Bengals could have signed Justin Reid + Josh Sweat for about the same price as signing Tee Higgins at his base price not counting incentives which could push Tee's contract higher.  

Also if you sign Sweat, you dont need to spend 7 million dollars to bring back Ossai on a 1 year contract so that saves you 7 million dollars which could have been spent toward a guard like Zeitler.  There are many possibilities freeing up that money would have allowed + getting a 1st or 2nd round draft pick

I think this is a good answer to the question. Hard to pull off and I don't really see the Bengals swinging it. What moves do you make from here before the draft?

[Nicomo Cosca]

(03-18-2025, 10:15 PM)007BengalsFan Wrote: This should be a hard lesson to learn for the Bengals front office.  Get your deals done early.  They cost themselves millions by not doing so.