Wraith

Carman getting cut at the end of the season?

Turning 51 in a month so I can feel your pain.

Gotta find a way to get the WRs involved

Always good to find a rational person on the inter-webs.

Defense is averaging 16 pts allowed through three games of the season. Completion % against is 56.2% good for third best, they are allowing 1st downs on 26.4% on passes which is 4th. Against the run 3.7 YPC and only 1 rushing TD. Yes they had three bad series against the Cowboys but other than that they have allowed 1....1 TD. They are very definitely a top ten defense, statistically they are a top 5 defense overall. I also believe the lack of a pass rush and lack of INTs is a function of scheme. I think they were worried that they might get beat deep against the Steelers so they played alot more deep safety looks and did not press much preferring to keep the Steelers WRs in front of them which does not lend itself to alot of INTs.

Putting this topic in to track moves. Anyone hear anything? Us out of Towner's are lacking gossip.

A little early but with the Bengals locking up first place in the division the opponent for 2022 are pretty close to set. If everything goes as expected next week here are your 2022 Bengal Opponents. Obviously, 2 x Balt., Pitt, Cle We play the entire, AFC East so that means NE (away), Buffalo (home), Miami (home) and the NYJ (away) We play the entire NFC South so that means TB (away), NO (away), ATL (home), CAR (home) We also play the winner of the AFC South away (likely the Tennessee Titans), the winner of the AFC West (the Chiefs) at home, and the winner of the NFC East (Dallas) away So your 2022 home games will be: BALT, PITT, CLE, BUF, MIA, ATL, CAR, and KC your 2022 away games will likely be: BALT, PITT, CLE, NE, NYJ, TB, NO, TENN, and DAL

Going into Free Agency, I wrote the following items that the Bengals needed to do to have a successful period....the Bengals did none of them: I wrote that it was imperative that the Bengals make a splash signing. This is as much about giving the fans some hope as it was about winning football games. There were many different avenues they could have taken. Signing Joe Thuney or Trent Williams would have been the simplest options but Kenny Golladey and Shaq Barrett would have also been options, just someone that would make people sit up and say wow the Bengals are really going for it. None of that happened....they were apparently close to Kenny Golladey but ultimately failed to seal the deal and close means nothing to these fans. I wrote that we needed some consistency and bringing back two young playmakers would be a good start. I think all of us expected that bringing back Jackson and Lawson were the minimum going into this free agency but they brought back neither, instead they took that money and spent it on replacing those players with players that graded out worse in both respects and going back to the first point most Bengals fans know nothing about Trey Hendrickson or Mike Hilton or Chidobe Awuzie so those moves did not move the needle of public perception at all. These might be fine football players and the Hendrickson gamble on greatness may pay off...their secondary is deeper without a doubt but....better? this is debatable. They needed a wholesale overhaul of the coaching! Yes they let go some of the assistant coaches but the offensive and defensive coordinators remains (as does special teams). I would bet the Bengals are the only team in NFL history to have 6 total wins in two seasons without AT LEAST changing a coordinator. Again, this looks bad, this looks lazy, this looks like no one cares about winning. Anarumo at a minimum should have been fired, he disenfranchised most of the existing player base, it has been widely reported that he is disorganized and does not have a set system, that players were often left unprepared and his defenses in two seasons were 29th in net yards allowed/game and 26th in net pts/game in 2019 and a barely improved 26th in net yards per game and 22 in net pts/game. They had to address the offensive line with multiple veteran signings. They signed one, Riley Reiff...an average starter historically.... to a one year contract...It is a mark of just how bad this offseason has been so far that a player who has not graded above a 75 in the last five seasons and is 32 on a one year contract is the highlight of the offseason...but he is. Now the Bengals did not fail just because they did not do what I had hoped they would. They failed because the fan base has let it be known on several online polls that they did not do what the fanbase as a whole had expected them to do. We will once again be the butt of every pundit's joke, we will once again be viewed by players, owners and media as the armpit of the league, once again. So far, the Bengals have failed in every element. Can they turn it around and salvage the offseason, maybe? but, history does not indicate that this is likely. They are on track to once again be one of the least talented teams in the NFL. They are on track on once again waste a super valuable year of Joe Burrows rookie contract and have nothing to give hope to a long suffering fanbase. They should feel ashamed at what they have done with their incompetence, unpreparedness in a very important offseason, their disconnect from how business is done in the rest of the NFL, and their lackadaisical approach. But they don't....instead they continue to sell us nepotism and doing business the same way that has failed the team, the city and it's fans for 30 years. I should be done with this team, all they have done is let me down for most of my life but I will continue to root because of some mental deficiency on my part. They had every advantage in this offseason and proceeded to muck it up royally but I guess this is just what we should expect from this moribund organization. Hey, at least there is always the draft to look forward to....

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jRPKVF23SOSNPoaq_1rg7tldXedNthDY/view?usp=sharing I started creating these as a way to keep all the information I was gathering in my own process in an orderly fashion, thought I would share.

Excellent Draft Guide, no fluff, just stats and analysis. Available to anyone who is registered with the Athletic. https://theathletic.com/1727831/2020/04/07/dane-brugler-nfl-draft-guide-2020-the-beast/ I also use PFF's Draft Guide and Daniel Jeremiah's stuff from NFL.com

If Queen, Murray and Baun are all gone when we get to #33. I am warming up to trading down 5-7 spots and taking Jeremy Chinn . If he had played in an SEC school we would be talking about Chinn being at top ten player. Everyone is saying Simmons had the best LB combine ever, but Chinn might have had a better one. Simmons ran a 4.39 at 6'4" 238 lbs with a 39" vert and 132" Broad Jump Chinn ran a 4.45 at 6'3" at 221 lbs with a 41" vert and a 138" Broad Jump. Chinn could play the same position the same way as Simmons.

These are the guys I would love to get at #33. With the depth of this group some of these guys (who all carry first round grades) will drop to #33. Sorted by Position Group. This is my wishlist for the top of Rd. 2. OT: Josh Jones, OT, Houston. Seeing Ezra Cleveland mocked here but he is too raw IMHO to go this high. If the draft unfolds badly for us we could drop back collect extra picks and take him mid to late 2nd round. There are better players that will almost certainly be available for #33. For the record, I don't see Jones making it past the Vikings at #25. IOL: Cesar Ruiz, IOL, Michigan. From a physical standpoint Netane Muti from Fresno would also be a candidate here but he has had major injuries the last three years, too great an injury risk to take at #33. LB: Patrick Queen, LB, LSU. Likely not available but would sprint to the podium (virtually) if he is. Kenneth Murray, LB, Oklahoma. ditto Queen Edge: Zach Baun, OLB/Edge, Wisconsin Safety: Grant Delpit, S, LSU WR: Laviska Shenault, WR, Colorado Denzel Mims, WR, Baylor Justin Jefferson, WR, LSU Tee Higgins, WR, Clemson. One of these WRs will drop to us....would be happy with any of them. Shenault is my favorite, Mims and Jefferson tied for second. CB: Kristian Fulton, CB, LSU. Seriously doubt he will drop this far, but seeing him fall on several draft boards.

Because I am a complete draft obsessed nerd, every year I create a Prospect Value Chart ranking 250+ players (closer to 252 this year) and a Draft Primer. I build these documents primarily for myself to get my thoughts and strategy ready to go for the weekend (kinda like Christmas for me). I have tried to post these documents before on this forum to no-avail, trying again. If it works hope you enjoy.

So Lapham is guessing Ragnow and his guesses are pretty good usually. I don't hate the player, I hate the position. There is very little difference in grade among the top three Centers and virtually no chance that at least one of them (likely two) is not sitting there for us at 46. This is the part of the draft the Bengals have never figured out...it is not enough to get the right player, to maximize draft capital you must get the right player in the right spot.