[Who Gets Extended Next?]

My money is on Dalton, I will bet he gets the money done before this season starts so they have some protection for Green.

[Free Agency]

I like Hawk as much as the next guy but I wouldn't have spent that money on a guy fairly easily replaceable with the talent already on your roster. Sometimes guys have to go.

[Walter's Current Mock Draft.]

I agree on both Richardson and Fales' front but I will say in both cases it is not completely out of the realm of possibility that they fall yto where they are projected. I think Richardson going in the 2nd and 3rd and not being available to the Bengals in the 4th is more likely than Fales going before the Bengals' pick in the 5th, QB is hard to project because most teams now only carry 2 guys on the active roster and as such if a bunch of teams take a QB early on someone like Fales could drop precipitously (we have seen this before with guys like Cousins and Mallett.

[Walter's Current Mock Draft.]

Here's the link: http://walterfootball.com/draft2014.php

But I'll save you the suspense....Best potential Bengals Draft Ever!

Rd. 1: Darqueeze Dennard, CB, Michigan St.

Rd. 2: Kyle Van Noy, OLB/DE, BYU

Rd. 3: Travis Swanson, C, Arkansas

Rd. 4: Antonio Richardson, OT, Tennessee

Rd. 5: David Fales, QB, San Jose State

If the draft fell out like this I would be dancing all weekend....love all of these guys.

Swanson is my favorite Center Prospect in this draft because of his leadership and intelligence, reminds me of Richie Braham. Dennard is my favorite CB is a young, taller version of Antonie Winfield which is high praise. Van Noy is a potentially dominant pass rusher from either a 3-4 OLB or a 4-3 rush end position. Richardson is a medical risk but the talent is there for him to be a starting Tackle in this league. David Fales is my sleeper QB who has the tools to be a staring QB...it would be awesome IMHO if the draft fell out like this.

[Wraith's Bengals Draft Board]

I always start my draft prep isolating 24 first round guys that I would be ok with the Bengals selecting at their position. This year I have started with 48 players since this is such a deep draft at so many positions. I have eliminated the QB, TE, RB positions and the Center position for round one, since none of these Center carries a first round grade IMHO. These are not guys I expect to be available for the Bengals but rather this isolates the pool of players the Bengals will likely start with, as guys get chosen you strike a name off the list.

1st Round:

1) Jake Matthews, OT, Texas A&M

2) Greg Robinson, OT, Auburn

3) Taylor Lewan, OT, Michigan

4) Sammy Watkins, WR, Clemson

5) JaDeveon Clowney, DE/OLB, South Carolina

6) Khalil Mack, OLB, Buffalo

7) Darqueze Dennard, CB, Michigan State

8) Justin Gilbert, CB, Oklahoma State

9) C.J. Moseley, ILB/OLB, Alabama

10) Mike Evans, WR, Texas A&M

11) Aaron Donald, DT, Pittsburgh (second coming of Geno Atkins)

12) Anthony Barr, OLB, UCLA

13) Hasean Clinton-Dix, FS, Alabama

14) Jason Verrett, CB, TCU

15) Calvin Pryor, FS, Louisville

16) Morgan Moses, OT, Virginia

17) Kelvin Benjamin, WR, Florida State

18) Ra'Shede Hageman, DT/DE, Minnesota

19) Dee Ford, DE/OLB, Auburn

20) Xavier Sua'Filo, OG, UCLA

21) Louis Nix III, DT, Notre Dame

22) Kyle Fuller, CB, Virginia Tech

23) Ryan Shazier, OLB, Ohio State (reminds me of Brian Simmons for both good and bad reasons)

24) Stephon Tuitt, DE/DT, Notre Dame

Now of course any of these players that are left after the first round will flow down to the 2nd round and of course we will adjust our team needs as the first round selections are complete.

1 of the 2nd Round Pool) Jordan Matthews, WR, Vanderbilt (one of my favorite players in this draft and would fit perfectly in the Bengals offense)

2) David Yankey, OG, Stanford

3) Chris Borland, ILB, Wisconsin

4) Trent Murphy, DE, Stanford

5) Kony Ealy, DE, Missouri

6) Kyle Van Noy, OLB, BYU

7) Bradley Roby, CB, Ohio State

8) Dakota Dozier, OG, Furman

9) Cyril Richardson, OG, Baylor

10) Joel Bitonio, OT, Nevada (this guys is a sleeper 1st round pick IMHO)

11) Timmy Jernigan, DT, Florida State

12) Travis Swanson, C, Arkansas

13) Ed Reynolds, FS, Stanford

14) Gabe Jackson, OG, Mississippi

15) Michael Schofield, OG/OT, Michigan

16) Marcus Martin, C, USC

17) Chris Borland, ILB, Wisconsin

18) Jackson Jeffcoat, DE, Texas

19) Will Sutton, DT, Arizona State

20) Pierre Desir, CB/FS, Lindenwood (guy would be a first rounder if he wasn't coming from a small school)

21) Stanley Jean-Baptist, CB/FS, Nebraska

22) Kelcy Quarles, DT, South Carolina (keep seeing him show up in Clowney Highlights)

23) Marcus Roberson, CB, Florida

24) Keith McGill, CB, Utah

Other Guys I really like. QB: A.J. McCarron - Alabama, David Fales - San Diego State, Jeff Mathews - Cornell. RB: none. TE: none. WR: Jarvis Landry - LSU, Jared Abbrederis - Wisconsin. OT: Billy Turner - North Dakota State, Seantrel Henderson - Miami (4th Round or lower). OG: none. C: Brian Stork - Florida State (3rd Round). DE: DeMarcus Lawrence - Boise State, Brent Urban - Virginia, Michael Sam - Missouri. DT: Ryan Carrethers - Arkansas State. LB: Jordan Zumwalt - UCLA, Jordan Tripp - Montana, Yawin Smallwood - UConn, Max Bullough - Michigan State. S: Craig Loston - LSU. CB: Aaron Colvin - Oklahoma, Brandon Dixon - Northwest Missouri State. P: Pat O'Donnell - Miami. K: Chris Boswell - Rice.

So this is a start, your suggestions are welcome and if you have a guy not mentioned please let me know so I can research him!

[Pro Football Focus]

The girls (including my wife) are all addicted to Minecraft since Santa brought them tablets for Christmas so this weekend I had some free time to do what I do best....obsess over the Bengals and do a deep dive into Free Agency and the draft.

I checked out Pro Football Focus and they had projected 2014 starting rosters with player rankings. LINK: https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2014/02/19/projected-lineups-cincinnati-bengals/

And so I figured I would geek out over that and build my own spreadsheet with the following ratings (first a disclaimer: I necessarily agree with their player rankings because while grading a player every play on the field is fine and dandy, it takes no consideration of locker room presence, leadership, toughness, et al....and so I completely disagree with their position on Peko for example) based upon their findings alone as an independant evaluator.

They give players a 6-tier scale and I have assigned a point system to go with that scale so I can quantify their opinions. Elite Starter (which I assign a +3 point value) and there are very few of these. High Quality Starter, which I assign +2 points. Solid Starter/Valuable Role Player, +1 point. Adequate Starter/Solid Role Player, 0 points. Below Average Starter/Adequate Role Player, -1 point. Poor Starter/Gamble, -2 points. Unknown, -1 point.

So I went through the Bengals....they have the Bengals with 1 Elite Player (Atkins), 5 High Quality Starters (Green, A. Smith, Whitworth, Hall, and Burfict), 8 Solid Starters (Bernard, M. Jones, Boling, Zeitler, A. Jones, Nelson, Harrison, Dunlap), 6 Adequate Starters (Dalton, Hawkins, Cook, Eifert, Iloka, Newman), 2 Below Average Starters (Peko and Maualuga), 1 Poor Starter (Gresham), and 1 Unknown (Hunt). No mention of Gilberry, Geathers, Sanu (though they mention him in their narrative as having upside), or Green Ellis. And clearly this is not 22 players because they are including #1 and #2 TEs, Slot WRs, Slot CBs as starters. I believe they are projecting us losing both MJ and Collins and of course they cannot project draft selections or Free Agent Signings.

But....taken on face value, with my values the Bengals grade out with a 16. I also graded out on the website the Browns (-3), the Steelers (+5), and the Ravens (0), so far so good.... I also looked at several other teams in the AFC (I am a little Autistic if you couldn't tell and football is my "thing") NE (+13), KC (+11), Den (+17), SD (+1), Ind (+5), and Hou (+4). Seattle and San Fran graded out the best at +24 each, no surprise.

I post this just to show the possibilities of the roster in 2014 at a worst case scenario, now of course if this was a real professional evaluation the individual positions would have to weighted based on impact and that would draw the Steelers closer to the Bengals because clearly Big Ben would weight more than Dalton would. On paper we should again win the AFC North and provided Dalton can cut down on the turnovers we should be in position to compete for the AFC Championship....of course the games aren't played on paper but at least things like this will help me get through the next two months.

[2014 Bengals Draft Big Board]

Not in a draft where the best talent at the position is likely long gone before they select. There is simply not a guy in this draft ranked between 20-70 (Kouandjio, Matthews, Lewan, Robinson, and Martin are all likely gone by the time the Bengals pick) that I would feel is a safe selection (even Zack Martin, who is the one guy likely to drop to the Bengals place in the first, is a pretty good sized gamble based upon what I saw on tape). One guy I do like though is Morgan Moses from Virginia he is someone worth watching as the draft gets closer.

[2014 Bengals Draft Big Board]

Lose Collins and they put Boling back to Guard and Whitworth back to LT and they continue to develop Hawkenson and whatever mid to late round prospect they draft. Unless someone like Lewan falls to them they will not (IMHO) draft a LT in the first two rounds. the Bengals are not taking chances recently with draft picks, they are taking sure things (or as close to it as you can get in the NFL Draft) in the first. They are not moving around they are simply waiting and taking the safest guy available.

[State of the Bengals]

Is that 24 Million with or without MJ's franchise tag?

I would love to see Khalil Mack from Buffalo on this team, that being said to get this team to championship caliber we need two more OLinemen and 2 solid young DBs and an edge rusherIMHO. I would love to see us grab Taylor Lewan, Khalil Mack, C.J. Moseley, or Ha Ha Clinton-Dix with our 1st rounder though I also lke Calvin Pryor (Louisville) and Ed Reynolds (Stanford) at safety so we could wait till the second to take our DB help. At Corner I like Stanley Jean-Baptist out of Nebraska (in the second) and Darqueez Dennard from Michigan State (if he drops to us in the first) or Keith McGill from Utah (in the second or third). I like Shayne Skov from Stanford and Chris Borland from Wisconsin as possible second/third round targets at LB. If we go Center in the second or thirdI really like Travis Swanson from Arkansas and Brian Stork from Florida State. I am really enamoured with Kyle Van Noy from BYU right now if the other pass rushers (Clowney and Mack) go early as expected as a surprise 1st round selection.

Long story short there is plenty of talent around the areas where we will pick to choose from, taking a guy like Lewan and following him up with Travis Swanson in the second would secure our OLine for 5 years. Taking Moseley in first would lock down our LBing Corp. Obviously taking a Safety early would allow us to transition from Reggie Nelson. I love what Seattle did with their larger corners this year and with Iloka and Kirkpatrick we have a good start to build a secondary with that talent (if that is what we want) and grabbing guys like Jean-Baptist and McGill in the middle rounds would round that off nicely. Lot's of potential, this team is primed to be successful, I too think Hue is an upgrade and I have confidence in Paulie G....but the proof is in the pudding this team needs to start winning playoff games.

[The Dance! Broncos vs Seahawks]

What I found insteresting is how close the Bengals are to the Seahawks from a defensive personnel perspective.

Another couple of impact DBs and an edge rusher and we are in the same boat...or better.

Clinton-Dix in the First, the OLB from BYU in the second (Kyle Van Noy) and grab Stanley Jean Baptist from Nebraska in the third.

Pair these guys with Nelson, iLoka, Hall, Newman, Jones, Kirkpatrick and the LBing corp of Lamur, Harrison, Maualuga, Burfict, and Rey? With our DLine....even if MJ leaves....watch out.

SF finished 5th on defense and look what they did to the Seahawks. Actually, SF, probably should have won the game.

Bengals finished 3rd on defense!

Our DBs are not nearly up Seahawks level everything else is close.

[The Dance! Broncos vs Seahawks]

What I found insteresting is how close the Bengals are to the Seahawks from a defensive personnel perspective.

Another couple of impact DBs and an edge rusher and we are in the same boat...or better.

Clinton-Dix in the First, the OLB from BYU in the second (Kyle Van Noy) and grab Stanley Jean Baptist from Nebraska in the third.

Pair these guys with Nelson, iLoka, Hall, Newman, Jones, Kirkpatrick and the LBing corp of Lamur, Harrison, Maualuga, Burfict, and Rey? With our DLine....even if MJ leaves....watch out.

[OK Were Screwed !!!]

AHHHHHH!!!!!! The world is going to stop spinning, the sun will stop shining, Mike Zimmer is gone and every player on the defense will suddenly forget how to play.

I agree Jay's departure and Hue becomming the OC is a wholesale upgrade. Jay's playcalling left alot to be desired and Hue has been a very good OC everywhere he has gone. Give some freaking props to this organization. They knew that Jay was going to be a strong HC candidate because of his name and Zim because of his performance and so they planned for it. They grabbed Hue as soon as he became available even though they didn't have a spot for him because he was their insurance, kept him as a defensive assistant for one year and then promoted him to RB coach when Anderson retired. They kept adding responsibilities to Guenther to get him prepped as well.

The Players on the defense have alot of respect for Paulie G and that is 80% of the battle. Remember this was Marvin's and Zimm's hand picked guy to promote we will be just fine in fact I expect our D to be better than it was last year, not because of any steller coaching job but because the players (Dre, iLoka, Atkins being back, new rookies and no significant departures aside from MJ and they drafted his replacement last year in Hunt) will be better after another year of seasoning.

[2014 Bengals Draft Big Board]

Dennard is my #1 choice, he is a physical, smart corner who is always around the ball....count me in!

[Zim to Vikes]

I am happy for Zim but I am a little sad for the Bengals, Zimmer was such an incredible influence on the defense and the leadership of the team. He brought a tough mindedness into the locker room and it was obvious that his players loved playing for him. I can only hope that Guenther provides the same leadership.

[Andy Dalton Sucks!]

Exactly, let's go out and draft another QB because our track record drafting QBs is so incredible....

[Team Problems and Causes]

Why was the window this year....who do we have leaving next year, Collins? MJ? that is going to be the difference between 11-5 and division champs and 5-11? This is a VERY young team still and will continue to get better next year we should have Atkins back and another year of seasoning for iLoka, Kirkpatrick, Bernard, Hunt. Getting Lamur back as well as Porter and Geathers, this will be fine they will be a better team next year and we will let the chips fall where they may in the playoffs.

If an 11-5 team is enough to make you not want to be a Bengals fan anymore then don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya.

[PBS, Bengals fans, and home dominance]

Per Hobs, the Bengals are sold out to the surprise of no-one.

[Here's our first round pick]

And that is why a guy like Lewan in the late first is going to be a real possibility.

If the draft plays out with 5 QBs going in the first 8 picks as some have suggested there are alot of good plays that are going to filter down into the 20's and even into the second round.

You figure Clowney is going top ten, Jake Matthews is going top ten, Bridgewater, Bortles, Hundley, Manziel, and Carr as QBs top Ten, Mack and Barr Top Ten, Mike Evans and Sammy Watkins are going top fifteen, Cyril Richardson is likely a top fifteen pick, as is Cyrus Kouandijo from Alabama, Cameron Ewing is a very likely top 15 player as well, and throw is Dennard if he tests well and there you have the top 15 mapped out. Add in a guy like Taj Boyd who if he tests well will sneak back into that conversation as well....

That leaves alot of good players for the last half of the first round.

[Here's our first round pick]

My Guys so far are:

QB:

-none-

RB:

-none-

WR:

Jordan Matthews, Vandy

Marquis Lee, USC

Shaq Evans, UCLA

TE:

-none-

OT:

Jake Matthews (but there is virtually no way he drops past 10), Texas A&M

Taylor Lewan, Michigan

OG:

Cyril Richardson, Baylor

Xavier Su'a-Filo, UCLA

C:

Travis Swanson, Arkansas

DT:

Louis Nix, Notre Dame

Ra'Shede Hageman, Minnesota

DE:

Trent Murphy, Stanford

Jackson Jeffcoat, Texas

OLB:

C.J. Mosley, Alabama

Khalil Mack, Buffalo (my #1 guy put he is probably long gone by the time we pick)

Anthony Barr, UCLA

Marquis Flowers, Arizona

MLB:

Shayne Skov, Stanford

Yawin Smallwood, UConn

CB:

Darqueze Dennard, Michigan State (my #2 guy)

Stanley Jean-Baptista, Nebraska

S:

Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Alabama

Calvin Pryor, Louisville

Craig Loston, LSU

Dennard is a guy that I hope tests poorly at the combine because I love the way he plays and would be thrilled if he fell to the Bengals.

[Andy Dalton Sucks!]

This was posted on Lance McAlister's blog today and if I were the Bengals it would fire me up good.

"Here's how the Patriots win in playoffs

Boston Globe

If you want to see the Patriots advance to the AFC Championship game in Denver, you root for the Bengals to beat the Chargers in Cincinnati Sunday afternoon. OK, the Bengals are talented, they went 8-0 at home, and they beat the Patriots this season. But at the all-important positions of head coach and quarterback, they have the two individuals least-equipped to beat the Patriots at Gillette in a playoff game.

Say hello to Bengals coach Marvin Lewis and QB Andy Dalton — twin tomato cans ripe for the kicking.

To beat any Patriot team in Foxborough in January, you need two things: You need a coach who is not afraid of Bill Belichick and you need an elite (or at least semi-elite) quarterback. Lewis and Dalton would be just what the doctor ordered for the Patriots.

Read more: http://www.espn1530.com/pages/lancesBlog.html#ixzz2p4gUXVpk"

[Chargers @ Bengals Pregame Chatter]

BTW, there is 0% chance IMHO that this game is a shootout because of the Chargers' offensive production. Analyzing this season our defense hasn't allowed more than 28 points to any team this season (and that was to the Colts where 7 of those point were in garbage time).

Here are the points scored per opponent factoring out drives that went less than 30 yards.

Bears, 21. Steelers, 7 and 16 respectively. Packers, 17. Browns, 14 and 10 respectively. Pats, 6. Bills, 24. Lions, 24. Jets, 6. Dolphins, 10. Ravens, 10 and 11 respectively. Chargers, 7. Colts, 28 (but again 7 of those points were in garbage time with the Bengals holding a 3 TD lead). Vikes, 14.

The ONLY way based of the entire body of work this defense has put together that the Chargers score nor the 21 points is if the Offense gives them scores by turning over the football deep in our territory.

At home the numbers are even more impressive. Point totals against our defense are 7, 17, 10, 6, 6, 11, 14 and the outlier the Colts @ 28 (but I prefer to call that 21 because we were in prevent mode at the end of the game). Guys and Dolls, that equates to 11.5 pts per game on average at home...the Broncos would struggle to score 20 pts against us at home and the Chargers are not the Broncos.

[Chargers @ Bengals Pregame Chatter]

Well we won't know until Sunday, I mean it isn't as if the Bengals and the Chargers played this season....right? What would really be nice was if we had tape of a 2013 Bengals-Chargers game where both teams had everything on the line, that would really tell us which was the better team particularly if the game was IN San Diego, but alas we must just wish and wait for Sunday lacking any empirical evidence to make an accurate prediction.

I wonder what excuse the talking heads will come up with when the Bengals win on Sunday....wait...the SUN was in the Chargers' eyes the entire game....or perhaps the Chargers got in late and didn't get enough sleep...perhaps the, just wasn't built to play in this weather, card will come up...anything but giving the Bengals credit for being the better team and *gasp* having the better football organization.

The entire sports talking world will grind to a halt if the Bengals beat the Patriots in Foxboro BTW. Peter King might have a coronary, the entire ESPN NFL staff could have a collective aneurysm. Bruschi and Harrison might be struck dumb, just another reason to root for a Bengals win I guess.

[DOMINANT Bengals Defense]

Add in Lamur who big things were expected from as well.

[DOMINANT Bengals Defense]

Still pi$$ed that Tony Dungy said the Broncos were going to have an easy trip to the Super Bowl because they won't have to face a "dominant defense".

First, there is no question that outside the Bengals the AFC teams in the playoffs are defensively challenged. Outside the Bengals' official third ranked defense the remaining AFC defenses are as follows: 19, Denver. 20, Indy. 23, San Diego. 24, Kansas City (though they are a legit top 10 defense in my opinion). and 26, New England. Not exactly the 1976 Steelers, but the point of this thread is to discuss exactly how dominant the 2013 Bengals defense was exactly.

The Bengals finished third in the league in total yards allowed with 305 yards per game. They finished second in yards allowed per play (a better statistic IMHO) at 4.7 yards (anything below 5 yards per play in this NFL is exceptional). They finished 5th in the league in points allowed per game at 19.1 but that only tells part of the story. I have invented a stat called Adjusted Points per Game which eliminates from the defensive statistics any points scored by an opponent where the opponent has to go less than 20 yards to make the score (in the Bengals Case this equates to 72 points to be deducted from the Bengals total of 305 points). In Adjusted Points per Game the Bengals are giving up a paltry 14.6 points per game (11.9 if you eliminate points where the opponent had to go less than 50 yards BTW) which is the third best in the league (after only Seattles 13.3 points per game adjusted and Carolina's 14.1). Diving deeper in the stats, the Bengals are only allowing 1st downs on 33% of the 3rd downs they face which is also the best in the league. The Bengals are also the only defense that are top 5 in rushing yards per game against and passing yards per game against. Opponents are averaging right at 4.0 yards per carry against us and we are second best in the league in QB Rating against (this despite the fact that we played Roethlisberger twice, Rodgers, Brady, Luck, and Rivers which means six games against the top 8 QBs this season).

You could legitmately make the arguement that the Bengals had the best defense in the league though I personally would rank them #2 behind Seattle. So to Tony Dungy, I think it is safe to say that if the Broncos play the Bengals they will indeed be facing a dominant defense.

[Official 2013 Season Prediction Thread]

#14 defense my a$$. So much for the stupid website ;)/>

Finished #3 with a bullet and you could make a case for them to be #1. Surprised that Dungy said "Denver must be feeling confident with no dominant defenses"