ArmyBengal

Cam Taylor-Britt signs with Indy on a one year deal. Good….

They don't mean what the fans mean. That should be abundantly obvious to anyone following.

So here's another trade down scenario since, well, I brought it up... In the above scenario, the Carolina Panthers offered the #19, #51 and #83 for the 10th overall. I accepted the trade down as it presents a small win in trade value and I can target other players later. The draft then fell: 1. Akheem Mesidor, DE, Miami - Bain's running mate at the U. 2a. Chris Johnson, CB, San Diego State - He's one of the CB's I like a little later. 2b. A.J. Haulcy, S, LSU - I really like Haulcy and if the Bengals don't get Downs, Haulcy is next. 3a. Caleb Tiernan, OT, Northwestern - I've mentioned him before and love the mad versatility on the line. 3b. Jake Golday, LB, Cincinnati - Adding another young LB, which isn't ideal, but I love his game. 4. Zachariah Branch, WR, Georgia - I gave up next year's 6th to move up 8 spots and went and got my guy. 6a. Dontay Corleone, DT, Cincinnati - He's small, but super aggressive in his pass rush. Fun to watch play. 6b. Cole Payton, QB, North Dakota St. - Love his running ability and super accuracy. 7a. John Michael-Gyllenborg, TE, Wyoming - He's a late round TE that I would LOVE to see the Bengals nab. 7b. Logan Taylor, OG, Boston College - Big, athletic late round guard. That'll do. So in this scenario, you basically trade Delane for (DE Mesidor, S Haulcy and LB Golday). Yeah, I make that trade all day, every day no matter how much I like Delane. I actually love that draft.

When looking at his board and who is there when the Bengals go on the clock, Delane is a great pick. No issues with him or a trade down there would be really good as well. Same thing with Mel's. I would be really happy with a trade down and again, that's no knock on Delane because I really like him as well. This class just has a lot of CB depth and an extra early round pick would be glorious for this team.

Agree Stripes. They haven't done enough if the thought is attempting to compete for a SB. Funny you mentioned restructuring as I just had a discussion about Burrow's contract at work and the other guy was saying, "The Bengals don't have to worry about cap space because they can restructure Burrow's contract if they wanted or needed to". Thing is, they do need to. If you claim you are all in and don't do this easiest of things you can do, then you simply aren't all in. You would like to get Crosby? Restructure. Price of linebackers was too high? Restructure. Want a high end DT since you know it's an issue? Restructure. I agree the Bengals "can" do that, but they won't and here we sit with BJ Hill (who I like) and Jonathan Allen (who I don't) as our starting defensive tackles. They replaced Trey with a hyped up Mafe and a BUNCH of hope and prayers. Not enough. The lone free agent I'm happy about is Cook and as much I like having him here, he's not enough. The Bengals just suck and I'm really sick of trying to find the bright spot with this organization. THIS IS WHAT ALL IN LOOKS LIKE TO THEM.

What do you know? Me, shocked they didn't consider the depth of the LB corps. I've been saying it for years. Knight and Barrett better step the fuck up this year in growth.

This DT class sucks fat donkey balls.

NO NO and NO

When look at both production and athleticism, Sonny Styles is one of the only elite players in the draft. There aren't many and most considered to go in the first round this year would be considered good. Just goes to show that when looking at first round talent from one year to another, it's not always an apples to apples comparison. Today's first round player might have been a 3rd rounder last year.

I have seen all the talk about how short Bain's arms are and I don't give a rats ass. Has arm length helped Myles Murphy and Shemar Stewart? They were like 33in and 34in respectively. Can you win your battle and beat your guy? Yes? Bring me Bain, his 30in arms and lets roll !!

I really hope I'm wrong and people are trying really hard to say he's an awesome pick, BUUUUUUUT.... Mafe gives me the same impression that Oren Burks gave me last year. Coming off a Super Bowl win, a player that will do better with more snaps, yada yada yada. I better be wrong for the sake of 2026.

Not a chance. No earlier than the 4th, maybe the 3rd if the right guy was there. I say all that being comfortable not seeing it at all. There is a guy I’ve watched play since his time at USC and finished at Georgia in Zachariah Brown. A true #3 slot WR with speed to spare. The shifty YAC kind of guy that would bring another dimension to the offense we currently lack.

All of my thoughts exactly. A college #1 with Yoshi who I view more as a depth guy in case of injury and what I thought would be what I’m talking about in Chuck but can’t stay healthy. I know people say this is already a potent offense but a true #3 with dynamic speed would be a nice addition.

There’s a position I was wondering if they might look at during free agency and part of me won’t be upset if they do during the draft. No one has mentioned this anywhere since the defense has been so historically bad, but I believe slot WR, a true #3 guy built for that role would be helpful. I don’t need the biggest guy, but I do want that shifty speed element for this offense. Think of a Zay Flowers type of player and team them up with Ja’Marr and Higgins. I want a return specialist out of the guy as well. I like Yoshi and like Chuck and probably why we won’t see it, but I want more.

This might count as the fucking laziest, no thought to it, throw a dart at cheap names, free agent signing ever.

3rd times the charm !! I don’t want to hear anyone complaining. Everyone wanted a Jake Browning replacement. Well… you got it. Stay healthy Joe !!

Hey hey I’m with you. Tell you what, that’s something my neighbor would get behind so we can both go drop a deuce on his porch. After that beers at Salem Gardens.

Dude don’t even talk about that possibility !!

Stacked you say? Offense, yes. Defense, better, but no.

I don't want to turn the free agent thread into the draft thread, but we are talking about scenarios and I thought I would share an outcome of what I was talking about should all the players we are discussing as a group are gone when the Bengals go on the clock and we trade down. I traded down, into the upper 20's and picked up an extra 2nd rounder and another 2nd in 2027. I walked away with what I believe could be 4 starters with my first 4 picks, knowing they all won't be. OT, S, CB and LB Those were followed by DT, WR, QB, DE and OG. Stoked !! The oddest part and probably highly unlikely for it to happen? I had three picks from the University of Cincinnati.

They are almost identical in their size and testing results as well and I love both of them. I would cheer loudly if either were the pick and think either would help our defense. Their measurables really are insane. Reese- 6'4, 243 running a 4.46 forty Styles- 6'5, 244 running a 4.47 forty That's insane for people that damn huge !!!

No, not Delane specifically. He would be an immediate slot guy because Newton always has been a hope and pray kind of pick and I hope and pray they don't have him on the field unless absolutely having to. My point I failed to make is there is a lot of CB depth in the draft. One can be had later on. Honestly, my dream slot CB's in the draft, should either fall to us in the 2nd round are: De'Angelo Ponds from Indiana or Keionte Scott from Miami I think both of them in the slot would be really solid. No knock on Delane in the least.

I like Delane and Freeling a lot as well, but will admit CB or OT not being my top get in the first. Especially with OBJ signing a two year extension. They don't need depth in the first. They need a defensive player stepping on the field day one capable of impacting that crap defense.

I really don't want to see them trade this pick away outright for a guy like Crosby to be honest. That doesn't mean I would shit on that move, but just where I am at the moment. Honestly, with the additions they have made, making a move for Crosby makes more sense now. As for who might be there if Reese, Styles, Downs and Bain are all off the board, there are guys I like. Granted, some may or may not view them as a reach, but I don't care if they are close and fill a hole. Just don't do anything not even close to being in the same ballpark as the general thought to thing. I expect Bailey to be gone as well, but if he fell, I like his game a lot. CB Mansoor Delane from LSU and LT Monroe Freeling from Georgia are two more I like. I like our chances of getting one of the players I like at this point. However, I would NOT be opposed to a trade down and picking up even an extra 3rd. I've done that in a lot of mocks and the return always looks really good. As always, it depends on who's on the board when they go on the clock.

I mentioned this in the draft thread (I think) but Styles is equal in talent to Reese. Bold take ?? If I had to pick which player I thought would bust out between Reese and Styles, I'd pick Reese. Styles isn't just a Combine warrior. The guy has been getting meaningful snaps since he was a freshman. He's played in 53 games and his stat line is crazy good. Reese played in 36 games and didn't register a sack as a freshman. He really just came on strong this year. One could easily make the argument of him being a one year wonder when looking at stats honestly. 244 total tackles, 22.5 TFL, 9 sacks, 1 INT, 3 Forced Fumbles and 9 pass defenses. 112 total tackles, 13.5 TFL, 7 sacks, 0 INT, 0 Forced Fumbles and 2 pass defenses. If someone were to just look at the hype of the players thought to go in the top 10 of the draft, damn near everyone would assume the better numbers belonged to Reese. They would be wrong. Sure, one could say if Reese came back for his senior year, he might eclipse those numbers, but he's not and there's no way to know for sure. They are banking on that continuing in the NFL. PLEASE, do not misinterpret my thoughts. I love Arvell Reece and think most should run to the stand with his name on the card. My take is that they should want to run to the stand with Styles name on it as well. He's going to be an above average linebacker in the league. Those two are ridiculous. How big, how fast, how athletic. They are perfect linebacking machines. Well.... until the league proves that theory incorrect.