COB

They’re tagging Trey Smith? That is almost unbelievable. I guess leave it to Andy Reid to tag a guard. Smith is ok but he’s benefiting from the shortage of decent interior linemen. In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.

2/24/25. A day to celebrate. I’ll be heading over to the Arby’s on state route 79 in Heath and ordering these bad boys from that ill -tempered teenager in the drive through who mocked me for trying to order them a year after they were removed from the menu. Who’s the idiot now, Tristan? I’m not the one wearing a visor backwards in February in Ohio.

I bet Mike loves reading about how the union thinks he should provide entertainment and babysit the players’ families on game days.

Tee is obviously worried he’ll have to play on the tag again. The tag gives the bengals something they don’t have without it - leverage. Tee wants a long term deal here or elsewhere. Until we tag him and show him that stick, he has very little incentive to compromise on anything. The prospect of playing on another one year deal will force compromise, and he apparently doesn’t like it. Ok, refuse to sign it then go complain to the union members who approved it. But beware that 99% of them never have to worry about ever having the tag used coercively against them. I applaud the bengals for being so open, for once, about their plans regarding players and contracts. But it is apparent some of the players don’t feel the rhetoric is matched by corresponding action. It probably gets back to the size of the organization. Guys are spread super thin, have to be at the combine, have to interview or be interviewed. Not much time right now for contract negotiations, I guess.

I just watched the press conference, and Duke comes off way better in person than he does when you read the transcript. He seems sincere. Just my opinion, but if they can’t get a very reasonable deal out of Trey, just say goodbye. If he was the key to a good defense, we would have had a good defense. He’s getting up there in years, Sign Tee first, which Tobin straight up said would be the priority. Then sign Chase. I actually agree with Tobin. Hendrickson’s under contract. I sincerely hope he doesn’t hear about this post from his dad.

He was saying all the right stuff about how he wants to keep him. Then he just slips in there, “He’s under contract right now,”. Everyone knows he’s under contract right now. You don’t have to throw down your strongest negotiating point while you’re talking about how much you want the negotiations to succeed. It’s akin to the “there’s only one pie and everyone wants a piece” statements they occasionally make. These dudes start making excuses about why they can’t or won’t pay guys before the negotiations even start.

Duke Tobin is not a poker player. Dude tries to say nothing, but gives himself away. Like he can’t help it.

Shakir played 3 years on his rookie deal then got an extension and a big raise, exactly what we should have done with Chase.

Ross Tucker seriously does not like the Bengals FO. He’s been that way for years. I can’t recall if he had an unpleasant interaction when he was a free agent or what.

Dehner in the Athletic, meandering about re Bengals FA and draft picks: He talked about how we need two guards, and said we suck at developing mid round linemen. Interesting quote about why: “Partially, that’s been for lack of attempts. They have selected fewer offensive linemen in the second and third rounds of the draft than any other franchise over the last 15 years. They took Jake Fisher in 2015 and Jackson Carman in 2021. Both picks busted.”

Some of those hits were alarming.

Rankins was one of the most disappointing free agent signings we’ve ever had. I think he was sick all season, he just didn’t play even close to his capabilities then suddenly mystery illness and we never see him again. Bad luck for him and us. I hate the way the Hendrickson situation is lining up. If he doesn’t get a new deal or get traded into an arranged new deal, he’s acting like there will be trouble. We just don’t need another holdout of the mojo destroying/let’s all pile on the bengals FO variety. The national media will be all too happy to oblige. We need focus and no distractions this year.

They desperately need leadership on defense. Trey? If you watch his behavior after a sack, it’s revealing. Goes through his celebration but then basically disses any teammate who approached him. He’s not a leader. Pratt? The opposite of a leader. His outburst at Ossai at the end of the AFC championship game in KC said it all. If they can find a free agent linebacker who will take control of the whole thing, it will fix a lot.

I love to poke fun at Andy. I’m also happy for him, seems like a great guy and dude is building a huge career. Erasing his great passing years, which were a bit of a mirage, as his legacy, and replacing it with his endless career as a competent backup and mentor.

Too great.

It appears Andy is immortal.

Good to see them sign the punter. It shows they are, at a minimum, at work and talking to agents.

In one of the other YouTube thinfs, Stone Shields is the guy’s name, he said if they’re willing to pay him 26 million this year, will they just figure make it 30 and sign him, he’ll play for that? I think probably. Hopefully they get going on it. If they drag it out and turn one of the most team oriented guys we’ve had in a long time into an embittered guy who wants out, it will just be an absolute disaster.

Just had the big one, like 15 laps left. Stenhouse wouldn’t let Lagano pass, giant wreck.

Danika Patrick just turned on her tv and caused a 14 car wreck.

They had another wreck, still not the huge one.

In honor of Billy I’m watching the Daytona 500. They finally had their first wreck, but it was a fender bender. Haven’t had the big one yet. It’s mainly commercials, with the racing an afterthought in a little rectangle on the left of the screen.

The fact that if he wanted to play football or not was identified as an issue (while on an nfl roster) tells me everything. He doesn’t want to play football.

In my opinion tagging Tee once and replacing him through the draft (Burton) so he can go FA in ‘25 was always the Bengals’ plan. I honestly think it would still be the plan but for the players/agents getting together and declaring their love for each other, and publicly pressuring the FO to re-sign him. How is the Bengals’ front office taking it? Are they on board? Not on board? That’s one of the frustrating things about how the Browns run things. Pretty close to the vest, on all things.

Also,let the players fill up the trunks of their cars with Gatorade.