HoosierCat

I would file that under hyperbole myself. Not hyperbole: SB Nation really hit their sites with the ugly stick. Poor CJ.

I think my biggest point of both hope and fear is the reports on Stewart. On the one hand, him coming in and immediately being disruptive and productive, even if it is just practice, is great to hear. We need him to hit, badly. On the other hand, given the reports on the oline, maybe he looks so good so quick because they completely suck ass? My heart wants to believe it’s the former. My head says, wanna bet?

Dehner reviews the rookies after the first 10 practices. His bottom line on everyone: Shemar: Knight: Fairchild: Carter: Rivers: Brooks: UDFA standouts (2):

Vikes WR Jordan Addison suspended for the first three games, so he will miss the week 3 game against the Bengals. https://stripehype.com/bengals-scored-big-win-rectify-early-season-woes I'll take all the breaks we can get.

I would actually have Burrow just hand off a lot. I know, I know, Joe wants to throw, Zac wants to throw, but the cold hard fact is that not being able to run the ball has been a big part of opening day losses the last two years. I would also make stopping the run a preseason point of emphasis for the defense, that's been an equally major problem. Last year, future hall of famer (checks notes) Rhamondre Stevenson gashed the Bengals for 120 yards on 25 carries. That was 15% of his total yards for the season! That let the Pats play keep-away all game. meanwhile Moss and Brown managed just 55 yards on 12 combined carries. The year before that, Mixon got 13 carries for 56 years, while Chubb and Ford combined for 142 and Watson threw in 45 more on the ground. If we go up to Cleveland and Chase is getting stuffed while Ford and Judkins run wild we will lose again, even though the Browns' QB will probably be some random fan who wins a pregame punt, pass and kick contest.

The preseason is upon us! Burrow and the starters will play a bit. https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/allbengals-insiders-plus/zac-taylor-reveals-starter-workload-for-first-preseason-game-players-out-with-injuries-01k1wxdr7t26

In other Browns news, they signed Trayveon Williams.

And I see things are going just fine up in Cleveland... I think it was back around 2001 when the Bengals had a QB competition between Akili Smith, Jon Kitna and, if memory serves, Scott "the water buffalo" Mitchell that someone quipped that if you have three QBs, you have no QB. So if you have six QBs, is that like negative one QB?

Fowler was at camp a few days back. He mostly talks about Higgins but some other stuff in his notes at the end. Nothing earth-shattering but good to see some positive coverage at the national level.

Patrick appears to have moved ahead of Ford for the RG spot. Mims back on the field after dealing with some kind of hand/arm thing. Says he plans to play in the preseason opener. CTB missed the last three practices with some undisclosed issue. Sounds like he will be back soon but obviously something to watch.

It’s official: https://www.bengals.com/news/bengals-sign-noah-fant-roster-update

Ugh, that sucks, best of luck hunting up a new gig!

We’re signing Fant, per Shefty. Bengals have waived UDFA TE Kole Taylor, presumably ahead of the move.

So long Zack Moss, we hardly knew ye... I can't wait for all the Mixon-hating, "Moss is the exact guy we need for our playstyle" jokers on twitter and youtube to weigh in now lolol.

Ravens TE Likely may miss some time.

So say we all!

It’s just the last few moves of the dance. Here we have the hold out progressing to a hold in. There will be a few more dips and pirouettes but he will eventually sign an extension, and it will have some token guarantees beyond the first year. Everyone can claim victory and our long local nightmare is over.

https://www.reuters.com/sports/steelers-release-washed-up-cordarrelle-patterson-2025-07-28/

Eli Apple signed with the Chargers. Didn't even realize he was still in the league.

Marco Wilson got dinged. Now week to week. https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/nfl/bengals/2025/07/28/marco-wilson-injury-bengals-defensive-back-hurt-training-camp/77249525007/

Not at all. If anything his agent should be applauded. He got Stewart the same deal every other player who accepted this language got. In other words, he did his job. The Bengals could have, and should have, done this from the start. If they had, none of this drama would have happened. But they had to try and swing their little dicks around and weeks of bad press and distraction was the result. If there’s a little bitch in all this, they’re in the Bengals’ FO.

Scroll up. It was cramps. You are way behind.

One down. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45824885/shemar-stewart-bengals-hammer-home-language-reach-deal Long story short: bengals did what every other team who wanted this language in did, give Stewart a little more up front to make it go down. Could have done that months ago. Oh well, at least that’s over.

OT: JFC, Death, take a break, will ya? Malcolm Jamal-Warner, Ozzy Osbourne, Hulk Hogan and Chuck Mangione ALL this week? Enough already.

Well, he gave up the Cap’n Crunch but apparently missed the memo on drinking water. Turned out to be cramps. https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/bengals/2025/07/24/bengals-myles-murphy-leaves-practice-cart-walking-off/85357678007/