HoosierCat

A bit of personal news: I may soon be joining Army in gifting a portion of my tax dollars to an NFL billionaire! Ain’t life grand? https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/47977218/indiana-unanimously-passes-bill-lure-bears-away-chicago

Risner? Ha ha ha fuck no we got KENDRIC PRYOR because we got our PRYOR-orities in order, amirite fellas? Fuck oline MOAR WIDE RECEIVERS! (this post produced with assistance from MikeAI)

Tyreek Hill? Ha ha ha sorry fellas, you'll get Kendric Pryor and like it! Championship!

Pre-combine mock from USA Today. Another nod for Delane with Downs, Bain and Bailey all gone before 10. In this scenario I would be happy with Delane, McCoy (as long as he's healthy) or Mauigoa.

Sorcery! Just posted here for reference when the Bengals start hobsonizing the numbers and claiming they don't have room to sign anyone.

Yeah Davis posted it to his instagram.

I keep seeing this trade, or something similar, suggested. This is from Barnwell at espn: Works for me. Not a game-changer but would upgrade the interior DL and gives them more flexibility in rounds 2-4.

And right on cue, the dumbfuckery begins. In the Enquirer today, Kelsey Conway writes this: The only way there's a "market" for the Bengals regarding Hendrickson is the "tag and trade" scenario. If I am another team, I am definitely saying I'm interested even if I'm not, because Cincy tagging Trey immediately hamstrings them in FA by instantly chewing up half their cap space. Just let him go.

Yeah, another year in which they sit on their hands and draft another underwhelming edge player like Faulk at 10 after losing Hendrickson and failing to sign anyone better than Ossai in FA is all too likely. Maybe they surprise us. Maybe they throw a Brinks truck at a good pass rusher. I would applaud. But I'm not expecting it.

Yeah, I think we are all in agreement that best defensive player available is the way to go. I just hope "all" includes the Bengals' draft room.

Joe added Delane to his ongoing series of prospects at 10. He likes him and thinks he would be worthy of the pick, but is unenthused at the possibility, which he chalks up to just being not really excited at the prospect of taking a corner. I get it, it's a "drafting to strength" argument (at least a far as you can call any position group on this D a strength) and people are really jonesing for a pass rusher or stud interior DL guy. But the draft may not fall in a way that that makes sense. I get the feeling his breakdowns of potential OTs at 10 is going to be similar.

*Brrrrrrt* *Brrrrrrt* *Brrrrrrt* (pickup, recorded message begins, backed by sfx of seagulls calling, waves gently brushing a shoreline) "Hi, you've reached the voicemail of Duke Tobin, fake GM of the Cincinnati Bengals. I'm out of the office enjoying a well-deserved beach break in the Bahamas and won't be returning or checking voicemail until late April. Leave a message at the beep and I'll be happy to return your call when I get back. Bye!" ROBOTIC VOICE: "This mailbox is full." Line disconnects.

Good news for the Bengals' FO as they prepare for their annual month-long vacation in March: the NFL has prevailed in its grievance against the players' union, so there will be no more talk of the crappy food in the Paycor Stadium cafeteria. That's right, fellas, you'll eat your Kraft mac & cheese and Kahn's hot dogs and like it!

Bengalszone News Service (Feb. 13, 2026) -- BNS has exclusively learned that the Cincinnati Bengals will be deploying a proprietary artificial intelligence system to manage their off-season activities this year, including free agency, the draft and contract negotiations. The new system, known as MikeAI, was developed by using decades of conversations, interviews, writings and other material from Bengals President and Owner Mike Brown to "teach" a Large Language Model (LLM) to manage the team in what is known internally as "the Bengals Way." "This is a huge leap forward for our organization," said Katie Blackburn, Bengals executive vice-president. "In the past, we have only had the bandwidth to get into contract standoffs with two or three players at the most during the off-season. But with MikeAI, we will be able to issue lowball offers and conduct insulting negotiations with every single free agent on the market, as well as our own players, all at the same time." Blackburn said the Bengals are further planning to completely reinvent the concept of a contract in the NFL. "We have always believed that contracts should be living documents that reflect performance on the field," she said. "Moving forward, all contracts will be subject to MikeAI renegotiation after every game, allowing us to reduce salaries and bonuses on an almost real-time basis." Asked about whether MikeAI would reward over performance, Blackburn said no, and if the players wanted that they could fund their own AI to negotiate with MikeAI. Duke Tobin, fake general manager of the Bengals, is excited about the possibilities MikeAI in the draft. He declined to provide specifics, but did note that MikeAI loves to draft wide receivers, wide receivers, and more wide receivers. "People who think the next draft is going to be all about defense are in for a surprise," he said.

McShay goes with Delane as well in his new mock. 10. Cincinnati Bengals: CB Mansoor Delane, LSU Delane had a monster season on an otherwise disappointing LSU team. His versatility as a man/zone cornerback and his intelligent and instinctive play really jump out on tape. The Bengals need help on all three levels of their defense, and they also need players who are smart and NFL-ready on day one. Delane is a plug-and-play starter with the savvy to have early NFL success at cornerback. He has Woods and Faulk still on the board but not going in the top 20. He does like edge Akheem Mesidor, giving him to Dallas at 12z

Lou putting the band back together: Marion Hobby expected to join the Colts as dline coach.

Callahan gets a gig with the Giants. https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/onsi/news/former-cincinnati-bengals-coach-lands-new-nfl-role-01kh6gc9yfy6

Dehner plinks around with the first four rounds. 1st: Yeah, that would be the ideal scenario. Even Dehner thinks its unlikely but believes it could happen as the great draft hype machine churns other players to the top. His runners-up are: I'm a no on Faulk, we got that guy already, his name is Murphy. Proctor would be a Levi Jones-style reach imo but if it worked out, fine. Thumbs up to either Mauigoa or McCoy (pending medicals, of course). His next three are: Bain and those three would get an A+ insta-grade from me.

This has sort of dropped off the radar but will be an interesting call. 52 tackles and 5.5 sacks is decent production, and if you watched his play he showed clear improvement. PFF has him at 41 total pressures on the year, which ranked 46 out of 115 among edges, and at a 64.2 grade overall, good for 67 out of 115. Bottom line, he looks right now like a roughly average defensive end. OTC puts his 2025 valuation at just under $11.5 million (versus his actual $1.9 million salary). So the fifth-year option number is not outrageous by any means. I think they have to pick up the option, especially with Hendrickosn likely leaving.

Your 2026 offseason calendar: Feb 17: franchise/transition tag window opens at 4 pm March 3: franchise/transition tag window closes at 4 pm March 9: legal tampering period begins at noon March 11: free agency begins at 4 pm (Bengals FO are sound asleep, might wake up in a week or two) April 17: deadline for RFAs to sign offers April 22: deadline to match any offers Bengals' RFAs got from other teams April 23-25: draft (projected Bengals grade F-) May 1: deadline to exercise Myles Murphy's fifth year option (approx. $13.6 million fully guaranteed) July 15: deadline for franchise tagged players to sign a long-term deal, otherwise they play under the tag July 22: deadline for transition tagged players to sign

Yeah, I agree. As aggravating as I find it, the time has passed. If they were going to sign him long-term or deal him, last year was the year. That said, I could see it only because it's so very, very, very Bengals. Right now they are looking at something around $55 million in cap space, a number that already has fans excited. No better way to nip any hope in the bud than by dropping a $30 million tag onto Trey, followed by the annual Geoff H. article hobsonizing the numbers: "they need $5 million for the rookie pool and $5 million for the injury pad and $10 million to carry over to 2027 and they have to sign these 10 third-stringers to fill out the roster so actually they are flat busted broke, here's a link to Mike's gofundme, help if you can, the Lumina's a real gas hog, y'know."

Oh joy they might tag Trey again… https://www.cincyjungle.com/cincinnati-bengals-rumors/185749/trey-hendrickson-franchise-tag

Ya, Myers was definitely the MVP. He was Seattle's whole offense for most of the game and was rock-solid in a year when big missed kicks were a running theme. But giving it to him would only have emphasized what a lousy game it was. If the Andy Dalton Bengals had ever gotten to a Super Bowl, I expect they would have looked a lot like the Patsies did last night. On the plus side, we can now pack the 2025 NFL season up in a nice box, stick it on one of Musk's rockets and yeet it into the sun where it belongs.

Defense still wins championships.