HoosierCat

Just running down the list so far: Bates - was gone from the get-go. Bengals used a first round pick last April on his replacement. And as army noted, money still talks and $65 million says a lot. Pratt - retained, surprisingly. Score one for the Bengals FO which had the ILB market pegged. Said he wanted to stay and win but also got fairly paid, maybe even a teeny tiny bit (like $1-2m over the life of the deal) overpaid. Bell - Bengals may have misjudged his market a bit. $13m guaranteed is probably more than they were counting on and the structure put nearly all the contract in the first two years at a time when the team is trying to direct as much cash as possible into the Joe Burrow Money Castle Fund. End of the day $13m guaranteed talks. Perine - I suspect they were ok with moving on. Deep draft for RBs. Good on Samaje for getting a nice raise versus his last contract. Hurst - Same. Deep draft for TEs. Good on Hayden for parlaying a one-year stopgap contract into a three year deal. If any of these come back to haunt them it will be Bell imho. Probably ought not to let both starting safeties go, and it’s not just me saying that, it’s Anarumo. If they are going to do anything more than root around in the bargain bin, that’s where they should do it.

Well, Mixon is still on the roster and will probably remain there at least through the draft. Only way he gets cut anytime sooner is if they sign, say, Williams. Which I highly doubt they will as it just leaves them in the same boat, just a different name.

Some tidbits on Slay & CJGJ from Jeff Kerr at cbs:

Hey, it hooked Pratt! But to clarify, they aren’t using Burrow as bait, much too expensive. Mikey has him polishing the brass in the dining room while he puts another ball of mushed-up Wheaties (from a box he found in the dumpster) on the line.

Well, they could push the collective age up a bit with Darius Slay. I mean, I give it about a 0.001% chance, but I’d put in a call. CB market hasn’t been particularly nuts and teams are getting more and more leery of older DBs. Even at 32 Slay would be an upgrade over Apple imho.

I doubt Perine leaving was a surprise to the Bengals. His deal was small and easily matched should they have actually wanted him back. If an additional $2 million a year over what he’d been making was really too large a burden, the Bengals might want to reconsider what business they’re in. As to the Eckler report, I wouldn’t believe everything you read on Reddit. He only got permission to seek a trade yesterday afternoon so that seems a bit…quick. In any event trading for a 27-year-old RB due to make IIRC $6.25 million this year (in other words, almost as much as Perine’s two-year contract) doesn’t seem likely to me. But I guess we’ll see.

Per ESPN, a source says the Bengals plan to re-sign (plan to, not have) RB Trayveon Williams. So…yay?

Not panicking here but, y’know, if you say your strategy is to keep your own, you might want to, y’know, actually keep your own.

Well that sucks.

Mr. Bell, your new QB is here.

lol yup pretty much!

Some nuggets from today's Clemson Pro Day: All 32 teams sent people. Tomlin was the only HC to attend, along with Pitt GM Omar Kahn (plus like 4 more coaches and FO types, Pitt sent a big group). LB Trenton Simpson, projected in the 25-50 range, worked out and continued to put up the kind of exceptional numbers he did in Indy. EDGE Myles Murphy, who could go top 10, did not work. Bengals sent Marion Hobby (who used to be on Clemson's staff) and also TE coach James Casey, who ran the workouts for the TEs. Of note is TE Davis Allen, who reportedly caught the ball well. He's projected as a mid-round pick.

Important Update for TJ!!!! Anarumo: Bengals open to bringing back Eli Apple

Yeah, fourth, I can’t type. 4th down data I found only goes to 4th and 15+, which is converted 13.9% of the time. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/nfl-fourth-down-conversion-chart-rate-by-distance/vofkeub6xwms6imajxqkfipp It seems to me like a better shot than an onside kick (especially if you have miracle men like Burrow and Chase). Probably too radical a change but I kind of like it.

He was in a Bates-esque situation in NO: good player who would have required top of the market money to keep. Whereas the Bengals chose to tag Bates and get a final year, then let him walk, NO took the trade him & get some value option. Apparently he’s still looking for a payday, which likely takes him out of consideration in Cincy. As for talent, I think he’s pretty good. NO played him as a slot corner as well as a safety and he was arguably better in the slot than at safety. Also loves to talk trash more than Eli, so there’s that.

All those guys are worth a call too. Like I said down on the draft board they really need to find at least a stopgap because it’s a thin year at safety. RE CJGJ, the rumor is that Philly is still in the mix. It sounds like they would like to keep him (and Eagles fans are losing their shit at the prospect of him leaving) but he wants to dip his toe into the market and see if anyone bites. That would likely put him out of the Bengals range. But like I said they should make the call to be sure.

Pretty thin draft for safety. Really need to find at least a stopgap in FA.

https://operations.nfl.com/updates/the-game/2023-rules-change-proposals/ I doubt the replay and challenge proposals get a lot of traction, the game is already too slow due to all the stoppages to check calls. The first and 20 as an alternative to an onside kick is interesting. I could go for that. Totally down with zero as a jersey number. Will buy a 0 jersey with “MY HERO” on the nameplate and if you get that, congrats, you too are old, old, old and will soon die like me.

Top 5 FA remaining per ESPN: 1. OT Orlando Brown Jr. 6. TE Dalton Schultz 7. CB James Bradberry 8. S C.J. Gardner-Johnson 14. LB Lavonte David KC already splurged in the oline market yesterday so it looks like they are resigned to parting ways with Brown. And no, I don’t expect the Bengals to go there. Still, imagining TJ’s reaction makes me giggle… If it wasn’t for how strong the TE class is this year I would be screaming for them to go after Schultz. As is it would be nice but don’t see them in the market. Bradberry and G-J are both guys I think they have to at least make a phone call on with Bates and Vonn now gone and Eli set to hit FA tomorrow. As for David, sorry, that cash is ticketed to Logan Wilson now.

I think a vet safety signing is likely though I don’t think they will be a rush. There will be some decent options as FA and the draft churn rosters.

FYI here’s the Bell contract: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/vonn-bell-19010/ Kind of a goofy structure but not unworkable.

$13m guaranteed on a $22.5m deal isn’t really unusual. Guarantees these days normally run about half the total of deal, unless your name is Watson. That can be done, say 4/5/6 in salary with year one and a $7m SB guaranteed for hits of 6.3/7.3/8.3 or thereabouts. In fact this appears to be roughly what they did for Pratt: https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/2023/03/13/germaine-pratt-bengals-contract-details-explained/ $7m guaranteed SB, $3m year one for $10m total up front for a $5.4m cap hit this year.

Actually good signing by the Clowns unfortunately. The Cleveland Browns have agreed to a three-year deal with DE Ogbonnia Okoronkwo. Okoronkwo will likely replace Jadeveon Clowney as Cleveland's defensive end starter opposite Myles Garrett.

I am sure his money castle will be of great use every January, when he can sit in it and watch the Bengals in the playoffs.