HoosierCat

Browning & Prince elevated for tonight’s game. https://www.bengals.com/news/bengals-roster-moves-jake-browning-isaiah-prince-afc-championship

Everybody hates us now! https://wapo.st/3RdR3Ck

Drive safe!

Road dogs again. https://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/35538559/chiefs-favored-again-mahomes-injury-moves-betting-line

Re the guarantees, I thought Mahomes deal was interesting. https://overthecap.com/player/patrick-mahomes/5594 If you read the contract notes, it’s basically a series of annual guarantees of a future year. So, like, in 2023 all the 2025 money is guaranteed. In 2024 all the 2026 money is guaranteed, etc. I can see the Bengals doing something like that. Also notable is the % of the cap column. A number like 50 large a year sounds insane, but projections of cap growth mean it’s quite manageable from a cap perspective moving forward.

Hobs: It looks like the Bengals are going with the same offensive line they rolled out in Buffalo with right guard Alex Cappa (ankle) and left tackle Jonah Williams (knee) out of practice again Thursday. Cappa was walking around practice without a boot for the second straight day … Tight end Hayden Hurst (calf) surfaced on the injury report as a limited participant, indicating it happened during the day. Hurst hurt his calf early in the Dec. 4 win over the Chiefs and missed the next three games … Cornerback Tre Flowers (hamstring) looks good after missing last week. He went full for the first time Thursday. Backup linebacker Joe Bachie (foot) went limited …

Some numbers to ponder: For 2023, the Bengals are currently about $50 million under the cap. Burrow already counts $11.5 million versus the 2023 cap, virtually all of which is guaranteed. For 2024, the Bengals are currently $140 million under the cap. If they were to pick up Burrow’s 5th year option, which they will obviously do, that would be approximately $30.4 million, fully guaranteed. For 2025, the furthest OTC goes out, the Bengals are currently $249 million under the cap. So for the next two seasons, Burrow is already set to receive about $42 million. All but about $400k off that would be fully guaranteed. Estimates on Joe’s extension are in the $50 million/year range. Under a traditional deal at least half of that would be guaranteed. Given they are already committed to giving him north of $20 million annually guaranteed in 23 and 24, those number look doable. I don’t know where things go if Joe wants a Watson style fully guaranteed deal.

Joey Porter Jr. is certainly a pick…

FWIW Mel has ND DE Isaiah Foskey going next (and in the process of his comments on the pick says he thinks all the surefire oline starters are gone). Alabama S Brian Branch goes after him and then WR Zay Flowers rounds out the first. Re CB Mel has five going before we pick, so selection looks thin. I’m always a fan of a first round TE but it just never seems to work out, so…

The media just don’t know what to make of this team. Like stripes said, change is often recognized only slowly and in hindsight. As the clip. posted earlier shows, everyone was all in in 2020 on the Bengals “ending Joe’s career before it began.” And to everyone’s credit, it did look like they were right when the poor oline gave way and Burrow ended up on IR with a shredded knee. But everyone loves a good comeback story, so the following year when Burrow returned to lead the Bengals to an improbable (according to them) SB berth, well, y’know, stuff happens. Stopped clock, blind squirrel, Super Bowl Bengals, all the same. But this year, well, they’d had enough of that. Time for the Bengals to go back to being the Bungles and normalcy to return. And again to their credit, all the “Super Bowl hangover” talk looked prescient when the team started 0-2. After that they got left for dead until a few weeks ago when everyone realized, wait, what, the Bengals are still in this?!?! And that’s why, among other things, Taylor didn’t get a nod for coach of the year. A Lombardi might finally put paid to this nonsense. I dearly hope they do it.

Well, it’s officially draft season folks: Mel’s first mock is up! Bengals pick: 28. Cincinnati Bengals Dalton Kincaid, TE, Utah Hayden Hurst had a decent bounce-back season after signing in Cincinnati, but he's hitting the free agent market again this offseason. The Bengals need to find a long-term tight end target for quarterback Joe Burrow. Even with Hurst, the offense ranked 29th in receiving yards by tight ends (556). Adding a big red-zone target is a way for it to level up. Both Kincaid and Luke Musgrave (Oregon State) have a chance to be Round 1 picks, and I wouldn't be surprised if a few teams preferred one of them over Michael Mayer (Notre Dame) as the top-ranked tight end in this class. Kincaid had 16 touchdowns over the past two seasons, while Musgrave was in line for a breakout before he suffered a knee injury in October that prematurely ended his season. Kincaid has more speed, but Musgrave's size (6-6, 250 pounds) and upside intrigues NFL scouts. Cincinnati would upgrade with either player here.

https://sports.yahoo.com/are-the-bengals-the-nfls-next-great-villains-190346267.html

1.5-point road favorites. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/bengals-now-road-favorites-vs-chiefs-in-afc-title-game-why-line-has-moved-and-how-historys-on-cincys-side/

JT’s video above actually goes into this a little bit. He’s not only showcasing good throws by Burrow but also highlights play design in several instances and how the Bengals schemed guys open. There’s even a running play he highlights about halfway through literally for the lols that involved using presnap motion to set up the Bills’ nickel corner to be absolutely flattened by Adenji who post snap comes all the way from RT to basically LG to plow the road. Bottom line, there was a lot of great play on the field but Taylor and Callahan were dialed in last week too.

Zac, from da site: No news is good news, I suppose.

Kinda quiet this year. We’ve had what, four go since the end of the season (Carolina, Denver, Arizona, Houston)? Throw in Reich, who got axed mid year in Indy. Still seems like fewer chairs than usual open.

Reid being noncommittal about Mahomes playing. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35511558/chiefs-andy-reid-qb-patrick-mahomes-ankle-doing-ok (Spoiler: of course he will play. Might he be a bit gimpy? Sure but if I am Cincy I assume he’s at 100%.)

$350-450 for nosebleeds. Three large for lower level 50-yard line seats. https://www.wcpo.com/money/consumer/dont-waste-your-money/going-to-kansas-city-heres-what-it-will-cost-to-see-bengals-chiefs-afc-championship

Very nice.

One factor not mentioned above but which was key yesterday was Joe not holding the ball. He averaged 2.5 seconds from snap to throw, second fastest gun of the weekend behind Hurts. That was, I’m sure, a big help to the oline.

I saw that earlier today and if by “fun read” you mean “makes you want to punch King in the face” then I completely agree. It’s the very first line of the Bengals section that did it: “the Bengals aren’t a cute upstart story anymore.” Hey Peter, y’know what? Cram it. Glad he’s finally catching up tho.

And so much for the cowboys.

Yah. While I hate the niners I am kinda rooting for purdy. Kid has a future in this league, maybe not as a starter but he could easy spend a decade pulling down 7 figures a year as a backup. Prescott meanwhile is the most over rated QB in the league.

His appendix was holding him back last year.