HoosierCat

I hate the idea of trading him but it does make some sense, especially now that the mood seems to be shifting in favor of re-signing Tee. That plus a Chase extension will almost certainly drain their coffers, or at least their willingness to spend more from them. And if Trey isn't at the peak of his value right now, he's still up there.

It’s just amazing to me that every few cycles the bengals have to learn the same lesson again: don’t use premium picks on knuckleheads. When your whole strategy is building through the draft, because you won’t or can’t afford to play at the top end of free agency, minimizing risk is the name of the game. Now they’ve hosed themselves again. Tee is headed to the market and his alleged replacement is a homeless guy who hits women. Fan freaking tastic. Don’t give me bs about culture, Zac, just don’t do it. Move on to the next guy on the board. And I’m sure it’s not all him (hi duke, hi Katie, etc.). All of you, just stop.

Well that explains it… https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/nfl/bengals/2025/01/08/jermaine-burton-news-bengals-wide-receiver-accused-assault/77542872007/ Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Jermaine Burton is accused of assaulting a woman he was dating, but she refused to press charges, Cincinnati police reports show. An assault was reported the morning of Dec. 30, just days before the Cincinnati Bengals nixed Burton from traveling with the team to Pittsburgh, the last game of the season.

No reason to think he can't play 2-3 more years. Right now he's going into the last year of his deal, Salary is $15.8 million, with $200k in per game bonuses. Cap hit is $18.6 million, which includes the last $2.6 million proration of his signing bonus. I would offer a two year extension (2025 and 2026, with a third, void year to stretch out the cap hit). Total value will be $50 million, half of which is guaranteed. That's basically Myles Garret level: https://overthecap.com/position/4-3-defensive-end. Salaried of 10/15 for the two years. Cap hits would be around 19 for 2025 (remember he's already counting 18.6), 24 in 2026 and 9 in dead money year three (2027). Given his age and performance, that ($25 million APY) seems about where he would slot in to me.

Hendrickson named AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against Pitt. https://www.bengals.com/news/trey-hendrickson-afc-defensive-player-of-the-week-18-2024 Fun fact from that piece:

Clearly his answer will be Tedy Bruschi, American of the Century.

Great news Browns fans! Deshaun reinjured his Achilles, may need fresh surgery, could miss all of next season! https://www.brownsnation.com/insider-reveals-what-shes-hearing-about-deshaun-watsons-setback/

Pierce one and done in Vegas. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/43324313/source-raiders-fire-antonio-pierce-finishing-4-13

11 signed to reserve/futures contracts. CB Micah Abraham HB Gary Brightwell CB Nate Brooks WR Cole Burgess OT Andrew Coker DE Raymond Johnson III S PJ Jules S Jaylen Key G Tashawn Manning WR Kendric Pryor LB Craig Young https://local12.com/amp/sports/bengals/bengals-sign-11-players-reserve-future-contracts-micah-abraham-gary-brightwell-nate-brooks-cole-burgess-andrew-coker-raymond-johnson-pj-jules-jaylen-key-tashawn-manning-kendric-pryor-craig-young

I believe this was Covington’s first year as DC in NE. He has a rep as an up-and-comer but I dunno. Not really feeling it here.

Not a Bengals change, but the Titans fired their GM today. Callahan is staying but you have to think his position is shaky with a new GM on the way. His seat could heat up real fast next season. https://www.nbc4i.com/sports/sports-illustrated/arena-nfl/si-cincinnati-bengals-nfl/7ddc7345/titans-fire-general-manager-ran-carthon-retaining-brian-callahan/

Don't hate it. He had some success there. Also reported to be up for the Jags' HC job, but again could just be a Rooney Rule interview, who knows.

Now Paycor fired? Stadium could have a new name after Paycor is acquired by Paychex for $4.1 billion: https://www.wlwt.com/article/paychex-paycor-acquisition-agreement-bengals-stadium-name/63360446 "Paychex Stadium" might be the most ironic name possible for a Bengals stadium...

Trey Brown popping up again in GM talk. https://www.cincyjungle.com/2025/1/6/24337506/trey-brown-new-york-jets-interview-gm-search-cincinnati-bengals I’d guess it’s just a Rooney Rule interview request. As there’s no reason anyone in the Bengals’ personnel department should still have a job, I’d be happy to see the Jets hire him. Bengals would get two third round comps if they do.

Size plus hands plus speed plus toughness is hard to beat! Like it.

Coda…

Ok so we all know who Army is rooting for now. And of course we are all rooting for Baltimore and Pittsburgh to lose. Beyond that, I’m rooting for Tampa, because I want to hear the grinding sound of a million teeth coming from Cleveland when Baker Mayfield hoists the Lombardi.

Bengals pick at 17 this year. They have had the 17th pick four times: 2012 Dre Kirkpatrick — meh. Didn’t suck but never got much above replacement level. 2005 David Pollack — one of the great what-ifs. Struggled with a position change to LB, seemed to be coming on, then the injury and done. 1998 Brian Simmons — solid contributor but ultimately meh. 1987 Jason Buck — bust. I guess history says go offense here…

Sound good to me as well, but probably not to Zac. He just took his mulligan by canning Lou. It’s playoffs or bust for him next season. And if next season starts out on the “or bust” category like always does somehow, he is certainly not going to want to have a former HC handy for the FO to promote.

Scratch Evero. Panthers are keeping him on. https://www.panthers.com/news/notebook-ejiro-evero-to-return-as-defensive-coordinator

The Bengals' struggles to build a team around Burrow (and Dalton and Palmer and etc.) are explained in part by their financial strategies. They dedicate exactly as much money to players as they are required to by the CBA (no cash over cap) and dole that out as conservatively as possible (no guarantees beyond year one). Outside of players they are notoriously frugal (the infamously skimpy scouting organization is one example) though that has moderated here and there recently (facilities upgrades over the last couple of years are a notable example). Now, does that make it impossible to win a championship? In my opinion, no, but it sure doesn't help. And as we have seen it's very difficult to sustain unless they continually hit, year in and year out, on young (and cheap) talent in the draft. This is why their failure to invest in scouting is so maddening.

Solid list of possible Lou replacements from Dehner here: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6040311/2025/01/06/bengals-defensive-coordinator-candidates/ His candidates: Notre Dame DC (and former Bengals LB coach) Al Golden Eagles secondary coach Christian Parker Denver Broncos DB coach/pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard LA Rams pass game coordinator/assistant head coach Aubrey Pleasant Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero Dennis Allen Matt Eberflus Robert Saleh Mike Zimmer Paul notes that Allen and Pleasant are guys Taylor tried to get before hiring Lou, and that Evero was on the same Rams staff as Zac.

Sonofa...damnit, COB, do something useful: jump in that time machine, go back a few weeks and hit the mega millions, convert it all to gold bars, go back in time again to 1986, convert the gold back to dollars and buy as much stock as you can in microsoft, come back to today and you're richer than tesla boy AND BUY THE FRIKING TEAM!!! Do I have to think of everything around here???

Or not. Taylor insisted all the firings were his decisions, really tough, yadda yadda yadda. No hints as to candidates. Not much to say player-wise since the storm has delayed a lot of the end-of-season player meetings. Lots of talk about processes. Going to be doing a lot of processes. Might need to upgrade from 16k to 32k RAM, so much processing.

When it comes to coordinators and head coaches, firings are always unfair to some degree. It's rarely 100% the coach's fault. But that's part of the job, and these guys know that when they sign up. Lou's time finally ran out, and really, a six-year run is pretty good in this league. I wish him the best, as long as he's not coaching against us.