HoosierCat

Sanders is a phenomenal talent, but I think that ship may have sailed with the Pratt re-signing. Mel has him going 8 picks into the second here. I like Kancey over Bresee too, and oddly so does Mel, who ranks him just above Bresee on his top DL list. Even odder, Mel ranks Achane right above Charbonnet, too, and gives us the latter despite the former still being available. Don’t know what’s up with that. My larger problem is that the pick after Charbonnet is Jaquelin Roy, who is almost as promising a DL prospect as Bresee. And between 28 and 60 TE, OT and CB get picked clean in Mel’s mock. Going for any one of those in the first, Roy in the second and best RB available in the third seems like a better strategy here. I know, hindsight is 20/20 and all that, but still…

Mel goes two deep. First he makes TJ and Shula happy: Kancey, McDonald, Harrison all still on the board here as options. They go over the next few selections. At 60, Mel probably pisses everyone off with this: I’m not convinced Charbonnet brings anything not already on the Bengals’ roster. That said, if you wanted to just dump Mixon and his salary and plug in a rook, you could do it here I suppose.

Just for the record, some rumors started to circulate today about a Higgins extension getting done, announcement imminent, yadda yadda yadda. Sourcing is obscure so I wouldn't give it much credence, but there is is, anyhow.

Given how late they pick you’ll probably be fine.

Who’s gonna throw to him?

Hobson hates you all and wants you to know it.

Well, see, that’s because you like interacting with people. I think people suck (present company excepted). The less I have to deal with other human beings the better.

I’m telling ya, ya put that into it and nobody but nobody is gonna have a Lumina looking that sharp.

I save up nickles for the 5 cent slots.

Well, if they aren’t going to extend Burrow before the start of the season, and for all the chatter I see no sign that the two sides have gone beyond polite conversation, there’s no reason to dump Mixon. The draft could change calculations, extension talks could heat up, nothing is set in stone. But at this point, all cutting Mixon does is blow a hole in the roster to no purpose.

Prisco 2.0: LaPorta. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/news/pete-prisco-2023-nfl-mock-draft-2-0-colts-dont-take-any-chances-and-trade-up-a-spot-for-qb-4-go-in-top-10/ I like the kid but can’t get behind him at 28.

Caesar’s has set the Bengals O/U for season wins at 11.5. Brinson is going with the OVER. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2023-nfl-win-totals-picks-bets-for-afc-north-division-hinges-on-lamar-jackson-trade-rumors-bengals-new-king/ All right. I’ll go OVER too.

Hobs teases 6 prime time games. https://www.bengals.com/news/bengals-appear-to-be-primed-again-as-nfl-closes-in-on-next-month-s-schedule-rele

McShay again. This time he goes with CB Deonte Banks. https://www.espn.com/nfl/draft2023/insider/story/_/id/36047541/2023-nfl-mock-draft-todd-mcshay-predictions-rounds-1-2-including-63-pick-projections-five-quarterback-landing-spots-two-trades Next three picks are DE, DE and DE, so this would probably send Shula into screaming fits. I think I might prefer one, say Will McDonald, here too. Second round he goes OT with Matthew Bergeron. Certainly good value there.

Yeah, they were just outside the bottom 10 in terms of how often they blitzed last year. Funny thing is they rank much higher than that in the pressures, hurries and QB knockdowns they get, but in the bottom 5 in actual sacks. I’d guess that’s because Lou sends enough guys to get to the QB but not enough to hem him in and bring him down. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2022/opp.htm

The thing about DE or DT at 28 is, whenever I go that route in mocks, I seem to end up regretting it. I get to the second, third, fourth and there are always good dline prospects and I end up reaching for OL and TE. Same happens, though not quite as much, when I go TE and DB. The mocks I’m happiest with go OL at 28.

Sidney Jones deal: 1 year, $1.08 million. https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/2023/03/31/bengals-sidney-jones-contract-details/

Camp body. If he’s anything more its a plus.

Bobcats always welcome!

Ladies & gentleman, may I present the dumbest mofo alive, Diante Lee: https://www.cincyjungle.com/2023/3/31/23662165/the-athletic-2020-redraft-bengals-joe-burrow-tee-higgins

Smith deal details: $1.75 million base, $250k in incentives, max value $2 million. https://tdalabamamag.com/2023/03/31/irv-smith-cincinnati-bengals-contract-details-revealed/

Oh, something will happen with Mixon, I just don't think it will be this year. Right now the Bengals have $17.7 million in cap space, per spotrac. That doesn't yet include Jones or Smith, who will shave off a couple million, but does include Orlando Brown. They have 66 guys under contract and seven draftees incoming, so there's no gaping holes they need to throw money at. And they have plenty of space and money to sign the rooks. So while they could save $7.5 million in cap space and about $10 million in actual cash money by cutting Mixon, they don't need either unless they extend Burrow. That doesn't appear to be imminent. Plenty of time for that to change but at the moment it feels like both Burrow's extension and Mixon's fate are subjects for the next offseason (and in Burrow's case maybe even the offseason after that).

Picking up right where they left off, I see. At least they're consistent..

So with pff's simulator going mostly behind the paywall, let's try profootballnetwork's. Boy this thing just loves to propose trades. Results: 44. Dawand Jones 60. DJ Turner, CB, Michigan 75. Sam Laporta 98. Jaquelin Roy, DT, LSU 140. Jammie Robinson, S, Florida State 163. Roschon Johnson, RB, Texas 246. Malik Cunningham, QB, Louisville Also got the Raiders 2nd next year.

At the end of the day, I think Perine being gone is the most significant change we are going to see. The idea of moving on from Mixon was premised on needing/using his money and cap space to extend Burrow. That doesn’t appear anywhere close to happening, so Mixon at $12.7 million it is. I prefer Fournette to Elliot in the debate (such as it is) over a veteran signing, but there’s never much of a market for used starting RBs, and if anything there’s less of one this year (waves at Austin Eckler). So I expect the Bengals will wait and see how things fall in the draft. If the opportunity presents itself to get a talented rookie runner, then they probably just roll with the current lineup plus the new guy. If not they’ll probably pick up a vet sometime later.