HoosierCat

We have screamed at them for years to stop mortgaging the present in fear of the future and go all in. This is what all in looks like. So strap in, here we go!

Well, they got the bigger SB part right at least! I remain stunned at how…reasonable the deal is. The bonus and guarantees are departures for the Cincy FO but league-wide this is pretty par for the course. Is this how fans of normal teams feel? It’s weird…

Like I’ve always said, I’m fine with the Bengals letting guys walk in FA if they DO SOMETHING with the money, aside from invest it in vintage Lumina parts. Tonight they very definitely did something with it and I am 100% down with it.

Look at it this way: the odds of DL at 28 just went up!

First guess, Jonah moves there to cover if Collins isn’t ready in September.

Two pages in I have to say that clearly, Amphar picked the wrong night to go to bed early.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present to you Mr. TJ Jackson, the only man who could possibly bitch about the Bengals signing Orlando Brown, bitching. TJ, never, ever, ever, EVER change! :D :D :D

I’d disagree with point one somewhat. C and G no, but the Bengals have always been willing to pay top dollar for tackles. The rest is spot on.

If you’re down with some EPIC butthurt tonight: https://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=347998

Still in shock. Might be that way for a few days…

Definitely moving or trade. Fifth year option is fully guaranteed.

Starting at LT was part of the deal.

Also: somewhere in Cincy tonight, TJ is walking down the street with a 12-foot tentople sticking out of his crotch screaming Who-Dey at the top of his lungs.

HA! I was actually wondering about him all day but kept thinking, nah, no way. Well dip me and shit and call me stinky. Good job Bengals.

Jamaal Williams to the Saints, per ESPN.

Yeah, that’s my take too. There was a rumor that they were waiting for the new league year to start due to financial/guaranteed money escrow issues, so I guess we will find out soon enough if that was the case and something is coming down.

Also, Hurst got 3 years, $21.8 million. Again not crazy numbers. Hope they can close the deal on the big extensions they want to do.

Is that finally confirmed? I saw that pop up earlier but haven’t seen any confirmation by the usual suspects (Dehner, Baby, Conway etc.)

Well, supposedly all these guys are walking so they can sign Higgins, Burrow and eventually Chase so it’s pretty much a big fat fail for this year and next year if they can’t close Higgins up. As for the rest of the list, Jonah is gone unless he transforms into Superman this season. Hendrickson had a big 21, a not so big 22 (admittedly because holding him specifically is apparently legal in the NFL) and the Bengals have a lot of young DEs. Absent a monster 23 I could see him going. Reader is so obviously missed whenever he is hurt that I think they have to try and keep him on board. Boyd seemed to disappear for long stretches last season, half the time it was like he wasn’t here anyhow. Hard to see three big WR contracts. We will have to see how Chido comes back from injury but something tells me this could be his last year in stripes too.

Jalen Carter stock tumble alert: showed up to Georgia’s pro day 9 pounds heavier than he was at the combine two weeks ago, couldn’t finish drills. He didn’t work at the combine either. Between this and the racing charges, he could fall pretty far and I’m not sure I’d want him if he was there at 28. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35865573/georgia-dt-jalen-carter-9-lbs-heavier-struggles-pro-day

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.