HoosierCat

Yup. Burton and All signed today. Just Mims and Jenkins left.

FWIW Reds are away and Pirates are home on NFL opening weekend.

Well, week 1 won't be the Clowns. They're hosting Dallas (so it won't be the boys either...). https://www.nfl.com/news/2024-nfl-schedule-release-cowboys-to-play-at-browns-in-week-1-in-tom-brady-s-broadcasting-debut

At this point, I'm just full GenX with Burrow and injuries: whatever.

Coming out on Wednesday. Opener was announced today, Baltimore @ KC. So at least we know we aren't playing the Ravens right out of the gate. Given the league's preference to load division games up and the beginning and end of the season, I'd bet on either Cleveland or Pitt week 1.

They have a few interesting prospects in house if you dig into the UDFAs. The linebacker Casey comes in with “special teams ace” already tattooed on him. The other LB, whose name ensures he will make the roster because it’s impossible to spell, has some potential as a run stuffer, and that Miami kid Dowell is listed as a safety but he looks a lot more like a linebacker to me. Dont know if any of these guys can make the final 53 but some should hand around on the PS. The waiver wire will likely have plenty of possibilities as the offseason rolls on too.

While we're back here, it looks like the Boyd deal is finally done in Tennessee. One year, "up to" $4.5 million https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/40101148/source-wr-tyler-boyd-agrees-one-year-contract-titans Callahan has some toys to play with there now, that's for sure. Of course, his QB is the mighty...Will Levis.

No he had been out for a while, had his old job back. Was just his time.

So half my Facebook feed is that insta of Joe tossing a football, with endless OMG comments and gifs. This is going to be the theme until camp, isn’t it. Wow, did you see that? Burrow opened a door! Look: Burrow drinks beverage! Source: Joe takes dump, flushes afterwards!

Jenkins is...fine. Heaven knows the Bengals can use any and all help against the run, and between Jenkins and McKinnley they should be better. That said, they clearly had Murphy and Newton ranked ahead of Jenkins. Likely Sweat too. My take is that this was a rerun of round 1, just on the d-line. In the first they were locked in on OT and whoever the best tackle left on their board was when 18 rolled around, that was the pick. Same in the second, they were just locked in on DT.

My gutters are the color of an angels robe and my walk and driveway gleam like alabaster. My back is a twisted wreck that might allow me to walk again in a few weeks. Worth it.

Began power washing 10 am Finished power washing 525 pm That is all.

And so the draft is over and the long slog toward camp begins. Dates for activities, such as they are, between now and then: Rookie Minicamp: May 10 OTA Offseason Workouts: May 28-30, June 3-6 Mandatory Minicamp: June 11-13

As long as it isn’t Pitt. Solid guy, made a few memorable catches… (bet you can guess that one before you click)

I understand that in order to free up cash for the stadium the BBM has an idea to reduce public safety costs.

Yeah, PBS definitely should have been a covered field. I remember arguing for that decades ago. But no way an all-new dome gets done now, the cost would be, well, look at the Bears.

So a bit of news from my neck of the woods on the Bears' ongoing efforts to get a new stadium. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/40066053/bears-new-stadium-proposal-nonstarter The proposed stadium would need (at least) $900 million in public funds. Allegedly this would come from an existing hotel tax and not require new taxes. But what caught my attention was that the Bears are offering up more than $2 billion of their own money for the facility. Now, I get that the Bengals are not the Bears. Per Forbes last valuation numbers, Chicago was the fifth-most-valuable franchise, versus the Bengals at No. 32. But that chasm looks a lot closer in raw numbers: $556 million in revenue and $203 in operating income for Chicago versus $498 million/$104 million for Cincinnati. https://www.forbes.com/lists/nfl-valuations/?sh=5de79f6d1738 Looking at that, it's tough to argue that the Bengals couldn't handle every cent of the necessary stadium work themselves.

So they are keeping the B on the 50 yard line because it looks good on tv from a distance. https://www.bengals.com/news/updates-on-2024-paycor-stadium-renovation-projects

Looks like they liked RB Elijah Collins enough to throw in an $8k signing bonus to land him. https://www.cincyjungle.com/2024/4/30/24145762/elijah-collins-signing-bonus-bengals-udfa-oklahoma-state-rb-michigan-state

Interesting nugget out of KC. https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/report-kansas-city-chiefs-wanted-to-trade-up-for-cincinnati-bengals-amarius-mims

Well, first thing to remember is that all this is coming from Tee’s camp, so of course they are as pure as the driven snow, never made any outrageous demands, etc. Also this report refers to the original conversations, which would have been in 2023. That said it just confirms for me that the Bengals never had any intention of resigning Higgins and that “tag and release” was always the plan. No surprise there, we’ve seen it multiple times before.

Dehner's early thoughts on the OL roster battle: https://theathletic.com/5455756/2024/04/29/bengals-post-draft-roster-reset-offense/

Boomer, Sims booted from The NFL Today show in favor of Matt Ryan. https://www.local12.com/sports/bengals/former-bengals-quarterback-boomer-esiason-leaving-cbs-tv-gig-22-years-nfl-today-cincinnati-phil-simms-bill-cowher-nate-burleson-matt-ryan-watt

Hendrickson is signed through 2025. That’s what he’s beefing about now.