HoosierCat

That draft would totally piss me off because somehow they failed to make 2 picks, 174 and 251. Also note that the pick numbers are wrong after the third round. Should be 115, 147, 195 and 234. This is all because they forgot comp picks exist. Players they did take are fine tho.

Big enough news for its own thread. Also, congrats to Callahan and best of luck in Tennessee, except against the Bengals of course!

By all accounts they love Pitcher, gave him extra money last year to stay on, so I’d say it’s when not if. I’m optimistic but I doubt his elevation changes the multi headed OC hydra approach they have so we will see if it’s an upgrade. On the other hand at worst I think it’s same old same old, so…

Yeah, they shot down the trade idea pretty strongly last offseason. In 20/20 hindsight, that was clearly an error. I don’t blame them of course, no one knows the future, but it’s still a kick in the pants.

Just to be clear, I don't actually expect a tag & trade for Tee. If they tag him, it will either lead to a long-term deal (I'd give that maybe a 20% chance) or, like Army said, he walks next year. If they did trade him, I am pretty sure it would not be for multiple top 150 picks, though I agree with Amphar that the Bengals would want that. They just aren't going to get it. Jarvis Landry's numbers through his first four years in Miami are on par with Tee's, and all the Fins got when they tagged him and shipped him to Cleveland was a fourth and seventh.

Yeah, it feels like it’s Baltimore’s year. Not only did they win 13 games but they did it against the third toughest schedule in the league. (The second toughest was Arizona, and the toughest schedule was, of fucking course, the Bengals.) They looked dominant against Houston and the Chiefs are on these road again after a knock down, drag out fight. Right now my money is on a Niners-Ravens Super Bowl. Ick.

Wide. Right. I feel for Bills fans.

Watching the Bills Chiefs, all I can think is, damn, it’s nice to be able to run the ball.

Lions punch their ticket to the NFC championship game.

Turn out the lights, the party’s over for Houston.

Nice td teams!

Texans have no answer for Jackson’s legs

Wow great kick

Texans just killing themselves with flags

Lucky lucky lucky

Gotta catch that Schultz.

Well, this is the part where you tag and trade Higgins for a second (and hopefully more but at least that) and you cut Mixon to free up more cap space to sign King Henry and then I wake up from my dream because it’s Monday morning and I have to go to work…

Goodberry agrees and says they would have to trade up. He talks about using a third to move up but I think it would probably take at least their second rounder, or a first in 2025. I’m game but I doubt it happens.

So the Raiders game next season just got a little more interesting. https://myfox28columbus.com/sports/sports-news/former-bengals-head-coach-marvin-lewis-reportedly-back-nfl-job-antonio-pierce-raiders-hire-hired-cincinnati-arizona-state

I will die mad about those two super bowls.

Speaking of TE…

Meant to make a divisional weekend thread today but work got in the way, COB’s post seemed a good place to start!

Burrow buys a house. https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/bengals-quarterback-joe-burrow-purchases-cincinnati-ohio-mansion/

I’m sure that was part of it. But they have paid guys like Pratt and Hendrickson on the d, too. Bottom line imho is that they need to hit on some picks and get some cheap young talent involved on both sides of the ball.

If PFF is at all on the mark, this looks like a draft that will fall really well for the defense. Not that there won't be an offensive tackle or wide receiver you could easily justify at 18, but man the corners and edge guys who could be there look mighty tasty. And second/third rounds have a lot of interior DL prospects. I think that if I'm the Bengals and their draft board starts looking the same way, I'm thinking hard about two general strategies. 1. Can you trade down and put yourself in a better position to draft on the offensive side? Last two years have seen 2 firsts, 2 seconds and 2 thirds spent on defense, and well, we saw what we saw there this year. You can make the argument that you really need some vet (aka FA) help there, not more noobs. 2. If you can't/don't want to trade, fine, go D-heavy again in the draft and use your cap dollars to go after a vet RT, vet TE (schultz is a popular pick), vet RB if you don't like Mixon anymore, etc. Best defense is a good offense and all that, let's score 50 a game.