AMPHAR

Shortsighted and the county playing hard or "fake" hardball is only going to back them into a corner. There are not leaders on that county board. The Bengals put pressure on the county starting in 1988 for ultimately became Paul Brown. They laughed nobody would watch the Jacksonville Bengals. They pushed it off and pushed it off. 1993 they had a deal then Marge Schott shot it down because she didn't see the value in Baseball having club seats or something stupid. They never believed Baltimore would want the shitty Bengals. Then bam the Browns moved to Baltimore. Fast forward. How did that riverfront come about? Working men and women? Slave labor? Did they steal the materials or machinery? No. That was funded via debt. That debt remains whether the Bengals play in Hamilton County or not. The already approved sales tax and that remains whether the Bengals play there or not. The county has no choice but to get a deal done. Its a financial disaster if they don't. No retail tenant can survive the rent without those dates because the rent is high to cover the debt. Any replacement tenant for Paycor is going to require renovations because that's what it needs. Just get it done because anyone with common sense knows it has to get done and save the bullshit political grandstanding for more important things like racism.

I can only see the Bengals trading down. The number of QB and supposed OTs are going to push the quality of the draft further down and Bengal scouts are on record thinking the depth of this draft is better than recent years.

They are going to have to come up with some money, period. He has a ton of leverage. That's why they did the small extension last year to avoid problems. If they aren't willing to do that then, get a return and try to fill the void. They'd look like idiots all season with him holding out when they are supposedly trying to win a Superbowl with no pass rush. This is your typical playbook that is as old as the NFL itself or least limited to my memory.

No he's not. The Bengals are supposedly trying to win a Superbowl they are under the obligation to make sure their players are on the field to do that. What the anti-Mike Brown all of sudden loves his money? Pay the guy or trade him. This is the business of the NFL and this will be a reoccurring theme as long as the Bengals have superstars. They all aren't going to be crying like bitches just to get paid market value. Chris Jones wasn't a bitch holding out last year. This is stuff they have to do in order to get the money that's grown since their last contract. If you have 17.5 sacks in a year then "YES" you have the leverage.

Trey had 17.5 sacks last year. He's set to make half per year of what the top defensive players are making. He should be paid more. He's going to make $29m in 2 years when lesser players will make that in 1. This is just NFL business. Any smart agent and player should try to capitalize on the cap growth IF they can. Trey can and the Bengals should make it work. If the Bengals don't want to make it work then they should be willing to trade him for top value.

Just NFL business. It costs to have Super stars and that is what Trey is. At 17 sacks a year or even the amount he's averaged as a bengal he's underpaid. The Bengals should open the door and give him up front cash and maybe a couple extra years. I would not be against a trade either but like Higgins it better be at least top 15 value or forget it.

I don't think that means cash flow. The article states the stadium needs $493 maintenance and upgrades over the next 20 years. So I think the Bengals want the capital plan for $300m of that spending with a contractual commitment they'll kick in $50m and 5 years.

True, medicals could always scare teams off. Between Latu and Verse I think there will be more than 1 Edge defender taken in the top 17 picks. Most mocks have only 1. If that happens its going to push down a player that Bengal fans have not thought possible, maybe.

Latu and Verse getting talked up a lot. Most mocks have them going after the 18th pick. This will be 1 thing to watch. Bengals are going to be starring at a impact DL or OT is my guess. Conventional mocking has them selecting the 4th OT sometime the 5th. What if they got a chance at the 3rd OT?

They should put the Sam Wyche 80s Bengals sweater as their logo and mid field. Hell maybe use it as the 3rd helmet.

Just use the old Cincinnati Stingers logo, lol. Except orange and black. Then you have the "C" with a "Bee".

I do like the draft shirt. I think its a standard theme across the NFL so I'm not hopeful that it replaces the "B". They are allowed to do a 3rd helmet. I think they should use the opportunity to do a completely new helmet concept away from the stripes. Please no "70s" block bengals either. Those are ugly and boring. I would love a script "Bengals" along the side or something like that.

Eli Apple played a ton of quality snaps on a flyer type contract. I could live with CB. Always need guys that can run and cover.

The way the talking heads were talking last night Latu is the best defender, period. That came out of no where but multiple guys were echoing it so there's some smoke there. As far as mocks go that's a major upset because Turner has been the first DE to go for a LONG time. Then someone added on they think Verse is the higher rated DE over Turner. Is any of this true? Who knows? But it would be kinda weird to only have 1 DL taken in the first 17 picks.

Bengals have selected 67 players in the first round all time. Any decent stats person will tell that is a far cry from a decent sample size to make predictive conclusions. WR - 9 times (3 all time great Bengals) J'mar, AJ, Curtis OT - 8 times (2 all time greats) Munoz, and Willie DT/NT - 4 times ( just solid players) DE - 11 ( a lot of solid players) DB - 8 (surprisingly some solid players) J. Joe, Hall, Darly Williams, C/G - 5 times Zietler and blah. Blair Bush was good for a couple years. Remington played a while but was never up to hype LB - 9 times (ugly list, Takeo Spikes and Brian Simmons save the group) QB - 6 time (ugly except Burrow and I guess Palmer. RB - 4 times (ugly) TE - 3 times (ugly) save Eifert's one awesome year Downtown Eddie Brown and Tim McGee - 2nd tier probably made a couple pro bowls.

NFL network is doing cross promotions with ESPN on draft coverage. Last night they had the guru Mel Kiper on. Showed some of his old draft day clips. It just doesn't see like draft coverage until you here Mel's voice. Draft day was so much better to watch when it was up in New York. I don't mind Thursday but its such a kiss ass event right now. Too many "super fans" that love every single pick.

Lou has to be accountable for Dax and the fall off, IMO. Dax in the first 6 games looked like a potential pro bowler. He dropped something like 6 ints(entire season). If he holds on to 4 of those fans would be pimping him for pro bowl. I have no idea how they are going to use him or if at all. They have alot of potential in the secondary. Up to Lou to figure it out, I guess.

Mims and Guyton are a hard pass in the first round for me. Great measurables, bad tech, inexperience....screams their typical tackle bust. There's no way the Bengals scouting staff has determined 6/7 college OTs are among the best 18 non QB players. I would guess maybe 4 or less.

I hope they get robbed shipping out a team's home opener is BS. Do week 2 or whatever.

Never. Its not their money. As soon as they feel they won't lose their job over it they'll jump at the chance of playing power broker. As far as Hamilton County. "Making Sense" is in the eye of the beholder since its a Public venture and there's not Return On Investment to measure for share holders. Look at the riverfront today vs. 1995. What they did made a lot of sense. The riverfront is a huge draw. Building that new riverfront was a headache in the early days but its something that ended up on the right side. Its not even completed. Hamilton County can't afford to not go forward with a major draw. Same with the Reds.

Simple. It is not their money, period. When the winds of positive political momentum come about they'll jump at the chance to play power broker of a large pot of money and play city planner. Create some bullshit "stadium authority" with several well paid government jobs that produce nothing. Well NO shit. That is the case in everything. Wealth is not created or destroyed it is transferred, period. In the case of Cincinnati, its always easy to create the regional financial impact because mostly the Reds draw from several "other" pools of money outside of Hamilton county.

Yeah. 100%

From Bengals.com Geoff convo with Bengals Director of Pro Scouting Steven Radicevic.

I would much rather have Tee on a 1 year $22m deal and lose him the next than settle for what Buffalo got.

Buffalo needs to get those rookie deals. Allen is only $30m against the cap this year and balloons to $60m next. Yikes. Their cap situation is hard to follow but they were looking at a tough situation going into the year. They cut and then resigned some. But are carrying $54m in dead money this year so to me that's a sign they'll suffer through this year and try to get right the next few. But it seems the East kind of always have at least 2 teams shit can a season every single year. Where as the North every team is hoping to win it. Its even worse in the AFC West were 3 teams are crappy all the time no matter what they do.