AMPHAR

I do not like the thought of Justin Fields in Pitt. There's a lot of potential with him and if used effectively in a system can really upgrade their QB spot that's been below average even with fat/slow Ben.

Quit carrying the NFLPA's water. 2 years in a row the NFLPA members have said their family/friends are too good to sit next to you at tax payer provided stadium. Yet fans get in the fetal position when they read this shit. OMG, "we aren't going to get free agents". "Just make them happy". Whatever happened to that fear mongering report about the Bengals supporting worker comp legislation that was sure to scare off Free Agents? There's a whole bunch of agenda driven people/organization AND NFLPA is one of them that's going to beg for public support via these stupid report cards. Quit supporting it. The collective of players are more than capable of going to negotiations when something is truly important to them. The owners should release one that grades players on ability to pay child support. Ability to show up sober on game day. Report showing how much expense is needed to sequester players a night before a game because they can't stop getting high or whatever. Ability not to hit your girlfriend.

Players can strike or stfu. Its not a problem. Quit falling for the union bullshit.

Who gives a shit? Drop them off at Burrow's new 80,000 room house. Daycare isn't an easy fix. Next year's survey will be highlighting one of kids getting fingered by a child care provider or whatever. Yeah just let section 151 row 9 watch the kids. The easy fix is tell the player to STFU and pay for child care.

NFLPA bitch list. Who cares? I'll apply for the dietician job. Yes, that candy bar you are eating. That's bad. Smoothie bar manager. Somehow players believe their family is entitled to an all inclusive when they go to paycor. Just know in some shape or form this comes out of your pocket.

There's a lot of smoke about cutting Joe Mixon. So I guess it could plausible. A couple points that make it seem questionable. He COUNTS $8.85 against the cap but is only getting PAID $5.7m which includes a roster bonus AND incentives. Then he's off the books for 2025. So 1st can it actually be done to replace or upgrade his production for less than $6m with incentives? In Free Agency? For a singular year? 2nd? Why? They placed the tag on Higgins and still have $50m. Why create an immediate need when you don't have to? Just eat the $3m roster bonus if the upgrade is sitting there after the draft. I would think most backs signing in the first week of Free Agency are going to cost more than $6m cash and probably have cap ramifications beyond the 2024 season. I could easily see them drafting a back to pair with Brown and Mixon.

If I were Duke nothing less than a top 15 pick or equivalent value for Tee. Anything lower offered go take a walk.

On the day free agency opened up and Whitworth walked into UFA. How much was he worth? Thinking they had two highly regarded tackles. A very good OL development record. How much was Whit worth a couple years later? I'd say Whitworth's "fan" value grew 100X in that period? How much was J. Joe worth the day he signed with Houston? How much was he worth a couple years later when Zimmer had an entire secondary of former No. 1 draft picks balling out? His "fan" value shrunk. The value "fans" place on paying or not paying Tee is and always be based on hindsight. How Tee is going to perform after extension? How well they can replace him? Unfortunately the tag is due before anyone is going to know. So I say tag. Extend if possible. Losing Housh, First derailed his career (he's admitted that), derailed Palmer's to the point he went crybaby. Then cost himself the chance to throw to AJ Green and play with Zimmer's D. If Andy D was Qbing those teams to the playoffs. They'd be significantly better with Palmer. Keep elite talent when you have the chance. Takeo Spikes never played in the playoffs. Forced himself out of his best situation. Dillon threw his pads in the stands and got a Superbowl ring. Judgement will always be based on things that aren't known at the time.

Supposedly they were going to get the same stuff Titans/Rams have. Weirdly those turf surfaces look the best on TV. But in the press release it appears they went in a different direction. Hopefully they change the midfield logo. I'm tired of the "B".

I'm waiting for JC Latham hype train to get going. He is one I thought would be a good tackle at 18. The worry on Murphy is; his "hype" train is in overdrive right now. Is it a function of media/fans now catching up to what NFL scouts have known all along? He was considered 2nd/3rd rounder early and now seems to have cemented himself as the top DT. His production stats are all positive. He's an athletic freak. Naturally, the 2nd round pick often justifies the first round pick. A lot of people in the heat of the draft weekend didn't like the Chase pick and hesitantly warmed up to it when Carmen was selected. Crazy to think about it because Chase was the best player in that draft and should have been taken no less than 2nd. Major steal. I don't have a lot of heart burn about losing DJ Reader. I think fans have his 2021 season in mind. He's missed 6/7 games in 2022. Now has a quad injury after a very average 2023. Going on 30. He only plays 55%-65% of snaps when healthy. There were too many double teams working their way up to Pratt this past year. If another team wants to give him $15m+ on a multi year, have at it. This is one you invite him back in July sub $10m on a 1 year deal.

If that many tackles go before 18. Along with those QBs and WRs. Brock Bowers, Quinyon Mitchell, and/or Byron Murphy would be waiting, I'd hope. Any of those dudes would be a steal at 18.

I would put a vote in for A'shawn Robinson formerly of the Rams for a run stopping DT. He was a big factor in Superbowl 56. Recently saw him pop up as a Free Agent. Could be a cheap/effective add.

Another way to say it. I doubt the Bengals look at the available college talent and think 5 OTs are among the 18th best/impactful players. They may have 1 or 2 OTs they view that way and then its comes down to the draft falling that way in order to take OT at 18. It was the same with TE last year. There were X amount of TEs mocked in the first. It was rumored Kincaid would have been the pick If available. He wasn't. So they didn't move on to the next TE then went to Murphy. Now that draft pick will be debated until he achieves a decent pass rush season, but that's a clear indication of their thought process.

RT has been a need for a while. The easy solution is to pay the dude you drafted to fill the biggest need. Jonah Williams. I doubt they bite that bullet. I would love for them to draft the next Willie Anderson so this isn't my preference but just thoughts of what actually happens. Not a whole lot of easy solutions in the rest of Free Agency at RT past Jonah Williams. At least one that are known to fans. Maybe there's a surprise cut somewhere, trade. Maybe. But most mocks have 4 OTs going before 18. Yikes. I get queezy thinking about Tobin and staff sorting through the 5th, 6th, 7th best OT to take at 18. My outside thought/guess is: Cody Ford will get a pay increase but a minor 2 year deal. First run at starting OT, with a later round OT draft pick to push for competition. They've liked him since he was drafted. Signed him. Most scribes viewed him as a TC cut before TC started. Cody Ford was the first OL off the bench, I think for the whole season.

Fuaga doesn't sound like he'll be there at 18. I'm still skeptical they'll use 18 on OL. Free Agency will tell the tale there. Saying the draft is loaded with WRs is a trend and not unique at all. Since 2020 there's an average of 19 WR taken witin top 150. 2020 - 17 2021 - 20 2022 - 21 Its hard to find rankings or mocks consistent for 2024 going that deep (150) but there are typically 25 WR Prospects that are having grades that would fall in that range. Clearly going to see 20+ WR going top 150 again this year. I tried to find a consistent site with a grading scale. Last year there were about 27 WR prospects with a score that would equate top 150. 2024 is 25. Like they said in the Senior bowl for the foreseeable future there's going to be impressive College Wide Outs each year. For reference this year's 2024 NFL draft class is mostly 2021 High school class. There were 58 4 star or higher WR prospects. For high school class of 2024 there are 85 4 star or higher. Assuming their grading is consistent. Every year is going to be a loaded NFL WR draft. However, these prospects getting drafted are less than 50% in producing 1,000 yard seasons so far. Also there's going to be a higher degree of churn because teams simply can't get snaps and are teams going to start carrying 8/9 WRs when they can't get them snaps? I dunno.

I think the Bengals had an offer out to Lawson when he went to the Jets. That money became Trey Hendrickson. Lawson is an above average pass rushers and could also give them some interior rushes as well. The issue has always been health and actually getting the QB to the ground. Lou had him on the field a decent amount his final year for the Bengals. Bengals D was also horrible that year as well. The question will be do they want/need Lawson to push Murphy and Ossasi for DE back up Snaps? They clearly need someone to step up to give more pass rush outside of Trey. Ossasi was a major disappointment coming off a very good 2022 AFC Champ game. Murphy came along slowly but showed progress as the year went along. I'm convinced with Jackson and Watson in the division. Expected meetings with either Allen and Mahomes in the playoffs you need guys along the D-line that can run and chase QBs. Its kinda amazing the success the Bengals have had against them with Hendrickson and Hubbard running themselves to death.

Becton would have to be a prove it deal. Yeah he's said he doesn't like Right Tackle because of the stress on the knee. So that's a red flag. On the plus side his rookie season was with Pollack and that season had him tabbed as future top player. He clearly was at odds with the Jets organization which seems to be the norm. For what its worth A-Aron Rodger said nice things about him.

Meki Becton would be a gamble but his rookie season was with Pollack. Worth a gamble +rookie draft pick? Jets are probably going to use up 1 of those projected first round linemen, maybe.

Both Volson and Cappa are Free Agents after the 2025 season. Both were underwhelming this past season. I would welcome Zietler back but the Bengals and he have never been on the same page financially since his rookie deal. I don't get the sense they are looking to move past any of the current starting guards which is unfortunate. I'll put my early vote in for Joey Bosa IF he gets cut from SD. Injuries have plagued him but a nice rotation opposite rush threat from Trey would be nice. RT? Not a whole lot out there. Maybe some cuts throw a veteran out on the market? I'd have to think they aren't walking into the draft having to have a Right Tackle at 18 or 49 so I'd expect to have someone signed at that spot. Jonah Williams projections wouldn't seem like he'd be back or have to settle for a cheap deal. Addition: CJ is also rumored to be cut from Jets. Assuming his lack of use was Jets being Jets, I wouldn't be surprised if he got a chance to return.

What a career ride for that dude.

Traditional trades with Franchise tag don't happen very often. Alternate trades in which the teams come together for less than 2 firsts have happened multiple times. Higgins is worth a top 15 pick, IMO. Its not worth trading him for anything less. If you use that trade value chart that's multiple 2nd or various other picks. Why? 1st - There have been a lot of WRs taken top 35 since Tee was drafted. Less than 50% have a singular 1,000 yard season. 2nd - A great play, slightly bad throw robbed Higgins of 100+ yard day and the Bengals a return trip to Superbowl. Despite the O-line once again killing multiple drives with 5 sacks and whole bunch of pressures.

Colts theory floating around is revisionist history. Colts did not set out emphasizing the Wide Receiver position. It also did not cost them anymore post season success. 1st - Any AFC team during that era; no matter how you want to describe their roster strategy; EVERYONE of them lost post season success to Tom Brady and the Patriots. EVERYONE. 2nd - Harrison was drafted by a different GM in 1996. Polian was hired in 1998 drafted Peyton. Then in 2001 they drafted Reggie Wayne. The end result of the Colts cap was dictated by their drafting success. Throughout most of the Manning/Colts era the roster was made up of drafted players. This was a constant argument among Bengal fans in whether or not they should be building via the draft or Free Agency in the early Marvin Lewis days.

The "more is better" advantage gets played down. Greatly. People present these theories hedging their bet or opinion that Higgins eventually moves on. So naturally his impact isn't all that great or can easily be replaced. Saw this same thinking when the Bengals had Dunlap, Atkins, and MJ all on rookie deals. Most people thought, only 1 could stay, maybe 2. So it divulged into theories on how MJ sucked because most were guessing he's the one leaving. He did, then came back and they probably had one of the best D-lines in the history of the franchise for a couple seasons. Its not that Joe NEEDS Higgins. Its more a fact that Higgins with Joe makes alot of plays. A great number of plays that puts Higgins among the elite in his prime. So yeah, they could try to replace him. They could be successful in doing so. J. Joe when he walked out with Gatorade and broke Zimmer's heart. They replaced him quickly seamlessly. Whitworth was disaster. Zietler was disaster. I just kinda default to the fact they draft an elite talent. It works. Might as well put best effort forward in keeping him.

Meanwhile in KC, Buffalo and AFC North they don't have "Cap Hell" as it existed in the 1990 but they have some tough roster management issues ahead. 1. KC has 2 elite FAs. 1 Tag and probably enough cap room to cover that tag. So they'll have to reshuffle some stuff 2. Buffalo is ($50m) over. I have no idea 3. Miami is ($50m) over. Again no idea 4. Houston - $65 cap room. Dangerous team to make waves in AFC 5. Baltimore - ($1m) over. Bunch of key players as FAs. Right now can't tag anyone. 6. Browns - ($20m) over. No clue but they got issues because they still have Qb concerns 7. Pittsburgh - ($4) over. Issues. Namely how do they grab a QB? Other AFC team will splash and win the media darling offseason award. Houston is a real threat. Cincinnati can actually win it by just tagging and then extending another elite talent.

Just remove the emotion. NFL fans/media allow emotion to sway logical thinking. Below is a summary of the elite free agents prior to tags and in no particular order. I would take ANY of these players on a 1 year deal at their market rate. Might be a couple more players but the NFL Top free agent lists generally have these names on top. 1. Chris Jones 2. L'Jarius Sneed 3. Jaylon Johnson 4. Josh Allen (the pass rusher) 5. Madubuike 6. Antonie Winfield 7. Tee Higgins But since Tee Higgins is already a Bengal for some reason that wouldn't count as an elite signing. Stupid. Its always been stupid to look at it that way. Now, reality is these guys are not making it to the market (via tags) OR signing huge multi year deals if they do reach UFA. The Bengals have a lay up here. Instantly procure an elite Free Agent by simply playing by the rules. If Higgins busts in 2024 like he did in 2023. They can move on easily. The fact some fans/media would even think this situation as a negative is mind boggling. Take the lay up. You then control 1 of the elite players in FA. Once that is done. The Bengals will rearrange some deck chairs on Lido Deck. Hopefully match the succes they've done the past couple years. The most important piece of the entire offseason is Chase. Get him locked away this summer and they've done a lot of what the media fear mongered for two years over the pending Burrow deal. Then the biggest question marks in Training Camp will be QB health, Young safeties and right tackle.