AMPHAR

I wouldn't rule it out entirely. They keep 4. Have about 6 names for 3 spots. Among those names are highly drafted players and alot of starts including playoff starts. Plus Williams represents $12m in cap savings. I could see a trade of someone because somebody or somebodies are leaving the roster, going to guard, or PUP. If someone goes to guard then you have another pool of starts and highly drafted player to potentially trade.

RBs have to push for rule changes. That is what devalued their position over time. The rule emphasis in 2011 have simply made long hand offs to WRs more popular. They reduced man coverage. Penalize defenses more for hitting WRs. RBs want to up their value they should be pushing for rule changes that favor more man coverage and also change the holding call to a spot foul. Overtime this would return the RB value somewhat. All of these current RBs are shit out of luck.

Keeping Joe on top is going to involve finding pieces to fill in around him. If you look at Big Ben, he started out as game manager, then had Plexico, Ward, Randel El, then morphed into AB, Bell. That key rush LB spot the Steelers have had for decades has featured a number of All-Pros, Pro bowler types during Ben's run. Guys get paid; move on. Get injured. Get worn down. Whatever. To keep Joe a constant in the Division round which seems like where HOF QBs live; Tobin will have to do the same.

If you are any competent agent you don't let Joe Burrow touch a practice field without a new deal. Joe is set to make $5.5 in cash this year. Another $29m next. Even if they keep him in line with the recent QB deals he's looking at $80m or more in his pocket this year. Considering there has been no mention of hold outs or media games. I take it this extension is coming soon. Look at what AJ Green lost going up to that Dayton practice. I'm sorry, can't be on the field without a new deal IF I was that agent.

The AFC North doesn't display the incompetence you see in the AFC West. No team in the North has won it 3 times in row, meanwhile KC is on a 7 year run with a record of 31-5. We'll see who plays and who doesn't in the preseason, but I'm confident who ever wins the RT job won't do it off 2 practices like last year. If the AFC West doesn't get its act together then in reality you can't afford more than 2 division losses because KC won't have more than 1, if that. The saving grace is the AFC East appears tougher so maybe the Bengals can host a division round. Its going to be a fight to win the North 3 times in a row. There's been some monster Bengal, Raven and Steeler teams from the past that couldn't do it.

The overall stadium branding has improved ten-fold the past few years. Very nice. I do believe season ticket holders get advance buying opportunities on non-Bengal events. I can remember some offers from the past. I'm not sure that would include every concert coming.

Rumor he turned down $12.5 average per year. Is he really going to sit out and lose a chunk of the franchise tag money and then go on the market next year expecting to beat $12.5 a year? Seems like a gamble.

Mixon restructure saves Bengals approx $4.3m against the cap this year and $4.6 next. He now represents dead money if cut this year against the cap but still represents $5.8m in cap savings next year IF cut. $3m roster bonus at the start of the new league year will tell fans early IF he's in their plans or not for 2024.

Even if the Bengals returned the entire secondary it would have been hard to repeat the improvements from 2020>2021>2022. I think in the longer view the secondary has more athleticism and they solved some future roster problems beyond 2023 in exchange for experience. How this secondary comes together is a critical piece along with development of 3 d-line rotation pieces. Ossia, Murphy, and Cater. It would not be a shock if they allow more yards and points per game vs 2022. In the end its probably the offense that is going to need to show a big jump. They've been good hovering around 360 yards and 26 points per game. The talent is there to press those numbers upward. The assumed approach towards the cap mandates that it happens. Hopefully better health and better line can get them near top 3 in the league. Can't say goodbye to Bates and sign Brown along with cap conservation for impending Higgins, Burrow extensions and not get a jump up in offensive production. Need to be adding about 30 yards and couple points per game.

Mixon in all likely hood read the tea leaves and realized he probably could get the full $10.1 this year and nothing next ($20.4m left on his deal) or get something greater than sum these next 2 years vs gambling on the open market next March. It sounds like this deal increases the chance of him avoiding being a cap cut next year.

Hopefully this is the start of the bold prediction. Who's next? Burrow? Wilson? Higgins?

Bill, Chiefs and Bengals are all legit teams. You have to play your best every time to win. Hopefully this year the Bengals can catch only 1 in the playoffs and play at home.

2009 Bengals Hard Knocks is on Tubi, fyi. 1st episode Reggie Kelly and then Utech are lost for the year out of the TE group. That was a fun season up until the playoffs. Of course its Bengals related but a great Hard Knocks as well. Child Please. Fat Andre Smith,Fat Jermi Johnson, Fat Lippincott. Oklahoma drill. Miss the days of Georgetown training camp, but still like it better in the shadow of PBS/Paycor. I can't remember the other year the Bengals were on hard knocks but didn't see it out there. Was it Dalton's rookie year? 1st Hard Knocks with the Ravens coming off Superbowl was a great one too. But now a days its just an old concept that probably doesn't carry much interest outside the fan base. New York with Rodgers and some up and coming stars will generate discussion but I doubt I'll watch much of it, if any.

Bengals haven't done anything wrong. They elected to not do a major induction to catch up the ROH. Corey has the stats to probably be a top 5 Bengal. IMO, he doesn't have the "big game" memories to be a top 5 Bengal. Maybe Patriot. Not entirely his fault as most of his Bengal teams were crap. Cincinnati as a sports town has its roots in baseball. Baseball's HOF is very stats and stat milestone focused. Thus a lot of opinion makers in Cincinnati focus on stats. For me, my top Bengals are going to have stats but also have to factor in memories. Dillon to his credit created his memorable games on his own but in the grand scheme of things those games meant very little in the standings/playoff runs. He was jaded by the time Marvin got here and even in 2003 it was Rudi making memories over Dillon when that team challenged for the AFC North beating Ravens, Steelers, Undefeated KC etc. Rudi churning out tough yards in the snow vs. SF. Dillon could have been the focus of that team and the 2005 AFC North champ team. Didn't want to, didn't believe. Same with Takeo. Takeo went his whole career not making playoffs after leaving a playoff bound Bengal squad.

Corey Dillon = mad. I think Corey is just being Corey rambling/ranting about things without logic. He deserves induction at some point. I wouldn't agree entirely with the season ticket holder results (I would have had the other MVP;Boomer already in). Dillon hasn't been snubbed, IMO. Hall of Fame's are marketing tools. The benefits of the Bengals doing the ROH are being seen every off season. This morning due to Corey's rants; I heard a case made by some talking head on a national show make the case for him to be in the NFL HOF. Bengals elected to tie induction to annual season ticket benefits over doing 1 huge induction. Its just going to take some time, Corey. Corey has the stats to be the best RB in franchise history. But is he more deserving than Brooks just based on that? By virtue of being on a better teams Brooks/Ickey/Pete Johnson had more impact on the franchise in key games. Ickey still to this day is a culture ICON. Just a matter what you think the ROH should be about.

I always get Mallet mixed up with the other Arkansas QB that signed with the Bengals trying to play WR.

From a Goodberry tweet: He's not wrong. Last year, Mahomes was partially responsible for 21.2% of the total pressures he dealt with. That's the 7th highest percentage of all QBs. Joe Burrow was partially responsible for 6% of the total pressures he faced. That was the 3rd lowest percentage. (Via PFF) Jordan Foote @footenoted Orlando Brown Jr. on blocking for Joe Burrow: “Now, as opposed to having to play in a lot more space with guys on my edge, guys have got to rush through me because Joe isn’t necessarily at 12-1/2 or 13 yards on certain drops. He’s going to be at 7-1/2 getting the ball out.” Thoughts: I don't fully trust these "deep" stat conclusions or more the person that posts them because there's always an agenda bias behind them, but..... This point should have been obvious to any football fan. Brown has been pass protecting for Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes. You just can't compare sacks allowed, pressures allowed, or PFF grades equally across all offenses and QBs. Now Brown probably isn't an eraser like Whitworth in pass pro and Burrow is a play extender but he will excel protecting for Burrow and his QBs launch point will be more disciplined although I wouldn't dare describe Burrow as a statue in the pocket and he certainly doesn't fear the sack. Chief fans are fooling themselves thinking losing Brown doesn't hurt them and help the Bengals. They'll see. Its time for Pollack to produce a sub 25 sack season.

Yeah Reds. Glad to hear GABP showering down "Joey, Joey, Joey"

Its a part of a "bold" prediction dealing with an incredible chain of events if it were to occur as stated. Burrow signs. With in a week, Wilson, Higgins, and Mixon all do extensions or in Mixon's case restructure. Then the added part well IF Mixon doesn't agree the Bengals COULD release him. Play along: IF this chain of events were to occur, then these players are deep into contract talks already and the numbers are in ball park range. So Bengals already know how agreeable Mixon will be and I'm guessing under this "bold" prediction he is. Otherwise they would have been silent on his role with the team and probably moved on already. Under this circumstance Mixon probably would be agreeable to secure his spot next year with this team. If all this would occur it would and should set the NFL world on fire.

Williams and his agent did the correct thing. Took advantage of an opportunity to heat check his market for next year. I think the Bengals set the bar at 3rd rounder because they think he's going to sign a decent deal that would return that at least in a comp pick. At least that's what it sounds like.

Good insight on Irv Smith. Hurst was an athletic upgrade to CJ and it seems they upped it again. If he stays healthy Irv will certainly carve out some production to the levels produced by CJ/Hurst. I wouldn't judge Irv or Hurst on yards per target. I would on YAC. This role has been find space underneath and get to the sticks. That ability is absolutely first thing they need from TE. Then of course, big plays down the field would be excellent. Reviewing last season you can almost see it click with Burrow to use TE/RB underneath and quit big play hunting. As soon as he flipped that which was about mid way in Baltimore the offense continued to rise along with a OL getting into gear.

New look probably refers to New faces. He should have 3 bodies pushing for more rush rotation in Zach Carter, Myles, and Ossasi. Then there's a ton of new faces in the secondary. I'm sure this adjusts the scheme's used.

IMO, there isn't enough of a penalty to stop a gambling addict from attempting it. They could go to jail if caught but that isn't going to stop a problematic gambler. IMO, its a bad idea for the NFL to get in bed with sports gambling. They should have a zero tolerance gambling policy on anything while NFL employee at the very least. Start the education seminar along with the warnings of baby mama classes they do. The NFL has a major rules problem that they refuse to admit and deal with. Roger is addicted to implementing more on field solutions for show which complicates the ability to officiate and more importantly the viewing public doesn't understand the rules or reasoning. So of course with gambling added it, confusing officiating is only going to get louder. Players/coaches can get in deep betting on other things then ultimately will try to get even betting on something they think they know. I believe that's the Pete Rose story. Gambler got in deep and tried to dig himself out betting on baseball and probably fixing games. There's the NBA ref that was supposedly only giving picks based on his knowledge that eventually landed in jail. I'm sure the NBA covered stuff up to. There was strong hints that the NBA put pressure on refs to get series to game 7s etc. I still believe the Mike Vick dog fighting was more about gambling vs. animal abuse. Some of those betting pools get into hundred thousands.

The success of Kenny, Boomer, and Fulcher with coaches like Paul Brown, Walsh, Wyche, and LeBeau took schematic innovations from cute little trend to league wide influences for decades that have their finger prints on so many HOF careers and championships. The difference can be seen in things like the Run and Shoot. It had its wildly successful days. But those days were limited because the players/coaches overseeing the scheme had limitations. Thus the run and shoot was more of a fad when compared to West Coast Offense. If Kenny/Walsh then later Montana could only produce offensive numbers and flame out then that scheme dies out as fad. Boomer/Wyche and then Jim Kelly same thing. Hurry up offense was a cut fad not something you want to use Peyton Manning to do.

There is no Boyd or Higgins discussion, IMO. My guess is Higgins will get a big offer from the Bengals its just a matter of the two parties agreeing. If they don't, I would guess the franchise tag is coming. Boyd may or may not get offered a 3rd contract from the Bengals but it will not be in the magnitude of Higgins and it shouldn't be. If Higgins wants this year's No. 1 money you offer Higgins No. 1 money and hope he takes it. Why? Burrow is the best back shoulder thrower in the league and that's a big part of Higgins game. Throw him cash and beat teams over the head with it. Chase is under team control for the next 3 seasons. Then a 4th assuming tag. That's a long freaking time and with cap growth any Higgins deal done this off season will look like a bargain. In my mind its the same rational you don't fuck with Mixon until you have replacement. Teams are going to play a lot of cover 2. Throwing to Mixon out of the backfield was a huge counter measure. When you are hunting for a Superbowl, this is stuff you overpay for. Same with Higgins. So many back shoulder plays with Burrow. Elite talent. Try to keep it IF you got it.