AMPHAR

Like it or not if you see the Chiefs or Bills in September or any AFC North team in weeks 1 and2 on the schedule its foolish to let a month of practice go by and not be at their absolute best. Otherwise you are going to Arrowhead unless that division can pull their head out of their ass and actually hand a loss or two on the Chiefs. The soft camp was directly related to having to go to Arrowhead. Just like the Bills got sniped by the Steelers week 1 in 2021 and found themselves on the road. There is very little room for error. Need to have less than 3 loses. AFC North Champs seemingly always have 1 or 2 division loses.

3 round mock from Reuter. Cody Mauch - OT/G NDSU Banks - CB Maryland Scott - Safety Cal Decent haul. I would like to hear more about Mauch being more a true tackle vs. guard. I don't think Interior OL should be that high a pick before knowing more about the future of tackle plan going forward. Right now until Free Agency produces more known values Defensive Back has to be considered the big need.

Schedule speculation. Bengals will have both Bills and Chiefs on the schedule. I'm sorry, but if either one of these match ups lands in September then Zac must alter his club med approach to training camp. With the Chiefs winning the Superbowl they will host the Thursday kick off. Given the ratings of the last 2 Chiefs/Bengals match ups that game would be desirable for that slot. If that is the case they'll have to grind a little more in TC.

Lammons move was made before the AFC Champ game. Given the rules he was unable to join the official roster until after the Superbowl. Its old news basically. Supposedly a decent special team player but also had some legal troubles.

Should bring Elvis Presto back.

I thought it was a good to great game. The holding call at the end was similar to Wilson last year. Ticky Tak. I think they drag this whole Superbowl thing out way to long and it destroys the game entertainment value. In the end the Chiefs were awesome but I still think the Bengals were the best in AFC prior to OL injuries. I guess every team can harp on injuries.

Willie Anderson is in the Munoz atmosphere. If he would have played in any other market and not apart of the 90 Bengals it would be considered a lock. There just some incredible stats and quotes from HOF defenders about Willie. He was as dominant on the Right side as Ogden was on the Left.

I just think the Bengals have been adaptable under Tobin. After the power struggle in 2010, this team has been better at finding talent, period. Under Zac they have been way more successful at striking early in Free Agency and signing guys that appear in these top 50 lists. Prior to Zac they had success in 3rd tier avenues but as they achieved drafting success they shifted gears to compensatory approach. Post 2010 and whatever front changes went on in that period; They built some tremendous rosters and to this day have never gotten full credit because they could not win a playoff game. I don't know what their approach will be but I assume it will still focus on the 2 for 1 model like we've seen the past 3 years. With big contracts coming up for guys they drafted, I would not be surprised to see more of a focus on gaining comp picks.

Even worse is when national talking heads address "coach of the year" they don't even mention Zac Taylor as a snub. He's taken a 6-10 2018 team - won 2 divisions, 1 AFC Championship, 1 AFC runner up. No talking head predicted any of this and a bunch predicted failure. They have 3 pro bowlers, 0 All Pros, and it was a huge offseason talking point about the 2021 Bengals were a fluke and destined to not make the playoffs. It really is unbelievable how much this organization is over looked. It is the same mindset that when national talking heads talk about Carson Palmer they fail to mention or focus in on the Bengals went to 5 straight post seasons after his last season. I hope the 2023 Bengals are over looked in August. I don't think the actual team needs fuel but this just the more fuel for the fan base. If you look at salary caps. The Bengals are or should be the team to beat in the AFC. They are going to return the majority of a team that was the best in the AFC up until O-line injuriesl

Awesome. Overall the Bengal organization is just overlooked. This is such a back handed induction, IMO. They left him off a deceased NFL player list. Can you imagine a Steeler, Cowboy, Raider, Packer top 5 in Ints having to wait that long to get in? I just wonder IF they wouldn't have gotten called out like they did for leaving him off the list AND Burrow wasn't successful as he's been AND no ring of honor would have this even happened? The 1968-1990 Bengals shouldn't have 10 guys in the HOF, but should have at least more than 1. Now they do. A right number feels like 2-4 players from that era. Ken Anderson for sure. Then I'd say Issac Curtis. Quite frankly there are a lot of Bengals players/media from that era that say Leapin Lamar was the better CB over Riley. Hopefully Willie Anderson, Whitworth, and Atkins won't have to die first to get in. Congrats Rattler. Even though I was young, I still remember seeing you play.

Radio suggesting that Riley and Anderson could get the nod for HOF. I hope that is true.

We're in the Spirit World asshole they can't see us!

Rumors are Aaron Rodgers has joined him in that shed.

I don't know. I wish he would have made more of an impact on the defense but honestly their secondary was playing very well even after the Chido loss. So its not like they were scrubs and couldn't find playing time. I think IF Bates/Bengals pull the shocker then its Dax and Bates as the safety tandem. Bell would be out. Although, I think they are going to get a decent deal on Bell and then work hard on Pratt. You maybe could get both done for the $15M (????) it will take to get Bates. I don't see the Bengals all of sudden paying top of the market for Bates so for it to happen would have to go middle ground.

I would guess the Bates stuff is just agent talk at this point. There's a decent pool of names in the FA pool already before pre FA cuts. The draft class appears to be deep. For example Sydney Brown stamped himself as possible rookie starter at the Senior Bowl has generally been ranked 5th in the draft class. If Bates has his eyes set on 18-20m a year he better be off that market as soon as the bell rings. My guess is money for Safeties drys up quick.

Would be a 180 degree turn, but there it is....speculation. There are also some interesting names among the safety pool this year.

Short arms could drop him to the Bengals. Also, sometimes these measurements are off. Jackson Carman was measured sub 33 and then remeasured twice at 33+.

I am very interested in grabbing a RT, but Skoronski is getting that "short arms" move to guard buzz. Supposedly sub 33 inches and the talking heads saying that would absolutely mark him off on some boards as tackle. File it for later.

I know this is a little back to the future thinking under Marvin, but..... If they could adequately replace those FA losses via players cut and net those comp picks it would be a major off season win. I would think you could even resign Hurst and still net a similar amount of picks.

Supposedly Marlon Humphrey was trying to recruit FAs at the Pro Bowl and got a lot of "Are you going to pay Lamar" responses. I believe he posted this on his twitter.

I think the NFL would be wise to remove all the "safety" related fouls from the field of play. Then after the game is completed start having reviews of safety via video. Start assigning safety scores to player that ultimately escalate into fines, suspensions etc. Just throw the flag in blatant situations. One more emphasis of rules by refs just make them look incompetent and the league is fixed.

They have plenty of mouths to feed on that offense. Mixon was near top 5 in receiving yards this year despite his time missing and being surrounded by Chase, Higgin, Boyd, Hurst, and Perine. They shouldn't cut a player that counter balances the cover 2 looks they see. Just because ZT doesn't have to over load him carries and targets doesn't make him worth cutting. They will or at least hope will bring back the the entire core 10 on that offense, with hopefully only having to address RT. This stupid stuff about Mixon or Boyd or whoever represents cap savings is for the birds They are $44m under. You don't need to look for cap room until the summer, by then we'll know if they draft a RB or whoever to start replacing vets.

OK.

DJ absolute winners for those interested in Secondary: Brown has received praise from several sources as well.