Mike Brown is So Cheap That...

[HoosierCat]

...he's apparently assembled the best team in the division for the least amount of money.

[HairOnFire]

While bouncing around the internet(s) yesterday I actually stumbled onto a post from a non Bengal fan who claimed the Bengals were now the "model franchise" for all small market teams.

No kidding. A model franchise.

Why?

Because they draft better than their rivals, rarely overpay for FA help, and they keep their salary costs reasonable by building their core around younger inexpensive players rather than more expensive veterans.

Granted, the lack of playoff success wasn't mentioned, but......(voice trails off)

[Sea Ray]

While bouncing around the internet(s) yesterday I actually stumbled onto a post from a non Bengal fan who claimed the Bengals were now the "model franchise" for all small market teams.

No kidding. A model franchise.

Why?

Because they draft better than their rivals, rarely overpay for FA help, and they keep their salary costs reasonable by building their core around younger inexpensive players rather than more expensive veterans.

Granted, the lack of playoff success wasn't mentioned, but......(voice trails off)

Where'd they get the idea of better drafting? I think it's an amazing feat that they're where they are considering they've drafted A Smith, Jerome Simpson and more WRs than they can possibly fit on a roster

[derekshank]

While bouncing around the internet(s) yesterday I actually stumbled onto a post from a non Bengal fan who claimed the Bengals were now the "model franchise" for all small market teams.

No kidding. A model franchise.

Why?

Because they draft better than their rivals, rarely overpay for FA help, and they keep their salary costs reasonable by building their core around younger inexpensive players rather than more expensive veterans.

Were those the reasons given by the fan? Because I can't help but think that the casual observer (as well as nearly anyone working as a sports journalist) would look at the Bengals roster and see Cedric Benson, Tank Johnson, Pacman Jones, Matt Jones, Roy Williams, and T.O. and conclude that the Bengals have arisen from the ashes by way of castoffs from other teams.

In fact... that's the bulls**t I hear about far more than the bulk of the Bengals best talent coming from the quality draft choices (i.e. Palmer, Whitworth, Chad, Peko, Joseph, Hall, Rivers, Maualuga, Michael Johnson etc...)

[COB]

Mike Brown is so cheap that the Bengals have been able to stay in Cinci, while the Browns owner, not cheap, had to move, then sell out to a minority partner because he had no idea how to run a business. Now Cleveland has a crap expansion team that sucks, and we have a playoff contender.

Someone please bring Groundhog Day back so we can rub his face in it.

[HairOnFire]

Were those the reasons given by the fan?

Yup. And that's all he said so I can't fill in the blanks more than I've already done.

We can endlessly debate whether the guy was right or wrong, but regardless....I was more than a little amazed by the change in perception.

[jjakq27]

Mike Brown is so cheap that the Bengals have been able to stay in Cinci, while the Browns owner, not cheap, had to move, then sell out to a minority partner because he had no idea how to run a business. Now Cleveland has a crap expansion team that sucks, and we have a playoff contender.

Someone please bring Groundhog Day back so we can rub his face in it.

Well said.

Thanks for sticking around Mike.

[Kazkal]

Mike Browns so cheap he has to wait for the 22nd pick to sign

[Wraith]

If this team leads to another division championship then you would almost have to give Mike Brown executive of the year....and I think the devil just bought stock in a long underware company because it is certainly freezing right now, if anyone would have told me I would write those things about Mike around the time they drafted Akili Smith I would have sued for slander.

[HairOnFire]

Mike Brown is so cheap....all he has to do to convince Bengal fans that he's finally gone "All IN" is to sign a 36-year old WR to a 2 million dollar contract.

[Rimshot]

[ShulaSteakhouse]

If this team leads to another division championship then you would almost have to give Mike Brown executive of the year....

Really, why?

[BengalPimp]

If this team leads to another division championship then you would almost have to give Mike Brown executive of the year....

Marvin Lewis is more of an "Executive" than Mike Brown....Hell, even Carson Palmer has to do the dirty work to get them to finally sign T.O.

That award would have so many asterisks next to it * with an assist from Marvin Lewis ** With an assist from Carson Palmer, etc

[HairOnFire]

If this team leads to another division championship then you would almost have to give Mike Brown executive of the year....

Really, why?

Start with the way he built a division champion for 20 million a year less than all three division rivals spent.

Then look at the dead money paid to players no longer on the team.

Cleveland tops the list with $12,566,191.00

Then Pittsburgh with $ 980,500.00

Then Baltimore at $ 893,165.00

Now look at the Bengals.

Just a paltry $ 9,780.00 in dead money.

[Sea Ray]

If this team leads to another division championship then you would almost have to give Mike Brown executive of the year....

Really, why?

Start with the way he built a division champion for 20 million a year less than all three division rivals spent.

Then look at the dead money paid to players no longer on the team.

Cleveland tops the list with $12,566,191.00

Then Pittsburgh with $ 980,500.00

Then Baltimore at $ 893,165.00

Now look at the Bengals.

Just a paltry $ 9,780.00 in dead money.

There's no dead money in Coles?

[Wraith]

Yep, no dead money building a team with 20 million less than the division rivals winning back to back championships in on eof the hardest divisions in the NFL and doing it away from conventional wisdom, they have drafted well over the last 4 years (excepting Jerome Simpson) and every move Brown has made in the last three years has been successful, lets face it, as a GM Brown has been doing a pretty good job....lately.

[derekshank]

Mike Brown is so cheap... Andre Smith is hoping to shorten Gresham's holdout by giving some of his own money back.

Seriously... what other owner is creative enough to know how to keep a top-10 bust from setting the team back for 5 years?

[Sea Ray]

Actually I think the Bengals drafting has been quite suspect and if anything they should be congratulated for a div championship despite shaky drafts. They've blown a lot of top 3 rd picks recently. Remember Simpson, Kenny Irons, Frostee, Perry, Keiwan and Caleb Miller. I'm not just Monday QBing this. All these picks drew raised eyebrows from us fans at the time. They've also gone very WR heavy in such a way that we can't keep them all

[Stripes]

Remember Simpson

He was probably a bad pick, but we don't know that quite yet.

Kenny Irons

There's absolutely no reason to blame the Bengals for a player getting hurt after four preseason carries.

Frostee

Again, he's simply been hurt often. When he's been on the field he's been quite a productive player. Nearly everyone hated the pick at the time it was made and have seemingly refused to reevaluate the pick logically since.

Perry

Perry was never good enough to be a full time starter, but did the Bengals really even want him to be that? He was a good weapon for a young Palmer out of the backfield who only needed another between the tackles runner alongside him to make him the most effective (and they signed Rudi long term soon after). Trading down to get him also got us Deltha O'Neal, who had a couple strong years for us before slipping. Perry was made of glass, but his collegiate career didn't exactly suggest he would be.

Keiwan and Caleb Miller.

Both were decent enough role players early in their Bengals tenure. Keiwan wasn't a bad nickleback, even if he was a horrible punt returner. Miller wasn't great, but his draft position shouldn't have made it an expectation that he would play a big role in any long term Bengals plans.

They've also gone very WR heavy in such a way that we can't keep them all

They've invested so much in Carson Palmer that I think it's perfectly fine for them to continuously feed him weapons as they see fit. Receivers are very difficult to judge in the draft, so it makes sense that a lot of them have failed to produce much. They may have gone overboard with some of the late round picks like Brazell or Briscoe or Maurice Mann, but they have had a good track record of finding gems there and I welcome them to continue trying. If they actually tried to fill needs with freakin' sixth round picks, they'd be stupid IMO.

Now don't get me wrong. The Bengals haven't been brilliant drafters without any mistakes over Marvin's tenure. I do think they've been very good though, and many of the failures have been completely out of their control. For the record, there is one very recent pick I didn't like much at all -- Andre Smith. He fit within a distinct need though so I didn't complain too much.

[derekshank]

Actually I think the Bengals drafting has been quite suspect and if anything they should be congratulated for a div championship despite shaky drafts. They've blown a lot of top 3 rd picks recently. Remember Simpson, Kenny Irons, Frostee, Perry, Keiwan and Caleb Miller. I'm not just Monday QBing this. All these picks drew raised eyebrows from us fans at the time. They've also gone very WR heavy in such a way that we can't keep them all

So, your definition of a bad draft is a player that is drafted in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd round who isn't a starter. Fine.

Let's apply this standard to another team that is commonly referred to as the gold standard for drafting (The Pittsburgh Steelers) over the same time span.

2006:

1st Round, WR - Santonio Holmes (No longer a Steeler)

2nd Round, DB - Anthony Smith (Who? Played 8 games last year for Jax)

3rd round, WR - Willie Reid (No longer in the league)

2007:

3rd Round, TE - Matt Spaeth (27 catches for 195 yards in 3 seasons)

2008:

2nd Round, WR - Limas Sweed (Better than Simpson? Based on what?)

3rd Round, LB - Bruce Davis (Never played a down... no longer in the NFL.)

2009:

1st Round, DT - Ziggy Hood (8 tackles from a 1st round pick?)

2nd Round, No pick.

3rd Round, OG - Kraig Urbik (Has never dressed for a team with a bad O-Line)

3rd Round, DB - Keenan Lewis (DBs were awful last year, and he didn't see the field)

See... if all you do is focus on the negatives, any and every team looks like they've had a terrible draft history. The Bengals have had more hits than misses in the first 3 rounds in the last few years... and I'd bet that they have a better track record with later round picks than most teams (Peko, Geathers, Fanene, Ndukwe, Bernard Scott, Morgan Trent)

The majority of the Bengals success has come from having solid to great drafts over the last several years.

[Sea Ray]

Actually I think the Bengals drafting has been quite suspect and if anything they should be congratulated for a div championship despite shaky drafts. They've blown a lot of top 3 rd picks recently. Remember Simpson, Kenny Irons, Frostee, Perry, Keiwan and Caleb Miller. I'm not just Monday QBing this. All these picks drew raised eyebrows from us fans at the time. They've also gone very WR heavy in such a way that we can't keep them all

So, your definition of a bad draft is a player that is drafted in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd round who isn't a starter. Fine.

Let's apply this standard to another team that is commonly referred to as the gold standard for drafting (The Pittsburgh Steelers) over the same time span.

2006:

1st Round, WR - Santonio Holmes (No longer a Steeler)

2nd Round, DB - Anthony Smith (Who? Played 8 games last year for Jax)

3rd round, WR - Willie Reid (No longer in the league)

2007:

3rd Round, TE - Matt Spaeth (27 catches for 195 yards in 3 seasons)

2008:

2nd Round, WR - Limas Sweed (Better than Simpson? Based on what?)

3rd Round, LB - Bruce Davis (Never played a down... no longer in the NFL.)

2009:

1st Round, DT - Ziggy Hood (8 tackles from a 1st round pick?)

2nd Round, No pick.

3rd Round, OG - Kraig Urbik (Has never dressed for a team with a bad O-Line)

3rd Round, DB - Keenan Lewis (DBs were awful last year, and he didn't see the field)

See... if all you do is focus on the negatives, any and every team looks like they've had a terrible draft history. The Bengals have had more hits than misses in the first 3 rounds in the last few years... and I'd bet that they have a better track record with later round picks than most teams.

The majority of the Bengals success has come from having solid to great drafts over the last several years.

Maybe you have a good point in that I have too high expectations for the Bengals drafts, but I do think they need to do better than one starter per draft. Granted they've had bad luck with guys like Irons and Pollack but they kind of made their luck with guys like Odell, Henry and now Andre Smith. Unless injuries happen where they can stash folks on IR, guys like Briscoe, Quan and Simpson don't make the team.

I would say they're mediocre drafters and nothing to write home about.

[HoosierCat]

Let's apply this standard to another team that is commonly referred to as the gold standard for drafting (The Pittsburgh Steelers) over the same time span.

Not sure that's quite fair. As you amply demonstrate, Pitt's drafting has been poor the last few years. It's the biggest reason I think they are on their way down, despite having a good QB (aside from the fact he's a total jacka$$, if not an outright criminal, that is)

I do agree that the Bengals drafts of late have been rather underrated.

[jjakq27]

Let's apply this standard to another team that is commonly referred to as the gold standard for drafting (The Pittsburgh Steelers) over the same time span.

Not sure that's quite fair. As you amply demonstrate, Pitt's drafting has been poor the last few years. It's the biggest reason I think they are on their way down, despite having a good QB (aside from the fact he's a total jacka$, if not an outright criminal, that is)

I do agree that the Bengals drafts of late have been rather underrated.

Don't you all mean the Baltimore Ravens? Or was it the New England Patriots? They're all the bestest.

[jjakq27]

Mike Brown is so cheap that.....

he got all of his picks in with less than a weeks holdout. Gotta be a record.