2023 Free Agency Thread

[COB]

On 2/26/2023 at 8:54 PM, ShulaSteakhouse said:

Not sure I'm onboard with Lewan, better options... no indication yet if the Bengals' are going to replace anyone on the line any ways.

https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/2023/02/26/taylor-lewan-mentions-bengals-free-agency/

Has entered the phase of his career where he gets injured every season.  

[COB]

They need to hurry up and sign Burrow, that’ll let them plan for free agency and the draft with clarity and certainty.  
 

Now how does one go about compensating the Swallower of Planets?  

[ArmyBengal]

41 minutes ago, COB said:

Now how does one go about compensating the Swallower of Planets?  

Something to wash it down with?
Tums?
Imodium?
Fleets enema?

Maybe a package of all of the above and about $45-50 million per year I'm guessing.
 

[TJJackson]

I wouldnt mind signing Lewan under the following conditions - all of them, not just some of them

• Minimum vet base salary
• Very small signing bonus
• Moderate bonus for 100% full participation in all off-season workouts
• Fairly large per-game-started bonus (so he's paid as a starter when he starts)
• Small per-game-on-gameday-roster list (so he's paid like a backup when he is active)

I dont see him accepting such terms, but it'd be necessary to protect the club from injury risk

 

 

[ArmyBengal]

Yeah, I'm not in camp Lewan under almost any circumstance.
Just go draft a high end OT to start out playing RT and move on.

[ArmyBengal]

Just saw the Giants released Kenny Golladay.

No, I don't want him here, but prior to going to the Giants, I wouldn't have been opposed and his name was in consideration.
He was so bad in NYC, they took a 14.7 million dead cap hit just to show him the door.
DAMN...

[HoosierCat]

Yup, stuff is starting to happen.

DC franchised Payne. Only tag so far. They also booted Carson Wentz.

Cleveland letting John Johnson go. There’s some chatter they may go after Bates.

Mariota out in Atlanta.

 

[COB]

Did you hear about the boardinghouse that exploded?  Roomers were flying.

 

specifically, rumors that the falcons cut Mariota to open the starting job for none other than Lamar Jackson.  

Putting him in the NFC South - good.

 Balt getting a shitload of high picks we’ll have to deal with - bad.

[ArmyBengal]

I'd rather the Ravens take shots with increased chances which may or may not work out in the draft, then Jackson staying in Baltimore.
What are the odds they find a replacement at QB that has those abilities or better?  Not great.
I get it though, if he wants a guaranteed contract, I would probably look to get what I can in picks and move on as well.
As a Bengals fan, I can still take pleasure in them having that concern.  Buh bye Lamar...

[TJJackson]

Bates and Jackson on the same team. hmm

How many of Jackson's passes has Bates intercepted over the years?

[COB]

2021 draft, our 7th round pick was Wyatt Hubert, a DE.  He retired before the ‘22 season due to injuries.  
 

He just announced he’s un-retiring.  I assume we still have his rights, we may still have him under his rookie deal.  
 

edit- just looked it up, he missed his whole rookie year with a torn pectoral muscle.  That’s a classic PED injury.  We’ll see what kind of shape he’s in after 6 months of “retirement”, aka 6 months of no testing whatsoever.

[AMPHAR]

17 hours ago, ArmyBengal said:

I'd rather the Ravens take shots with increased chances which may or may not work out in the draft, then Jackson staying in Baltimore.
What are the odds they find a replacement at QB that has those abilities or better?  Not great.
I get it though, if he wants a guaranteed contract, I would probably look to get what I can in picks and move on as well.
As a Bengals fan, I can still take pleasure in them having that concern.  Buh bye Lamar...

I just don't see Jackson staying.   Hopefully he plays under the exclusive tag $45m this year only after holding out.   Destroy their cap and damage their trade return.

[COB]

If they tag him, he might have to play a few games then that hamstring comes along.  He may have conveyed that to them in some way, shape, or form.  They would do well to either sign him or trade him.  Some guys, you just don’t tag.

[HoosierCat]

In news that surprised absolutely no one, Tyler Dragon has reported that the Bengals are not expected to franchise Bates.

Bates, meanwhile, is out there blabbering about how he would love to play with Cleveland’s serial abuser QB. All about the Benjamins, indeed.

And in Lamar news, the Ravens say they will franchise him today before the deadline.

 

[AMPHAR]

I wonder what the market will be for Bates?   Decent Free Agents available and decent draft class of safeties.  

Cleveland and Bates?   Cleveland is rumored to be cutting a starting safety to save cap room then they are going to turn around and sign another high dollar one?   

[COB]

Non exclusive tag for Lamar, which means other teams can offer him a contract and they can either match it and keep him or not match and they get draft pick compensated if he signs with someone else.  My guess - he signs, ravens don’t match and collect a couple first round picks.

[HoosierCat]

3 hours ago, AMPHAR said:

I wonder what the market will be for Bates?   Decent Free Agents available and decent draft class of safeties.  

Cleveland and Bates?   Cleveland is rumored to be cutting a starting safety to save cap room then they are going to turn around and sign another high dollar one?   

Yeah, Cleveland letting Johnson go only to sign Bates seems like just rearranging the deck chairs, but the Clowns front office has made much, much dumber moves, so who knows.

I don't think the market is going to be what he thinks it will be.

[HoosierCat]

17 minutes ago, COB said:

Non exclusive tag for Lamar, which means other teams can offer him a contract and they can either match it and keep him or not match and they get draft pick compensated if he signs with someone else.  My guess - he signs, ravens don’t match and collect a couple first round picks.

I would expect the Ravens to match unless it's the kind of 100% guaranteed deal that Watson got and rumor says Lamar wants. And I don't see any of the other 30 teams doing that given how widely hated Watson's deal is. So if you are another team, why do the Ravens' front office's work for them? Either he will cave and sign a more team-friendly deal (that still makes him like a half-billionaire, poor fellow) or he plays on the tag.

I think he's just dumb enough to play on the tag. Maybe, just maybe, he learned something from "betting on himself" last season, but I will believe that when I see it.

[COB]

28 minutes ago, HoosierCat said:

I would expect the Ravens to match unless it's the kind of 100% guaranteed deal that Watson got and rumor says Lamar wants. And I don't see any of the other 30 teams doing that given how widely hated Watson's deal is. So if you are another team, why do the Ravens' front office's work for them? Either he will cave and sign a more team-friendly deal (that still makes him like a half-billionaire, poor fellow) or he plays on the tag.

I think he's just dumb enough to play on the tag. Maybe, just maybe, he learned something from "betting on himself" last season, but I will believe that when I see it.

That does seem the more plausible sequence of events.  Seems like they’re sick of him, but it’s hard to see them accepting only two firsts for him walking.  

[ArmyBengal]

Glad to see the Ravens doing so well cleaning up drama… who cares?

Who cares about Bates either?
Thanks and buh bye.
Enjoy that winning culture in Cleveland.

[HoosierCat]

Giants give Daniel Jones 4 years, $160 million ($82 million guaranteed in the first 2 years), franchise Sarquon Barkley.

https://sports.yahoo.com/giants-reportedly-reach-160m-deal-with-daniel-jones-use-franchise-tag-on-saquon-barkley-205920656.html

Note the deal comes after the Giants didn't pick up Jones' fifth year option last year.

So factor $40 million/year into your Burrow calculations.

[ArmyBengal]

40 million for Daniel Jones huh ??

If we are doing the math, that makes Burrow worth at least 127 million per year, right ??

[TJJackson]

21 hours ago, HoosierCat said:

I would expect the Ravens to match unless it's the kind of 100% guaranteed deal that Watson got and rumor says Lamar wants. And I don't see any of the other 30 teams doing that given how widely hated Watson's deal is. So if you are another team, why do the Ravens' front office's work for them? Either he will cave and sign a more team-friendly deal (that still makes him like a half-billionaire, poor fellow) or he plays on the tag.

I think he's just dumb enough to play on the tag. Maybe, just maybe, he learned something from "betting on himself" last season, but I will believe that when I see it.

are poison pill contracts legal?

ie team x will pay Lamar a bonus of 5 million dollars for any game played in Baltimore

for Baltimore, thats an extra 40 million or more in costs, whereas for another team that might cost an extra 5M in some years, but usually 0

[HoosierCat]

2 hours ago, TJJackson said:

are poison pill contracts legal?

ie team x will pay Lamar a bonus of 5 million dollars for any game played in Baltimore

for Baltimore, thats an extra 40 million or more in costs, whereas for another team that might cost an extra 5M in some years, but usually 0

IIRC they made those kind of shenanigans illegal some years ago. 

[HoosierCat]

Bucs release starting LT Donovan Smith.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35805637/source-buccaneers-releasing-left-tackle-donovan-smith

I don’t expect the Bengals to have any interest directly but the eventual domino effect could shake someone good for depth loose somewhere.