HoosierCat Posted March 11 Author Report Posted March 11 So as we wind down toward the official start of free agency at 4 pm today, how are we feeling about the results of the legal tampering period for the Bengals? Overall, I'm good with what they've done. Not jumping out of my skin or anything, but far better than I expected to be, given this franchise's tendencies. Bryan Cook was really high on my wish list. Geno Stone was easily the worst player on defense last season, and Cook is a high-end starter who might finally help us forget Jesse Bates. Conversely, Boye Mafe was not on my radar. This is a similar signing to that of Hendrickson in 2021; Bengals are betting on the come again. I would be surprised if they caught lightning in a bottle twice in a row, but we'll see. Someone -- it might have been Goodberry -- comped him to Carl Lawson, which wouldn't be the worst result imaginable. Like everyone else, I wanted to see some signings at DT and LB. But whether you're looking at FA or the draft, the DT options are all meh (which is why I've taken to pushing a trade). At LB, here's the thing: they didn't spend 2nd and 4th rounders on LBs last year for those guys to play 8-10 snaps a game on teams. They drafted them to start and they started them both all last year, and anyone who expects that to change out of the gate in year two is, I think, fooling themselves. Did they look like two rooks completely out of their depth for much of 2025. Yup. Are they going to be expected to make big sophomore leaps in 2026? Also yup. If they don't, I would expect their PT to get cut, but I would guess they are going to get half a season to show if they've gotten better or not. As a second rounder, Knight probably gets the whole year barring some horrible regression. All that is to say I don't think they were ever in the market for a guy like Lloyd or Chenal. They aren't looking for a guy to come in and start, they're looking for last year's rookies to step up. People, reasonable and otherwise, can disagree with that strategy. I'm not the biggest fan of it myself. But I think that's where they are at. What they are going to sign is one or two older, cheaper, experienced vets who shake loose (probably post-draft) and come in less for their play and more for their brains. Carter and Knight are physical enough, they just need to be in the right places to make plays, and that's what the vets will be there to do. Anyhow, those are my probably wrong and completely stupid thoughts. Hope you enjoyed them. 2 Quote
Stripes Posted March 11 Report Posted March 11 Thanks for those probably wrong and completely stupid thoughts. I hope someone reads this without fully finishing your post for the necessary context. I agree, by the way — the Bengals will play their two 2025 picks and let it ride. I hate that strategy quite a bit, but it’s what they will do. 1 Quote
HoosierCat Posted March 11 Author Report Posted March 11 Browning a Buc. espn: Quote Free agent quarterback Jake Browning plans to sign a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a source told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. Quote
COB Posted March 11 Report Posted March 11 Won’t miss Browning, but maybe we can pick up Bodysuit and stash her on the practice squad. 1 Quote
HoosierCat Posted March 11 Author Report Posted March 11 Texans released DT Mario Edwards. There’s an injury issue (pec) but if healthy he’d be an upgrade over Jenkins or Jackson. Quote
HoosierCat Posted March 11 Author Report Posted March 11 Schefter: Cowboys are trading DT Osa Odighizuwa to the 49ers in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick. Depression sets in… Quote
volcom69 Posted March 11 Report Posted March 11 Yea I’m really beginning to see they have no idea how to build a team at all. Sure the guys they brought in are nice I like them, but this defense was trash pure trash, and brought in 2 guys. I mean I’ll see what else they do, but as of right now they are no better off than they were last season. I’m not convinced they know how to draft either so this season already feels like shit! I feel like Duke and the team did more when Marvin was around, since Zac had been here besides the one year they hardly do anything or can’t even build a team at all. Every year they are at the top of the money for free agency so they should be able to do something? Wish they did what the Commanders did they built a nice defense in this free agency heading into there draft. Wish the Bengals would learn this 1 Quote
volcom69 Posted March 11 Report Posted March 11 At this point all I can hear is Tobin saying they have the resources to build a good team around here, so I’m just waiting for this to happen. Not sure this is what Joe and Jamarr and company had in mind about building a team through free agency. Well let’s see if they actually do anything exciting going forward here, but at this point WTF Duke! Quote
volcom69 Posted March 11 Report Posted March 11 39 minutes ago, HoosierCat said: Schefter: Cowboys are trading DT Osa Odighizuwa to the 49ers in exchange for a 2026 third-round pick. Depression sets in… Duke might have found the next Jermaine Burton with that pick, can’t ask him to let that pick go Quote
ArmyBengal Posted March 11 Report Posted March 11 How much different and how would the expectations for 2026 look if they had gotten Lloyd and traded for Odighizuwa? They would have addressed damn near every position group on defense with an upgraded player. They could have afforded Lloyd’s deal and the cost for Odighizuwa was a 3rd. Tell me the 3rd round player that would be expected to make that kind of impact? The Bengals failed, plain and simple. They weren’t aggressive enough. Instead they will sit back and take scraps while going back to their long storied approach of “Hope and Pray”. No disrespect to either Cook or Mafe, but they aren’t enough and the draft will only bring rookie woes. This team is still cooked… 1 Quote
COB Posted March 12 Report Posted March 12 7 hours ago, HoosierCat said: At LB, here's the thing: they didn't spend 2nd and 4th rounders on LBs last year for those guys to play 8-10 snaps a game on teams. They drafted them to start and they started them both all last year, This is the Bengal front office MO. They want to start guys on their rookie deals and they’ll do almost anything to make that happen. We’ve got a list of guards and centers who started their whole rookie contracts with performances that were alarming. I didn’t see some of the negatives in our rookie LBs that some guys saw. Hopefully their play improves but our defensive line needs to improve. I really believed they’d sign a good d tackle. Maybe we’ll get Reader back. I really believe the Sheldon Rankins experience threw the FO for a loop. They were counting on him in ‘24 and ‘25. Then the mystery illness kept him out all 24 season, and instead of embracing him, they cut him. And they never replaced him with a similar level guy. They played the draft picks and just paid a huge price. The FO didn’t know what to do, and they ended up doing nothing. Our rookie linebackers would have been better last year with a healthy Rankins or a similar level replacement. 1 Quote
HoosierCat Posted March 12 Author Report Posted March 12 So apparently Pac-Man is out there claiming the Bengals are going to trade for Crosby. All I can say that he needs to send me the number of his dealer because whatever he’s smoking must be awesome. Quote
ArmyBengal Posted March 12 Report Posted March 12 It’s not about if they did well in free agency, it’s been who they targeted and missed out on. Specifically linebacker and defensive tackle. They were really looking hard at guys and couldn’t close the deal. Again, what does this defense look like if you add Odighizuwa and Lloyd to the haul of Cook and Mafe? Fucking stellar !! But here we are talking about hoping to get Reader and hoping the 2nd year linebackers really pick up their game. Let that last sentence sink in. What could have been… Quote
HoosierCat Posted March 12 Author Report Posted March 12 6 minutes ago, COB said: This is the Bengal front office MO. They want to start guys on their rookie deals and they’ll do almost anything to make that happen. We’ve got a list of guards and centers who started their whole rookie contracts with performances that were alarming. I didn’t see some of the negatives in our rookie LBs that some guys saw. Hopefully their play improves but our defensive line needs to improve. I really believed they’d sign a good d tackle. Maybe we’ll get Reader back. I really believe the Sheldon Rankins experience threw the FO for a loop. They were counting on him in ‘24 and ‘25. Then the mystery illness kept him out all 24 season, and instead of embracing him, they cut him. And they never replaced him with a similar level guy. They played the draft picks and just paid a huge price. The FO didn’t know what to do, and they ended up doing nothing. Our rookie linebackers would have been better last year with a healthy Rankins or a similar level replacement. Yeah you think they would have learned from Zimmer that a solid line covers a multitude of sins behind it, but I guess not. I would feel a lot better about Knight and Carter if we had better DTs. Unfortunately there’s no studs available but they were upgrades, but they seem uninterested. Suggests to me they are locked into DT at 10 or 41. Quote
ArmyBengal Posted March 12 Report Posted March 12 Hell, throw in a 7th rounder seeing as how we have two of them and we could have added Minkah Fitzpatrick. FUCK Quote
ArmyBengal Posted March 12 Report Posted March 12 The Bengals just extended Orlando Brown Jr. for two years. That takes him through the 2028 season. No real complaints there. 2 Quote
HoosierCat Posted March 12 Author Report Posted March 12 It’s fine. Brown has his share of haters but he’s perfectly serviceable imo and this reduces the pressure to find our LT of the future in April. Does make it feel more and more like they are locking in on DT in the draft. ETA apparently it’s through 2028. True to form the Bengals bungled the initial announcement. Quote
ArmyBengal Posted March 12 Report Posted March 12 Could OBJ be better? Sure, but he could be a hell of a lot worse. Does this push them off of OT in the draft? I don't think so, but still not thinking 1st round. Too many other holes to fill since they didn't get deals done. That's the other thing they seemingly miss. Missing out of free agent deals narrows the draft. Honestly it shouldn't, but with the Bengals it absolutely does. Still pissed off when thinking what could have been with these deals. Duke was right, they are "All In" every year, because it looks exactly the same. They mean the same thing regarding all in as everyone else, only different. 1 Quote
HoosierCat Posted March 12 Author Report Posted March 12 My question is, why is this happening now, on what is technically day 2 of free agency? I wasn't as if OBjr in danger of leaving or anything. Why is the FO, whose capacity is famously limited since only Pumpkie is allowed to negotiate major deals, spending her time on a non-urgent extension at this time of the year? This should have either been done a month ago, or could have waited until the summer. The only two answers I can come up with are: 1. They are freeing up cap space to sign more FAs. If this were a normal team that might be the case, but if so all the more reason this should have been done way earlier. Also, even after Mafe and Cook they have plenty of cap space, so there was no reason to stop everything and get this extension done. 2. They are done in FA (at least until we hit dumpster diving time) and they picked now basically as PR so it looks like they are doing something when they really aren't. You can probably figure out which answer I favor, but we'll see when the details come out. 1 1 Quote
ArmyBengal Posted March 12 Report Posted March 12 It always goes back to the thought that they really don't care about winning. They just go through the motions and if they actually do win, then that's just icing on top. 1 1 Quote
Stripes Posted March 12 Report Posted March 12 Good extension. The offensive line was finally competent last season, so keep it together. 1 Quote
HoosierCat Posted March 12 Author Report Posted March 12 37 minutes ago, Stripes said: Good extension. The offensive line was finally competent last season, so keep it together. On that note, I agree with you, and it’s interesting to see how little recognized that fact seems to be outside Bengals’ circles. Quote
HoosierCat Posted March 12 Author Report Posted March 12 Mafe signing is official. https://www.bengals.com/news/boye-mafe-three-year-contract-signed-2026-free-agency ETA Cook too. https://www.bengals.com/news/bryan-cook-three-year-contract-signed-2026-free-agency Quote
HoosierCat Posted March 12 Author Report Posted March 12 Kelsey Conway with some OBjr extension deets: Quote Brown is getting a two-year extension worth $32 million with $23 million of it coming in the first 12 months, a source told The Enquirer. Since Brown negotiated the deal himself, I think I know who "a source" is lol. Can't complain about a $16m AAV for a starting LT. Quote
HoosierCat Posted March 12 Author Report Posted March 12 3 hours ago, HoosierCat said: Does make it feel more and more like they are locking in on DT in the draft. Apropos of nothing, Al Golden was spotted at Clemson’s pro day, where Woods is reportedly doing some drills but not others including the 40, after not working at the combine…ugh. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.