oldschooler Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 By Chick LudwigDayton Daily NewsCINCINNATI | Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis is unwavering in his focus.He's totally concentrated on finishing strong with victories over the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles so the Bengals can be 8-8 for the second straight season.Only then will he tackle the No. 1 offseason priority — re-signing tailback Rudi Johnson, who becomes an unrestricted free agent on March 2.Lewis reiterated Monday he wants Johnson back, but also said the club is prepared to move on without him if negotiations break down."We would hope to be able to — if it all works out, which has (to benefit) all parties involved — have an opportunity to re-sign Rudi," Lewis said. "I think Rudi would love to stay here."Hopefully, it will be able to work out. Sometimes things don't work out and I realize that. We're put together to move on if that's the case. Rudi's a big part of everything. You know the kind of personality he has; the kind of person he is. He gives us his all. We'll see what happens."What could happen is a "franchise" or "transition" tag getting placed on Johnson before the Feb. 22 deadline.As a franchise player, Johnson must be offered the average of the top five salaries at his position — $5.167 million. He can still negotiate with other clubs. The Bengals can match a new club's offer, or receive two first-round draft choices if they decide not to match.If the Bengals make Johnson their transition free agent, they must offer him the average of the top 10 salaries at his position — $4.494 million. The Bengals would have a first-refusal right to match, within seven days, an offer sheet given to the player by another club. If the Bengals match, they retain Johnson. If they decide not to match, they receive no compensation.The 5-foot-10, 220 pounder has proven himself as a durable, productive runner. Through Sunday's games, he ranks fourth in the league in rushing with 1,324 yards and needs 112 to shatter the Bengals' single-season mark of 1,435 set by Corey Dillon in 2000. Even more impressive is the fact that Johnson has faced nine top-10 defenses in 13 games."I've always said, from Day One, if I go out and do what I've got to do, everything will take care of itself," Johnson said. "All I can do is focus on what I can control, and that's when I go on the field and play 110 percent."(Contracts) can play with some people's minds, but not mine. I block it out and keep playing. When the season's over, we'll go from there."Teammates don't want to lose Johnson, who would likely be replaced by injured and unproven Chris Perry."I'd love to have Rudi back here," defensive end Duane Clemons said. "He's a tremendous athlete and he's been toting the load for this team the last couple of years. He just proving time and time again that he's a marquee guy in the league."He plays hard, especially in this division. Talk about guys that smack you around. You think about the teams we've faced — Pittsburgh and Baltimore twice, Denver, Washington, New England, Buffalo and we're going to play Philly. He's held up and played great through all those games. That's the kind of guy I want on my team."Johnson, who signed the Bengals' one-year, $1.824 million tender as a restricted free agent this season, said money won't be the only determining factor in where he plays in 2005.He said his relationship with Lewis and the Bengals "is going to play a part, definitely. I've always said I want to stay here, so we'll see. I know he's got things going in the right direction. It'll be the whole situation. Right now, it's business as usual. It hasn't distracted me this far. There are two more games left. I want to finish strong and go 8-8." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckj414 Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 I think Rudi's price tag is far too high for a two down back. If he had versatility as a receiver out of the backfield to go with his running production (which admittedly has exceeded my expectations), then sure, 5-6 million is worth it. But runningback is too easy a position to fill to spend that much money on a limited player. Spend the money elsewhere, you'll get a better return on your investment by putting that money towards the OL and/or DL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Next_Big_Thing Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 If you ask me, they should transition him, and hope someone makes an offer that will give us two first round picks, or he sticks with us at just over $5 million a year. Either way we win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierCat Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 If you ask me, they should transition him, and hope someone makes an offer that will give us two first round picks, or he sticks with us at just over $5 million a year. Either way we win. You mean franchise him; the transition tag brings no compensation. That might be a good idea, except other (see Don Banks article below) appear to peg the franchise tag for an RB at much more, like $8 million.Anyhow, a couple related articles. First up: http://slate.msn.com/id/2106074Money quote:The statistical relationship between wins and net yards per pass attempt is more than twice as strong as the relationship between wins and rushing yards per carry. The conventional wisdom about the need to "establish the run" is nonsense. Six of last year's playoff teams were among the 10 teams that ran the ball the least in the first quarter. In general, winning teams pile up rushing yards by running out the clock after they have the lead—teams run when they win rather than win when they run.The one situation where teams must run the ball to win is on third or fourth down with a few yards to go. You need a star running back to get these important, hard-fought yards, right? Actually, highly paid runners aren't any better in these scenarios than more pedestrian backs. Some of the NFL's biggest stars—Edgerrin James, Jamal Lewis, and Eddie George—were among the league's worst at getting critical first downs last season. Among the five teams that had the most success running the ball in short yardage last year, only one, Green Bay, featured a dominant single running back. The other teams—Minnesota, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and (seriously) Detroit—all featured what can be called running back committees.Second on our list, a recent look from SI's Don Banks at the top 5 FAs going into '05. Rudi isn't one of them, but Alexander and James are (tho whether they make it to FA is questionable). http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=cnns...cnnsi&type=lgnsMoney quote (at least re RBs):But team owner Jim Irsay is on record saying he can afford to retain all three of his glamour players on offense, and the Colts have the option of applying the franchise tag to James at the price of about $8 million in 2005. But should they? When is enough, enough on offense? Wouldn't Indy be better served to supplement its defense for once, and get by with any number of serviceable but less than spectacular running backs?Just some grist for the mill... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Next_Big_Thing Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Edge is off the books, and that, to me, makes Rudi next on the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierCat Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Edge is off the books, and that, to me, makes Rudi next on the list. Well, if Rudi is indeed atop the FA RB list (and that's debatable but for sake of argument let's grant he is), what do we do when Miami or Arizona or San Fran or somebody drops a $8-10 million/year offer on his head? If we've franchised him (and if the cost really is $8 million to do that, we won't) I'll take the draft picks and wave bye-bye. And if we've just transitioned him (which is what I expect we'll do), then I still wave bye-bye. Frankly, if you really want Rudi to be here, our best chance is that there's lots of RB FA competition out there which keeps his price down. If he's really the No. 1 or 2 FA RB going into March, there's no way we resign him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkendall Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 Agreed. It's long-term contract or nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jditty47 Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 am i even needed around here? joisey makes alot of good points without me here i think the tag would be like 5 mill for a RB. Lets say if we do that and see who is gonna pay that high for him, its gonna happen. if we dont sign him before the season ends and FA period begins, hes gone - which i hope he is. There arent many RB's FA's out there besides him and Alexander and James and theres alot of teams that need one. my bet hes not in orange and black next year and marvin attempts to fix our s**tty run D in the offseason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldschooler Posted December 21, 2004 Report Share Posted December 21, 2004 am i even needed around here? joisey makes alot of good points without me here i think the tag would be like 5 mill for a RB. Lets say if we do that and see who is gonna pay that high for him, its gonna happen. if we dont sign him before the season ends and FA period begins, hes gone - which i hope he is. There arent many RB's FA's out there besides him and Alexander and James and theres alot of teams that need one. my bet hes not in orange and black next year and marvin attempts to fix our s**tty run D in the offseason. The Bengals have improved to 26th in rush defense at 131.4; four of their last six opponents have failed to reach 100 yards rushing.http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/bengals/home.htmI think having 9 players on IR from the defensive side of the ballis a major contributor to that "s**tty run D"...that IS getting better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjakq27 Posted December 23, 2004 Report Share Posted December 23, 2004 Did u watch the same game? Ruid didnt miss an assignment, he did what he was supposed to...If he makes more 3rd and 1's, instead turning them into negative yards, then I can support him; but as of right now, he needs to do more to justify the potential $$$ that's been floating around from his agent. I seem to recall a certain no. 28 that was not known as a great short yardage back while he was here but overall he was good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TubThumper Posted December 23, 2004 Report Share Posted December 23, 2004 Did u watch the same game? Ruid didnt miss an assignment, he did what he was supposed to...If he makes more 3rd and 1's, instead turning them into negative yards, then I can support him; but as of right now, he needs to do more to justify the potential $$$ that's been floating around from his agent. I seem to recall a certain no. 28 that was not known as a great short yardage back while he was here but overall he was good. I'm not as down on no. 28 as a lot of people around here, but I wasn't as up on him as a lot of people when the honeymoon was still in progress. He's a good back, and I think he's a little better than Rudi. Rudi doesn't move the pile and the chains as well as I'd hoped. He's a good back but not the difference maker he would need to be to justify the money. Corey's mistake was actually signing another contract here. He should have moved on before he let himself get bitter and start acting a fool. If you knew what you were looking at you could see it coming. Rudi's temperament fits in here, but I'm not sure his skills and his pay requirements do right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShulaSteakhouse Posted December 23, 2004 Report Share Posted December 23, 2004 If Indy can afford Manning, Harrison and Edge, the Bengals can afford CP, CJ and RJ.I think fans here are conditioned to just accept that if more than one player is a top 10 player at his position on this team, they will be too expensive to keep and they have to cut ties and spend another 1st round pick to replace the loss.I don't care if he wants $5 mil a year like every other FA top 10 back, not my money, find a way to make it work and not decimate the roster. Quit using the excuse that "oh the poor Bingals can't afford Rudi, oh boo hoo hoo."He and Perry could make for a great backfield soon so get over it and draft players to support these guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TubThumper Posted December 23, 2004 Report Share Posted December 23, 2004 *@#% it. Why argue? Rudi Johnson is the greatest friggin' running back ever, and he's humble and lovable to boot. Pay the sonofa*#@%^ $10 million a year to lose 2 on 3rd and 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierCat Posted December 23, 2004 Report Share Posted December 23, 2004 If Indy can afford Manning, Harrison and Edge, the Bengals can afford CP, CJ and RJ.I think fans here are conditioned to just accept that if more than one player is a top 10 player at his position on this team, they will be too expensive to keep and they have to cut ties and spend another 1st round pick to replace the loss. No, it's just that most fans are smart enough to realize that when you pay half your available funds to three guys you sort of screw yourself everywhere else.Yep, the Colts did give the big bucks to Manning and Harrison. Whether they can afford Edge remains to be seen. If they do, look for them to cut a bunch of guys as a result -- last year they let something like 11 guys walk, including folks like CB Walt Harris and DE Chad Bratzke, because they had no space.How many FAs from outside the team did they sign? 0. Couldn't afford any. If we give zillions to Rudi, Chad, TJ, and we're already pouring money into Palmer's pocket, look for us to be in the same boat. I hope you like making rookies start from day one, because that's all we'll have. And that strategy hasn't exactly worked wonders for the Colts, whose D has given up a whole 9 fewer poiints than ours. If it wasn't for Manning being on a tear that looks to be unequaled by any QB in history, the team might not even be in playoff contention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
semiotter Posted December 23, 2004 Report Share Posted December 23, 2004 If Indy can afford Manning, Harrison and Edge, the Bengals can afford CP, CJ and RJ.I think fans here are conditioned to just accept that if more than one player is a top 10 player at his position on this team, they will be too expensive to keep and they have to cut ties and spend another 1st round pick to replace the loss.I don't care if he wants $5 mil a year like every other FA top 10 back, not my money, find a way to make it work and not decimate the roster. Quit using the excuse that "oh the poor Bingals can't afford Rudi, oh boo hoo hoo."He and Perry could make for a great backfield soon so get over it and draft players to support these guys. 10-4 Well said!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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