Just reported Rudi franchised by Bengals

[LesterLyles]

nm

[skyline]

Yep, it's official now.

Should be interesting to see how this pans out.

[R-U-D-I]

The big question is now what? This isn't exactly a surprise. Will he sign long term? Probably. Will he be traded? Doubtful, but possible. Will he play with the tag? Only if he must...

[FonzieDog]

Could this be a way to buy another year to see how good Perry can actually be? If Perry stays healthy this year and shows he can play maybe the Bengals don't come to a long-term deal with Rudi. If Perry busts Rudi becomes the Bengals RB of the present and future.

[skyline]

Could this be a way to buy another year to see how good Perry can actually be? If Perry stays healthy this year and shows he can play maybe the Bengals don't come to a long-term deal with Rudi. If Perry busts Rudi becomes the Bengals RB of the present and future.

Definitely could be. That would be the most straight forward explanation.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Could this be a way to buy another year to see how good Perry can actually be? If Perry stays healthy this year and shows he can play maybe the Bengals don't come to a long-term deal with Rudi. If Perry busts Rudi becomes the Bengals RB of the present and future.

You'd have to be crazy not to think this way. Just as Rudi was playing at a more than adequate level before the Bengals traded Dillon, I reason they may want to be sure Perry is also "adequate."

I hope he's much more than that myself. He's a 1st rounder for crissakes!

[Chucktkd]

It can help them move forward with the TJ contract talk and they can still sign Rudi later. It's good they're moving forward.

[shworge]

This will pretty much take them out of any major free agent signings. I don't see them signing Rudi to a long term contract, this is a direct result of Perry being hurt his rookie year and the Bengals not being able to determine just how good he is on the field.

[FonzieDog]

How is this for a plausibly bad situation? Bengals tagged Rudi and say they still want to work out a long-term deal. Training camp and preseason rolls around and Rudi and the Bengals are still far from coming to a long-term deal. Maybe Rudi plays the one year for the $6.3 million. But what if they are not anywhere close to a long-term deal and Rudi thinks that the Bengals are not negotiating in good faith because hey would rather see how the year plays out with a healthy Perry auditioning for Rudi's job therefore deciding to sit out the season? Anybody see this happening?

[shworge]

I realy don't see them signing a long term deal. I see Rudi playing for a year while a healthy Perry takes some of his playing time so the coaches can determine exactly what they have in him.

[bengalboomer7]

You guys are reading way too much into this right now. This is standard procedure to give each party some time to crunch numbers to gain ground on each others . I'll start worrying when I see what long term figures are being thown out by each party. Personally, I would have rather seen the transition tag, but you take a chance on not getting anything in return.

[Kirkendall]

Yea, I think this is good news.

This just gives the Bengals more time to work out a deal and I'll bet we'll see a finalized deal before training camp. No worries mate, this is good news.

If we trade him, oh well, that's good news too.

The Bengals right now put themselves in a win-win scenario.

[shworge]

If we sign him sometime during training camp that does nothing to help us this year in free agency, all the major free agents will be signed by then. The major problem with the franchise tag is the cap hit you take, which essentially takes us out of the free agent market... other than keeping our own.

[FonzieDog]

I agree this is a good move by the Bengals. This is the best play the Bengals could make in this situation. Perhaps I went a little too "doomsday" there.

[Kirkendall]

I agree this is a good move by the Bengals. This is the best play the Bengals could make in this situation. Perhaps I went a little too "doomsday" there.

This seems like something that could last for awhile, but I don't think the Bengals-Rudi negotiations are finished by a long shot. We pretty much expected the tag if a deal wasn't struck.