Free Agency Thread

[NCBengal]

I hate to see Baby Hawk leave but I don't know that I would have paid him that much money to stay either. I think the Bengals believe Dane could be just as productive as Baby Hawk and want to give him a shot. Dane didn't get nearly as many plays he could have due to the dept at receiver. Not a popular move but understandable.

 

[bengaldoug]

Baby Hawk has shown nothing to indicate he's worth $11 million for the first two years. The Browns overpaid for him. His history says he'll get hurt. I'm not sold on Dane, but we are ok at slot receiver between Sanu and Eifert.

 

[kramer1]

Baby Hawk has shown nothing to indicate he's worth $11 million for the first two years. The Browns overpaid for him. His history says he'll get hurt. I'm not sold on Dane, but we are ok at slot receiver between Sanu and Eifert.

The Bengals are ok? Hahahahaha. I need another drink.

 

[cincygrad]

Here's the real story.....

If the Bengals would have given him a second round tender they would have been on the books for 2.1 million rather than 1.4 million. If Cleveland wanted to give him the contract they just gave him, we'd be looking at their second round pick as compensation.

Discuss.

 

[kramer1]

Here's the real story.....

If the Bengals would have given him a second round tender they would have been on the books for 2.1 million rather than 1.4 million. If Cleveland wanted to give him the contract they just gave him, we'd be looking at their second round pick as compensation.

Discuss.

Can I get a Who Dey?

< insert laughing Mike Brown here >

 

[cincygrad]

Can I get a Who Dey?

< insert laughing Mike Brown here >

I suppose we needed to save 700K for AJ's contract.

What exactly is this contract going to look like? We've spent to the floor for 3 seasons so we could afford it.

 

[kramer1]

I suppose we needed to save 700K for AJ's contract.

What exactly is this contract going to look like? We've spent to the floor for 3 seasons so we could afford it.

 

[DanBengalfan]

we put a priority on Chad Johnson, so I assume we'll put a priority on keeping AJ Green. If we keep bullshitting though, he'll start speaking up. He can only be a nice guy for so long.

 

[cincygrad]

Yep.

 

[bengaldoug]

Here's the real story.....

If the Bengals would have given him a second round tender they would have been on the books for 2.1 million rather than 1.4 million. If Cleveland wanted to give him the contract they just gave him, we'd be looking at their second round pick as compensation.

Discuss.

I wonder how often we do something like that? Losing him over 700k was dumb, but that doesn't make Cleveland giving him 11mil the first two years smart.

 

[cincygrad]

I wonder how often we do something like that? Losing him over 700k was dumb, but that doesn't make Cleveland giving him 11mil the first two years smart.

It doesn't look good on paper, but Cleveland had the money to burn. You only get to keep 53 guys and you're not paying draft picks high prices anymore. If you have the money under the cap, why not overpay (especially something that can be front loaded) if you have the opportunity to make your team better and hurt a division rival? Baltimore and Pittsburgh are great franchises that have some financial issues from years of success. The Bengals are a franchise with recent success and now all sorts of uncertainty. For Cleveland, they overpaid a slot receiver, but it won't hurt them long term..... And in the short term, they are a qb away from stealing a division.

Imagine if Mike Brown thought this way? He has a loaded roster in a wide open AFC. Spend extra money to re-sign Collins and Johnson, take a chance on a defensive playmaker in free agency, easily march to a division championship and roll the dice in the playoffs...... All for very little costs except for the uncertainty about future deals (for players that may or may not be healthy).

 

[cincygrad]

The other issue is that the cap is going to continue to expand..... The other owners know this. Mike Brown is selling a bill of goods about saving for a rainy day..... It's not going to rain. If anything the cap is going to expand at an even greater rate as the next television deal and the digital rights deals come into place.

Look at baseball.... Look at basketball.... Both inferior products but both are making more and more money. The NFL is the golden goose and it's only going to grow.

The idea that you're saving money right now, so you can be prepared to pay Burfict in three years is just absurd.

 

[kramer1]

Who Dey, motherfuckers! Yeah!

 

[bengaldoug]

It doesn't look good on paper, but Cleveland had the money to burn. You only get to keep 53 guys and you're not paying draft picks high prices anymore. If you have the money under the cap, why not overpay (especially something that can be front loaded) if you have the opportunity to make your team better and hurt a division rival? Baltimore and Pittsburgh are great franchises that have some financial issues from years of success. The Bengals are a franchise with recent success and now all sorts of uncertainty. For Cleveland, they overpaid a slot receiver, but it won't hurt them long term..... And in the short term, they are a qb away from stealing a division.

Imagine if Mike Brown thought this way? He has a loaded roster in a wide open AFC. Spend extra money to re-sign Collins and Johnson, take a chance on a defensive playmaker in free agency, easily march to a division championship and roll the dice in the playoffs...... All for very little costs except for the uncertainty about future deals (for players that may or may not be healthy).

A)I don't understand how a franchise who has sucked pretty much since their inception suddenly has "money to burn". Burning money is part of what got them where they are. It's really not that easy to buy a good team, not in football anyway. You have to draft well first. The exception to that would have been Peyton Manning, but there aren't many of him around. Oh, and you heard it here first. The Browns will suck yet again in 2015.


B) Now that's just hilarious. I'm not trying to argue that Mike Brown gets it, obviously. He goes too far the other way. There is a time when you have drafted well that an investment in a short term fix at a high price makes sense. But in the long run building through the draft makes sense, if you can draft well, as we have the last 3-4 years.

 

[DanBengalfan]

is it any wonder that the teams that are serious about winning keep floating back to the top and everyone knows who they are?

with the exception of the cowboys. they're stuck in purgatory until Romo retires.

 

[kramer1]

is it any wonder that the teams that are serious about winning keep floating back to the top and everyone knows who they are?

with the exception of the cowboys. they're stuck in purgatory until Romo retires.

It's simply a matter of do you want to profit 50 or 30 million this season? Mike chooses 50.

That fucker.

 

[cincygrad]

A)I don't understand how a franchise who has sucked pretty much since their inception suddenly has "money to burn". Burning money is part of what got them where they are. It's really not that easy to buy a good team, not in football anyway. You have to draft well first. The exception to that would have been Peyton Manning, but there aren't many of him around. Oh, and you heard it here first. The Browns will suck yet again in 2015.


B) Now that's just hilarious. I'm not trying to argue that Mike Brown gets it, obviously. He goes too far the other way. There is a time when you have drafted well that an investment in a short term fix at a high price makes sense. But in the long run building through the draft makes sense, if you can draft well, as we have the last 3-4 years.

Don't get me wrong.... I don't expect Cleveland to be instantly better. I've been very critical of their decision to fire good coaches with a decent young roster in place. But from a personnel standpoint they are making some solid moves.... And they did have to spend some of that cap space this season.

As for Brown..... I agree that nailing the draft is imperative. But it seems to be enough for him.... Sooner or later you need to take a chance and gamble on a big season while your core is in place. I'm not a big fan of spending a bunch of money on high priced free agents that may or may not fit -- but we could have at least kept our own and added a 'risky' piece or two. The fact of the matter is that we will not be as talented as we were last season and last season wasn't good enough. Doesn't make much sense to say that when we have money sitting around.

 

[bengaldoug]

There's absolutely no doubt we should have kept Collins. And I like the idea of taking an occasional gamble with our core in place. Someone like Alex Mack would have really made sense, especially since we were smart enough to realize Kyle Cook needed to be replaced. That release was a pleasant surprise.

 

[cincygrad]

After one week of free agency, a team-by-team look at cap space available | ProFootballTalk

Hobs numbers suggest that PFT is off by about 26 million -- After all, we need money to sign AJ Green, Andy Dalton and to pay our draft picks and give roster bonuses. All those other teams don't do those things.

 

[alf8478]

After one week of free agency, a team-by-team look at cap space available | ProFootballTalk

Hobs numbers suggest that PFT is off by about 26 million -- After all, we need money to sign AJ Green, Andy Dalton and to pay our draft picks and give roster bonuses. All those other teams don't do those things.

The Hobs/Bengals explanation of the salary cap and not spending money is like the equivalent of me, a 35 year old unmarried male, saving every dollar I make, in case one day I have a kid (except I'm not planning to) and one day that kid will have to go to college.