Frostee Rucker signs with Cleveland

[vancelot23]

We offered him less than $3 mil per year..lol.

 

[bengaldoug]

We've never paid the going rate, except to quarterbacks and star players.....we always lowball the average grinder who is a solid player that either starts or plays in a good rotation....this is why we suck on a regular basis....well, that and keeping coaches long past their viablility......

 

[cincygrad]

I never saw what his contract was. However, if offered the same money, would you be a backup in NE or Cincinnati? Either way, his ass was a backup.

That's probably not the best way to think about D-linemen..... The guy had a lot of value in that he could play both tackle and end AND he was a decent pass rusher. In fact, just this past season he had 6.5 sacks. Not bad for a jack-of-all trades type of guy.

Regardless, the facts are clear.... Marvin likes to talk about how good teams sign their own. He and the propoganda machine talk about how the good teams like Pittsburgh and NE don't overspend in FA, but rather sign good value when it hits them. This signing leaves egg on their faces on both counts. They clearly didn't value one of their own and one of the best teams in football deemed the guy more valuable than us.

Honestly, it's typical Mike Brown..... He'll overspend to keep skill players (look at all the money he gave to Chad up-front over the years), but he cuts corners on the nuts and bolts of team. We had a really nice d-line last year - A unit that anchored a defense with bad linebackers, horrible safeties, and a catostrophic injury at corner. Rather than continue to build around our asset, we let them walk. The D will suffer. You'll see.

 

[cincygrad]

We've never paid the going rate, except to quarterbacks and star players.....we always lowball the average grinder who is a solid player that either starts or plays in a good rotation....this is why we suck on a regular basis....well, that and keeping coaches long past their viablility......

Yep! That's exactly what I just finished writing!

 

[Servo]

Rey hit the nail on the head. The market dictates what players like Rucker and Fanene are worth. Nelson is also going to get paid. Same with Sims. So if we're not willing to pay those guys what they're worth then the Bengals are obviously looking for cheaper guys. Cheaper = worse/unwanted. Classic 'one man's garbage is another man's gold' Bengals approach to FA.