Mexal

I liked both of them I really dislike the Keely subplot though.

The details are going to be interesting because reports are saying of that 180, 110m is fully guaranteed at signing and 125m total in year 2. Rest are likely roster bonuses guaranteed at beginning of seasons. For example, Mahomes only got 63m fully guaranteed at signing but 140m total guarantees and Allen got 100m at signing, 150m total.

I guess Hurts isn't lobbying for the same contract as Watson or what Lamar wants. First domino has fallen. Burrow and Herbert are next.

For those of us who just paid for streaming without DirectTV, it was like $400 for the season with Red Zone. So this is aligned.

Lets take it the other way. Why fully guarantee it, validate a precedent that the Browns set with an idiotic contract of a sexual assaulter and lock up operating cash if Burrow is going to see every dollar of the contract?

I care because it directly impacts the product on the field. Cash isn't infinite, revenue streams aren't infinite for small market teams and increase of value of an organization does not translate into cash which is directly necessary for improving facilities, investing in the team and most importantly, putting into escrow for guaranteed contracts. If, by some chance, everyone gets fully guaranteed contracts, you end up with the MLB where you have 35 year old players taking in 30-50m a year and doing fuck all for their teams because they were shit for the last ~3 years, except in the NFL there is a salary cap and 52 players which would make it even worse. I'm all for the players getting good contracts but at the same time, I'd like to see my team build a winning team and that's hard to do if they have no money or if all their money is tied up in players long term that will never be half the player they were due to injuries. That's my opinion, you don't have to have the same.

Because they don't have to put it in escrow. I don't know how the Bengals are set up but they're a small market team with a single family ownership. They don't have 300m cash flow they can just put in escrow. They aren't owned by a hedge fund CEO, consortium or the Walmart family. Also, they, like all the owners, don't want to guarantee contracts because you start with Burrow then you have to do it for WRs then DEs then LTs and so on. It's a slippery slope that doesn't end well for the teams, especially when players get long term injuries every year and don't manage to live up to their contracts. For a game like football, where long term injuries are so prevalant and deterioration of play drops off a cliff instantly (normally aligned with age and injury history), guaranteeing life of contracts at the dollar amounts players are making is just insane.

He can ask for it but the Bengals won't give it to him. They don't have the capacity to put 300m in escrow. Bengals will likely get a deal done for 4-5 years at around 55m per. I suspect he gets a decent guarantee but it won't be fully.

They work for me too

I think they're going to trade him. Reality is that Jonah doesn't want to be a RT. The money differential is fairly large and he's spent his entire career in NFL at LT. For the Bengals, best case scenario is to trade him for a mid round pick, get the $12m off the books for his 5th year option and draft Dawand Jones, Darnell Wright or Anton Harrison at #28. All three would elevate our OL.

Brown is a great signing for Bengals. He’s not the best LT in the league but he significantly elevates the floor and ceiling of the OL. Surprised Bengals did this with Jonah at LT but get it given his injury issues. If they move him to RT, that might work out better than what they have. Still need to draft someone.

I love the committee. Getting some dangerous mid-majors to knock each other out round 1. Fucking hate how hard it is for mid-majors to make the tournament these days.

I need to beat Jaime so in.

Well, Bates was always going to go and it wasn't to do with Burrow per se. It was more that his agent is the same agent as Watson and he was demanding guaranteed money that the Bengals weren't going to pay after just drafting Daxton Hill. The fact they have to keep Burrow, Chase and maybe Higgins is more of a detriment than just Burrow alone. As for Higgins, they want to keep him and they will try. But if they can't get a long term deal, they can always tag him in 2025 so they'll at least get 2 more years of Burrow, Higgins and Chase playing together. That's worth it over trading him given how close we've been to winning a Super Bowl in the last 2 years. Spending money on a QB does limit you elsewhere as the Browns fully know. Now it'll be up to the QB elevating those around them, the Bengals finding good 3rd tier FAs to fill gaps and Duke Tobin having good drafts. KC won last year by drafting well (see Creed Humphrey, Nick Bolton) and getting some really good minutes from key rookies to supplement their historic QB/TE and the Bengals will have to do that too in the future.

Sure, if you want to look at it this way. Thing is, other QBs are more reasonable whereas Lamar is his own agent and is not. And I would not pay a fully guaranteed contract for 6-7 years to a running QB just coming off an ACL. Just would not do it. Also, the issue with fully guaranteed contracts (beyond the need to put all that cash into escrow which just isn't feasible for family run teams) is that it will extend into other contracts. Soon mediocre QBs like Daniel Jones will be demanding fully guaranteed contracts. Then you'll get DEs, WRs, OLs and so on. And the thing is, the game is so violent, the deterioration of play so quick that some teams will be destroyed on these contracts. Imagine giving Russell Wilson a full guaranteed contract on the back end of the few great seasons he had in Seattle? Good lord. Exactly. Bengals will not let him go. This is 100% fact.

Even from that angle it’s marginal. It’s still within 5 yards it looks like and he is barely slowed down and the ball was like 10 yards too far. And as others point out, it’s about consistency. In the biggest moment of the game, you blow a whistle on something that happened multiple times throughout the game. Also, the flag wasn’t thrown when the shirt was grabbed, it was thrown pretty much after the play was over. Finally, pretty clear hands to the face on that play too.

I find it kinda weird that everyone had Cinci coming out of the AFC preseason when Bengals had, at best, the 10th best odds to win the Super Bowl and wasn't even favored to win their division. Shit, in a lot of places, they weren't even expected to make the playoffs. Buffalo though, they were the preseason darling so that makes total sense.

Yea, it doesn't make much sense. I agree that Bieniemy should absolutely be getting a shot but for some reason, just not materializing and I don't know why. Maybe it's interviewing, maybe it's other things we just don't understand, I really can't say. Because you're right, that offense and Mahomes development has been exceptional and he deserves a shot. Given Reid is one of the best offensive minds ever, how could you not want a guy who's developed under him? Personally, if your choice is between Anarumo and Gannon, I would have chosen the former. Anarumo has become famous for adjusting during the game flow while it was clear it went the opposite for Gannon. Plus, Gannon was working with significantly more talent. I never felt, in any of our games against KC, that we were out coached. Anyway, I'm super happy that the Bengals managed to keep the entire coaching staff together for a 5th consecutive year and with 45m in cap space, this is the year they should go all in. Will they? Probably not but they should.

To be fair, Eagles defense was great all year. Can't make a decision based on one game, especially as being a HC is about more than Xs and Os. And selfishly, I'm super happy about that because that means Bengals keep Lou Anarumo and their entire coaching staff for yet another year of consistency.

I was a bit surprised as well. Bengals DL is decent (also helped by Lou's scheme) but Philly was supposed to be historically good and they just couldn't move the needle much. Major props to the Chiefs OL, which is already very good, but played out of their minds yesterday. On officiating, the issue, like it was last year with the Bengals, is they allow the players to play and then call an automatic first down penalty in a super critical moment of the game that wasn't called once all game. You just can't do that. Games are changed by moments like that, as it was last year and this is the biggest game of all. If you don't call a defensive holding all game, don't call one on a massive third down with 2 minutes left that is SUPER weak.

Man, I'm just so jealous of those OLs. I can only dream of Burrow being as clean as Mahomes/Hurts was all game.

Eagles and Bengals fans now have something in common - super sketchy defensive holding calls that weren’t called all game until a critical third down at the very end of the game. Great game but man that really marred it.

Thing is, he couldn't. His contract cost was something like $20m a year and not everyone would pay that, not to mention the draft picks they'd have to give up for him. I think he actually had very limited options.

Agreed. I think that's why I was totally fine with this change. There is going to be so much danger coming that another episode of it doesn't necessarily add to the whole. Thought this episode was brilliant and I'm glad they made this change.

My wife and I watched Avatar on Saturday, which was fine and then saw Avatar 2 this morning and we both really liked it. Maybe it's because we're recent parents but the family shit hit us. Visually stunning as we expected with about 90 minutes of James Cameron underwater porn but I was never really bored of it. Glad I saw it in the theater, just a really fun experience. Also, Stephen Lang plays such an excellent hateable villain. I wanted him to die in the most horrible ways.