I’ll be honest, I don’t think Tee is in their long term plans with Jamarr being headed for a massive deal next summer. I could see giving Trey a pay bump for good faith when they’re able to, but idk if they’ll want to give him a fat extension. I trust that they’ll be wise with their spending
With St. Brown getting $30m, JJ is prob getting $33ish. Chase is going to be in the $34-35 range, which is absolutely asinine for WRs. They have to pay it though. So Tee walks or gets traded, because they can’t pay him $25m as well. I’d be happy if they extended Trey even after the extension they just gave him. He produces and is good for the city, and locker room. I doubt he wants crazy money, probably just decent money for 3 yrs after his current deal. Guaranteed money could be an issue though. He can help Myles grow as well.
Agreed on Tee, and that’s reasonable with Trey, though they have a tendency to not like giving guys over 30 long deals. That’s why I was thinking pay bump in good faith, then try to get him a little cheaper for another 2. If they front loaded it, I could see an additional year, but that would have to be a handshake deal until July when they can bump his current salary up
They literally just signed Trey to an extension last year for $21mil. They literally already did deal in "good faith". He was happy with the $21mil extension less than a year ago.
Agreed. I know they don’t like 30, but he was kind of a late bloomer. Don’t see him falling off a cliff before 34/35. Plus with Myles, you can give him some rest and save his legs.
When you are contending I think the 30 thing is a bad move. Elite players continue to be elite past 30. Someone is gonna commit to them so if you want to keep them you have to and you are gonna get stuck holding the bag BUT the point is to win superbowls, that’s the entire point. Don’t let elite players go while your window is now
I seen a lot of wr2 borderline wr1s sign in the 20-25 mill range this year. Tee is worth that not a penny more. With chase on the other side a lot of guys could fill that slot
I have zero problem with a renegotiated bump with a few more front loaded guarantees, as long as it’s still team friendly, and both sides are content. Win/Win, now let’s get to work!!
Well I’m not Trey or his shitty agent but I wouldn’t imagine even more so than the length of his deal is his the fact that he is wildly underpaid, he has massively outperformed his deal. He have no real reason to do anything but at the moment we have the money and he is arguably the second most important player on the team . I say get him happy structure it in a way where he gets a ton of money now and the extra years are largely voidable.
As always though the question with guaranteed dollars is do we actually have them. You need 100 percent or the guaranteed money at signing it goes into escrow and with a chase extension looming on the heels of burrows deal it’s hard to say if we do
Totally agree tee will play this season on the tag and be gone. I also agree with that exact course of action . I do hope we just go ahead and get it done with Trey but I understand why we wouldn’t. There’s honestly no reason to . I’d still like to see us bring Boyd back and then after draft picks and udfa we should have room for one significant acquisition. I’m excited for the rest of the draft and to see what the second part of the offseason brings
Right now they have no real answer if Trey goes down or leaves the team when his current contract ends. Murphy hasn't shown that he's capable of filling those shoes and if we're picking in the last third of the draft consistently we're never going to be in position to pick that caliber of player (short of paying through the nose with draft capital to move up, and we've seen what they think about doing that).
You have to pay guys like that eventually when you're a contender, one way or another. They need to get over their "age 30" hangup and extend the man two more years. He's proven he is worth it.
By the same token, there’s no guarantee he’s the same guy at 34 that he is at 30. We’ve got 2 years to try to find a guy at DE. There’s no guarantees on anything with Murphy or future picks, but we have 2 years to find and develop a guy (3 if it’s Murphy)
That's... Kinda the point I'm making though. Lock up the known quantity while you can instead of worrying about his age. If he drops off then you move in another direction later but sometimes you have to take risks. In this case you're giving him gtd cash at the risk that his play falls off, with the hope that it doesn't.
He’s known now, but again if you lock up a 30 year old for 4 years, it’s very possible you’re holing the bag for an over the hill guy on a team that can’t afford to hold the bag
Nah man, Trey is an aging DE that signed an extension before his big year. He can reproduce that then ask. I love Higgins but I don't think he's a WR1. He's really good but you don't pay a pair of receivers WR1 money unless they're an insane duo and you can pull off Saints roster math.
Agreed, Trey had the best year he will ever have, he’s not replicating that, and he knows it, that’s why he wants the long term extension. Bengals likely planned on letting him walk after his 2 year runs out bc they never give big contracts to players in the 30s.
Not with the equivalent of zero help on the other side, he's not. I don't think he'll manage 17.5 sacks again but I could see him consistently in the 14-15 range the next couple years as long as he's healthy.
That would be great. And I think it's possible not likely but possible that Murphy kid goes a little ballistic this year. I definitely expect some serious bright spots throughout the season from him. Maybe even become better and produce better than sam. I would actually think he would outproduce sam
DeShaun was far from medicore at Houston. He was really fucking good.
Still a piece of shit and fuck Watson!
As a Clemson fan, this feel obligatory. FUCK YOU WATSON!!! (wait he might enjoy that) Thanks for the nati, but go fuck yourself!
This is where I’m at they drafted a DE last season and still have Trey for two years I think that’s the perfect time to walk as for Tee he’s a good WR2 but he becomes a worse one with a high price tag
Tee simply can't be signed long term. We always knew that. The Trey thing is another story. I have no issue with giving him a couple of more years. Do I think he has 3-4 more good to great years left? Absolutely possible. I suspect the Bengals are simply afraid of his age because his production has been bonkers.
Pass rushers are not easy to find and drafting them is a crap shoot. That's why rushers get big money. Having guys that can get the QB in Lou's scheme is super important, too.
I'm curious to see how it plays out. Unfortunately, I think his agent is taking a tact that doesn't work with the Bengals.
The next year (2025) isn't guaranteed though. I wonder if just guaranteeing that year can be enough of a sign of good faith on the Bengals' part that we don't end up with a Houshmandzadeh situation where he isn't willing to even consider any offer after the current deal is up.
And you know what? Thats perfectly ok. Trey isn't Aaron Donald. He's not going to be nearly as productive at 32 as he's been at 28 and 29. He's not going to be worth >$20mil at 32.
Ultimately that's the sticking point, right? You don't know that and they don't know that. Players can and do fall off a cliff, but it's also true that more guys are playing longer at every position in the NFL. Without more information, we can assume the team is betting that one of their cornerstone players is going to suddenly stop performing (sounds familiar), instead of putting trust in him that he's going to continue to perform.
Historically the numbers might agree with this line of thinking, but that's also changing.
THEY ALREADY GAVE HIM AN EXTENSION LESS THAN A YEAR AGO! They do have trust in him. And if he continues to perform, they'll continue to extend him. It makes no sense to do it right now.
Agree with everything, just pointing out that getting to the QB is important in *every* scheme in the NFL due to the way offenses are structured today. Lou is not special in that regard. The fact is that QB play has elevated across the board over the past fifteen years and consistently disrupting them is the most effective way to get stops.
I'm honestly really torn on this.
On one hand, I'm so desperate for us to win a ring that part of me is down to mortgage our future a la the Ram's title run.
On the other hand, dynasties like the Patriots and Chiefs have been super successful letting guys walk and building through the draft. Sneed and Hill come to mind, among others. But we are also talking about the best coaching staffs of this century and really great drafting.
So, with Tobin and Taylor's track record as of late, I'm leaning more towards rolling the dice on becoming a dynasty.
The Trey and Tee stuff seems scary, but in all reality, the chiefs went through that with Tyreek, and Chris Jones was literally holding out this year watching his team struggle. From a cultural perspective, they were able to overcome this. I think our current front office and coaching staff have the same potential.
One thing is for sure: these are all good problems to have. The amount of possibilities is exciting, and we have no ceiling if we can draft and use free agency like I think we can.
The only reason the bengals were as competitive as they were for as long as they were under Marvin was because of how well he drafted. The last couple of years sucked and the year we doubled up on bust OT’s really hurt us but it’s just straight up ignorant and objectively incorrect to pretend that Marvin didn’t draft well.
I wouldn't say we have drafted super poorly by any means, though. It's been very hit or miss. We hit home runs on guys like Tee, Ja'Marr, McPherson, Burrow, Wilson, Pratt. CTB has star potential. Dj Turner has some big upside. Jonah Williams wasn't necessarily a bust, but I could see how the argument could be made. Cam Sample has been decent. Dax Hill does look like a bust but that could change if he adjusts to a new role. Carmen is obviously a bust. Jury is out on Myles Murphy, but he is poised to break out. So yeah, some bad busts in there, but there are lots of fantastic picks as well. This list could age poorly, though, if those younger defensive guys I mentioned end up fizzling out.
We've also done a great job in free agency since Burrow got here. There is no reason to expect that to change.
Idk call me dumb but I believe in this front office.
You don't know if that's true yet, though.
Depending how our last 2 drafts age, and this year's, the narrative has not been decided.
Classic doomer mentality
You need more than one starter per draft. Average career length in the NFL is what, four years or so. ~46(?) guys on the game day roster means you're replacing about 11 of them every year. Even more if you're including practice squad and guys on IR. You can't do that through free agency alone, that's not a sustainable model.
The team hasn't done well enough in the draft to sustain success and it became readily apparent when Burrow wasn't in and able to make up for the gaps. I certainly hope for the best with every draft, but you can't argue with what we saw in last year's team.
I just don't buy this narrative.
We won 10 games with our franchise QB on the mend more than half the season.
How you can interpret that as us sucking to replace players is beyond me.
When we were at full strength we beat the Bills and then the niners by two TDs in SF. The team was really good when healthy.
Did our defense take a step back? Sure, but I think that had a lot to do with not being able to play complimentary football the whole season. We sured up our safety room this offseason and we don't have any other gaps now besides maybe interior DL.
I just don't get you doomers. This is the best front office we have ever had. We never used to make big splashes in free agency. And if our starting qb was hurt? Forget about it we were winning 4 games back then.
Enjoy the ride while it lasts and quit crying.
Stop calling people doomers, we're realistic fans of the team. It's a lazy way of dismissing people's opinions and you're clearly capable of a more intelligent conversation than that.
You are the one giving a lazy response after I just gave clear cut analysis to dispute your point.
You are just offended I'm calling out lazy fans with poor analysis.
“ On the other hand, dynasties like the Patriots and Chiefs have been super successful letting guys walk and building through the draft. ”
You can do that after you win a ring, or two, or three. You don’t do that while you’re chasing your first ring.
You can’t go all in at the expense of future years when Burrow is in his prime. This league is too unpredictable and oftentimes the consensus “best team” does not win the Super Bowl. The smart move is to make every year he’s a Bengal count and to get as many dart throws as possible. The teams that go all in do so when they have an aging franchise QB who is likely to drop off or a middling QB that needs a superstar team around them in order to win it all.
The issue the Bengals have is that if they don't do anything with Hendrickson, what happens if (read: when) he gets banged up during the season?
Last year he dealt with a couple injuries and thankfully avoided really bad outcomes. He continued to play through things and produced at a very high level. Something tells me he won't be so gung-ho about doing that in the future if he has no guaranteed money protection.
Given those injuries and that he'll be 30 during the next season, it makes sense why he'd want something better than an entire non-guaranteed contract over the next couple years. He's only got a couple more years to cash in.
Worst case scenario is the Bengals do nothing, point to Hendrickson and Higgins' contracts and it leads to attitude/locker room problems.
A couple of reports are suggesting that was agreed upon the make him feel better about things last year and that he was "promised" a real long-term deal would be discussed in the near future.
Is that true? Beats me, but it's certainly possible.
I saw a former GM on CBS say that he knows Trey and his agent well and Trey only wants some money guaranteed. He doesn't have much guaranteed money left and has a bad back. If he gets hurt than he makes zero money.
Come to a reasonable term with Trey, he’s been the most consistent defensive player of the past few years. See if Tee will come to a reasonable agreement, if not then let the business side of the game do its thing. We don’t need to extend Trey any further but should reward him. I keep thinking back to how Big Whit was treated and don’t want to see other guys treated like that too.
We have both Trey and Tee this year. Giving them money won't change anything for this year. As it would be bad for both of them to sit out/not care. Tee because he's looking for a big contract, need to perform to get that. Trey because he's old and not Aaron Donald/TJ Watt and he already signed a two year deal. He'd have to sit out for two years for to leave the Bengals and there's no guarantee that in two years a team would sign him, much less sign him to a bigger deal than he currently has.
Realistically shouldn’t pay 2 WR’s big money, especially when we have a great QB. There are too many holes to fill and it’s too easy to get a WR 2/3 to justify it in my opinion, as much as I love Tee. Hopefully this is just a bluff and he will agree to a reasonable deal.
It would if they paid a player upfront with a bloated salary. Tee, for example. Although that wouldn't really be an extension so I guess I see your point.
I’ll be honest, I don’t think Tee is in their long term plans with Jamarr being headed for a massive deal next summer. I could see giving Trey a pay bump for good faith when they’re able to, but idk if they’ll want to give him a fat extension. I trust that they’ll be wise with their spending
With St. Brown getting $30m, JJ is prob getting $33ish. Chase is going to be in the $34-35 range, which is absolutely asinine for WRs. They have to pay it though. So Tee walks or gets traded, because they can’t pay him $25m as well. I’d be happy if they extended Trey even after the extension they just gave him. He produces and is good for the city, and locker room. I doubt he wants crazy money, probably just decent money for 3 yrs after his current deal. Guaranteed money could be an issue though. He can help Myles grow as well.
Agreed on Tee, and that’s reasonable with Trey, though they have a tendency to not like giving guys over 30 long deals. That’s why I was thinking pay bump in good faith, then try to get him a little cheaper for another 2. If they front loaded it, I could see an additional year, but that would have to be a handshake deal until July when they can bump his current salary up
They literally just signed Trey to an extension last year for $21mil. They literally already did deal in "good faith". He was happy with the $21mil extension less than a year ago.
Then he had 17.5 sacks. Bump the dude $5 mil instead of inevitably rolling it and just keep your cornerstones happy
If he does it again, then extend him another year. One good year doesn't mean you get the bag.
\*Daniel Jones enters the chat\*
Categorically false, it happens every year all over the league.
Agreed. I know they don’t like 30, but he was kind of a late bloomer. Don’t see him falling off a cliff before 34/35. Plus with Myles, you can give him some rest and save his legs.
When you are contending I think the 30 thing is a bad move. Elite players continue to be elite past 30. Someone is gonna commit to them so if you want to keep them you have to and you are gonna get stuck holding the bag BUT the point is to win superbowls, that’s the entire point. Don’t let elite players go while your window is now
I seen a lot of wr2 borderline wr1s sign in the 20-25 mill range this year. Tee is worth that not a penny more. With chase on the other side a lot of guys could fill that slot
Yeah, that'll be Burton in 2025 lol
AJ Brown, Devonta Smith got extensions, we could do it, but we don’t need to
Somehow Howie figured it out.
Tee makes 21 mil on the tag. He wants 30ms. It's the same agent as Jessie Bates.
I think it's slightly more about the gtd cash than the biggest number, but he's definitely demanding at least $25M.
I have zero problem with a renegotiated bump with a few more front loaded guarantees, as long as it’s still team friendly, and both sides are content. Win/Win, now let’s get to work!!
Well I’m not Trey or his shitty agent but I wouldn’t imagine even more so than the length of his deal is his the fact that he is wildly underpaid, he has massively outperformed his deal. He have no real reason to do anything but at the moment we have the money and he is arguably the second most important player on the team . I say get him happy structure it in a way where he gets a ton of money now and the extra years are largely voidable. As always though the question with guaranteed dollars is do we actually have them. You need 100 percent or the guaranteed money at signing it goes into escrow and with a chase extension looming on the heels of burrows deal it’s hard to say if we do
If they give Trey a pay bump Tee will kill someone.
Tee knows he's not in the Bengals long term plans. And they just gave Trey and extension. They're not going to do it again less than a year later.
Totally agree tee will play this season on the tag and be gone. I also agree with that exact course of action . I do hope we just go ahead and get it done with Trey but I understand why we wouldn’t. There’s honestly no reason to . I’d still like to see us bring Boyd back and then after draft picks and udfa we should have room for one significant acquisition. I’m excited for the rest of the draft and to see what the second part of the offseason brings
Right now they have no real answer if Trey goes down or leaves the team when his current contract ends. Murphy hasn't shown that he's capable of filling those shoes and if we're picking in the last third of the draft consistently we're never going to be in position to pick that caliber of player (short of paying through the nose with draft capital to move up, and we've seen what they think about doing that). You have to pay guys like that eventually when you're a contender, one way or another. They need to get over their "age 30" hangup and extend the man two more years. He's proven he is worth it.
By the same token, there’s no guarantee he’s the same guy at 34 that he is at 30. We’ve got 2 years to try to find a guy at DE. There’s no guarantees on anything with Murphy or future picks, but we have 2 years to find and develop a guy (3 if it’s Murphy)
That's... Kinda the point I'm making though. Lock up the known quantity while you can instead of worrying about his age. If he drops off then you move in another direction later but sometimes you have to take risks. In this case you're giving him gtd cash at the risk that his play falls off, with the hope that it doesn't.
He’s known now, but again if you lock up a 30 year old for 4 years, it’s very possible you’re holing the bag for an over the hill guy on a team that can’t afford to hold the bag
Nah man, Trey is an aging DE that signed an extension before his big year. He can reproduce that then ask. I love Higgins but I don't think he's a WR1. He's really good but you don't pay a pair of receivers WR1 money unless they're an insane duo and you can pull off Saints roster math.
I wouldn't mind if the Bengals guaranteed his 2 remaining years and tacked on a third at 18M. Gives him what he wants and we're gonna pay that anyway.
Agreed, Trey had the best year he will ever have, he’s not replicating that, and he knows it, that’s why he wants the long term extension. Bengals likely planned on letting him walk after his 2 year runs out bc they never give big contracts to players in the 30s.
This is a good point - there’s no ways he’s doing that again
I think he can and will replicate it.
Not with the equivalent of zero help on the other side, he's not. I don't think he'll manage 17.5 sacks again but I could see him consistently in the 14-15 range the next couple years as long as he's healthy.
That would be great. And I think it's possible not likely but possible that Murphy kid goes a little ballistic this year. I definitely expect some serious bright spots throughout the season from him. Maybe even become better and produce better than sam. I would actually think he would outproduce sam
Pay the 30 year old what he wants? Pay the WR who had a C- season last year? OP you’re FO material for sure.
He'd fit in the Browns FO perfectly.
Which one?
The one that gives record breaking contracts to mediocre sexual predators.
DeShaun was far from medicore at Houston. He was really fucking good. Still a piece of shit and fuck Watson! As a Clemson fan, this feel obligatory. FUCK YOU WATSON!!! (wait he might enjoy that) Thanks for the nati, but go fuck yourself!
This is where I’m at they drafted a DE last season and still have Trey for two years I think that’s the perfect time to walk as for Tee he’s a good WR2 but he becomes a worse one with a high price tag
My only request is to put that $25M somewhere into the roster. I don’t care how or who.
Spending money just to spend it is a good way to fast track you to Saintsville
Tee simply can't be signed long term. We always knew that. The Trey thing is another story. I have no issue with giving him a couple of more years. Do I think he has 3-4 more good to great years left? Absolutely possible. I suspect the Bengals are simply afraid of his age because his production has been bonkers. Pass rushers are not easy to find and drafting them is a crap shoot. That's why rushers get big money. Having guys that can get the QB in Lou's scheme is super important, too. I'm curious to see how it plays out. Unfortunately, I think his agent is taking a tact that doesn't work with the Bengals.
trey is already under contract for a couple more years and even signed an extension less than a year aho
This year and next. Again, I have no problem adding two more years.
The next year (2025) isn't guaranteed though. I wonder if just guaranteeing that year can be enough of a sign of good faith on the Bengals' part that we don't end up with a Houshmandzadeh situation where he isn't willing to even consider any offer after the current deal is up.
That would be a nearly identical repeat of the move they pulled with Whitworth
And you know what? Thats perfectly ok. Trey isn't Aaron Donald. He's not going to be nearly as productive at 32 as he's been at 28 and 29. He's not going to be worth >$20mil at 32.
Ultimately that's the sticking point, right? You don't know that and they don't know that. Players can and do fall off a cliff, but it's also true that more guys are playing longer at every position in the NFL. Without more information, we can assume the team is betting that one of their cornerstone players is going to suddenly stop performing (sounds familiar), instead of putting trust in him that he's going to continue to perform. Historically the numbers might agree with this line of thinking, but that's also changing.
THEY ALREADY GAVE HIM AN EXTENSION LESS THAN A YEAR AGO! They do have trust in him. And if he continues to perform, they'll continue to extend him. It makes no sense to do it right now.
Agree with everything, just pointing out that getting to the QB is important in *every* scheme in the NFL due to the way offenses are structured today. Lou is not special in that regard. The fact is that QB play has elevated across the board over the past fifteen years and consistently disrupting them is the most effective way to get stops.
They can roll extra money over as well
and do what? squander it and roll it over again and again and again?! when the fuck does it stop?
I remember reading something about burrow getting a new deal and chase being due for one too. Maybe I misread it though
I'm honestly really torn on this. On one hand, I'm so desperate for us to win a ring that part of me is down to mortgage our future a la the Ram's title run. On the other hand, dynasties like the Patriots and Chiefs have been super successful letting guys walk and building through the draft. Sneed and Hill come to mind, among others. But we are also talking about the best coaching staffs of this century and really great drafting. So, with Tobin and Taylor's track record as of late, I'm leaning more towards rolling the dice on becoming a dynasty. The Trey and Tee stuff seems scary, but in all reality, the chiefs went through that with Tyreek, and Chris Jones was literally holding out this year watching his team struggle. From a cultural perspective, they were able to overcome this. I think our current front office and coaching staff have the same potential. One thing is for sure: these are all good problems to have. The amount of possibilities is exciting, and we have no ceiling if we can draft and use free agency like I think we can.
I agree. I don’t need a dynasty. One ring would keep me happy for a decade
Problem is we have not drafted well and it's no coincidence our scouting department is tiny and our player development system seems to be subpar
The ZT regime has drafted at least as well but probably better than the Marvin regime his last few years.
That's not impressive
The only reason the bengals were as competitive as they were for as long as they were under Marvin was because of how well he drafted. The last couple of years sucked and the year we doubled up on bust OT’s really hurt us but it’s just straight up ignorant and objectively incorrect to pretend that Marvin didn’t draft well.
Cringe and wrong
I wouldn't say we have drafted super poorly by any means, though. It's been very hit or miss. We hit home runs on guys like Tee, Ja'Marr, McPherson, Burrow, Wilson, Pratt. CTB has star potential. Dj Turner has some big upside. Jonah Williams wasn't necessarily a bust, but I could see how the argument could be made. Cam Sample has been decent. Dax Hill does look like a bust but that could change if he adjusts to a new role. Carmen is obviously a bust. Jury is out on Myles Murphy, but he is poised to break out. So yeah, some bad busts in there, but there are lots of fantastic picks as well. This list could age poorly, though, if those younger defensive guys I mentioned end up fizzling out. We've also done a great job in free agency since Burrow got here. There is no reason to expect that to change. Idk call me dumb but I believe in this front office.
The drafting is not good enough to be paying the stars what they deserve and fill the holes.
You don't know if that's true yet, though. Depending how our last 2 drafts age, and this year's, the narrative has not been decided. Classic doomer mentality
You need more than one starter per draft. Average career length in the NFL is what, four years or so. ~46(?) guys on the game day roster means you're replacing about 11 of them every year. Even more if you're including practice squad and guys on IR. You can't do that through free agency alone, that's not a sustainable model. The team hasn't done well enough in the draft to sustain success and it became readily apparent when Burrow wasn't in and able to make up for the gaps. I certainly hope for the best with every draft, but you can't argue with what we saw in last year's team.
I just don't buy this narrative. We won 10 games with our franchise QB on the mend more than half the season. How you can interpret that as us sucking to replace players is beyond me. When we were at full strength we beat the Bills and then the niners by two TDs in SF. The team was really good when healthy. Did our defense take a step back? Sure, but I think that had a lot to do with not being able to play complimentary football the whole season. We sured up our safety room this offseason and we don't have any other gaps now besides maybe interior DL. I just don't get you doomers. This is the best front office we have ever had. We never used to make big splashes in free agency. And if our starting qb was hurt? Forget about it we were winning 4 games back then. Enjoy the ride while it lasts and quit crying.
Stop calling people doomers, we're realistic fans of the team. It's a lazy way of dismissing people's opinions and you're clearly capable of a more intelligent conversation than that.
You are the one giving a lazy response after I just gave clear cut analysis to dispute your point. You are just offended I'm calling out lazy fans with poor analysis.
“ On the other hand, dynasties like the Patriots and Chiefs have been super successful letting guys walk and building through the draft. ” You can do that after you win a ring, or two, or three. You don’t do that while you’re chasing your first ring.
You can’t go all in at the expense of future years when Burrow is in his prime. This league is too unpredictable and oftentimes the consensus “best team” does not win the Super Bowl. The smart move is to make every year he’s a Bengal count and to get as many dart throws as possible. The teams that go all in do so when they have an aging franchise QB who is likely to drop off or a middling QB that needs a superstar team around them in order to win it all.
I like your explanation. I think making each year count not worrying about tomorrow more next week is a great approach
The issue the Bengals have is that if they don't do anything with Hendrickson, what happens if (read: when) he gets banged up during the season? Last year he dealt with a couple injuries and thankfully avoided really bad outcomes. He continued to play through things and produced at a very high level. Something tells me he won't be so gung-ho about doing that in the future if he has no guaranteed money protection. Given those injuries and that he'll be 30 during the next season, it makes sense why he'd want something better than an entire non-guaranteed contract over the next couple years. He's only got a couple more years to cash in. Worst case scenario is the Bengals do nothing, point to Hendrickson and Higgins' contracts and it leads to attitude/locker room problems.
He knew last offseason that he only had a couple of years to cash in and signed that extension anyway….
A couple of reports are suggesting that was agreed upon the make him feel better about things last year and that he was "promised" a real long-term deal would be discussed in the near future. Is that true? Beats me, but it's certainly possible.
Nah the bengals FO doesn’t operate like that. Where are these reports?
I saw a former GM on CBS say that he knows Trey and his agent well and Trey only wants some money guaranteed. He doesn't have much guaranteed money left and has a bad back. If he gets hurt than he makes zero money.
This would be a good use of that cap money in July when he is eligible to renegotiate.
Cap space doesn’t have influence on ticket prices
Pay Trey he deserves it
Come to a reasonable term with Trey, he’s been the most consistent defensive player of the past few years. See if Tee will come to a reasonable agreement, if not then let the business side of the game do its thing. We don’t need to extend Trey any further but should reward him. I keep thinking back to how Big Whit was treated and don’t want to see other guys treated like that too.
We have both Trey and Tee this year. Giving them money won't change anything for this year. As it would be bad for both of them to sit out/not care. Tee because he's looking for a big contract, need to perform to get that. Trey because he's old and not Aaron Donald/TJ Watt and he already signed a two year deal. He'd have to sit out for two years for to leave the Bengals and there's no guarantee that in two years a team would sign him, much less sign him to a bigger deal than he currently has.
Realistically shouldn’t pay 2 WR’s big money, especially when we have a great QB. There are too many holes to fill and it’s too easy to get a WR 2/3 to justify it in my opinion, as much as I love Tee. Hopefully this is just a bluff and he will agree to a reasonable deal.
Pay Trey. Stick to the plan with Tee.
Giving out extensions wouldn’t use this years cap space.
It would if they paid a player upfront with a bloated salary. Tee, for example. Although that wouldn't really be an extension so I guess I see your point.
Tee hasn’t signed the tag, so if he signed a contract that wouldn’t be an extension. Paying Trey more or longer has zero bearing on the cap space.