Bengals sign DE Tarrell Basham
Bengals sign DE Tarrell Basham
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. -- Carl Sagan (Pale Blue Dot)
Kingspoint (04-01-2023)
Irv Smith contract details...1.75 million base incentives could bring it up to 2 million...great low cost high reward signing.
If you have a losing record at Reds games, please stop going.
Kingspoint (04-01-2023)
He played for Burrow's dad at Ohio U...so some good scouting reports on him.Originally Posted by WrongVerb
If you have a losing record at Reds games, please stop going.
Kingspoint (04-01-2023)
Seems like the Bengals are setting up to have no real holes to fill, per se, through the draft. That will allow them to take BPA in each round. Right now, the only must take is a TE in the early-mid rounds, and perhaps doubling up late. They'll also look to take a DT3 early, perhaps in the first (Kancey or Bresee). Every other "need" is basically for someone developmental (CB, S, RT, LB, WR).
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. -- Carl Sagan (Pale Blue Dot)
Kingspoint (04-01-2023)
Seahawks Withdraw Ryan Neal’s RFA Tender
March 31st, 2023 at 10:11pm CST by Sam Robinson
Seattle rescinded Neal’s RFA tender Friday afternoon, according to ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter). This will make Neal an unrestricted free agent. The four-year Seahawk is coming off a season in which he started a career-high 10 games. Neal will almost certainly generate immediate interest on the open market. Pro Football Focus graded his 2022 work quite well, slotting the 6-foot-3 cover man as the No. 4 overall safety last season. Neal, 27, made 66 tackles (four for loss), deflected eight passes an intercepted another during a season in which the Seahawks played 16 games without Adams. PFF graded Neal as the No. 3 overall safety in coverage last season, which represented by far his most favorable marks from the advanced metrics site. A Southern Illinois alum, Neal started 19 games with the Seahawks from 2020-22.
With Love in the fold, Henderson notes the Seahawks are planning to use Adams more at the line of scrimmage. The former Jets All-Pro will work as a pseudo-linebacker more often, per Henderson, opening the door for Adams, Diggs and Love to see the field together. Box work has generally been best for the aggressive defender, who makes his living in that capacity rather than as a pure coverage player. Adams set a safety record with 9.5 sacks in 2020 but did not register any in 2021. Even with this tender off the books, the Seahawks are set to allocate an NFL-leading $41MM at the safety position. It will be interesting to see where Neal lands.
So, with SEA leading the NFL in Safety costs, anyone can see that this was only about money and not talent that they let him go. I hope Cincinnati comes knocking at this opportunity that presented itself Friday Afternoon.
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March 31st, 2023 at 7:47pm CST by Sam Robinson
Nearly three weeks into free agency, Joe Mixon remains on the Bengals‘ roster. The team having seen Samaje Perine turn down an offer to stay and instead choose Denver thinned out its running back room. But Mixon’s status for a seventh Bengals season is not yet a lock. Bengals executive VP Katie Blackburn stopped short of guaranteeing the six-year Cincinnati starter will be back, reminding of comments player personnel VP Duke Tobin made at the Combine.
“Right now, he’s on the team and we are going count on him until that wouldn’t be the case,” Blackburn said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Kelsey Conway. “Right now, he’s our starting guy. You’ve seen other teams have to make moves. Could we get to that point? Maybe. But it would be down the road here and we’d have to see if that’s what makes sense or not.”
This situation could hinge on how the Bengals approach the position in the draft. Mixon, 26, is due a $9.4MM base salary and is tied to the third-highest cap figure ($12.8MM) on the team. Blackburn did not rule out the possibility of a post-June 1 cut designation, which would save Cincy $10MM, and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler indicated recently (h/t Bleacher Report) the Bengals are looking to add at running back. (They were linked to Ezekiel Elliott, but little has emerged on that front since.) The Perine offer may have been indicative of Mixon plans. The team could still pair Mixon with a rookie, but it does have some pricey deals — most notably for Joe Burrow — on the horizon. Mixon’s $12MM-per-year deal could be used to create more cap space.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
March 31st, 2023 at 1:04pm CST by Sam Robinson
Working to bolster their edge-rushing depth, the Bengals are adding a six-year veteran to the mix. Tarell Basham agreed to terms with the team Friday, according to his agency (on Twitter).
The former third-round pick who played for two teams last season will return to Ohio, where he played his college ball. The ex-Ohio Bobcat spent last season with the Cowboys and Titans. Basham, 29, will now prepare to vie for a rotational role behind starting Bengals defensive ends Sam Hubbard and Trey Hendrickson. Basham has already played for four teams in his career, beginning with the Colts before moving to the Jets. He has twice been waived in-season, seeing the Colts and Cowboys cut bait. Dallas did so last year, having seen Basham go down with a quad injury in Week 1 and the likes of Dante Fowler and Sam Williams become its preferred edge-rushing depth pieces. The Cowboys attempted to dangle Basham in trades but found no takers.
The Cowboys gave Basham a two-year, $5.5MM deal in 2021. He helped Dan Quinn revive Dallas’ defense that year, registering 3.5 sacks and 11 quarterback hits. That came after he totaled 3.5 sacks and 13 QB hits for the Jets in 2020, creating a modest market. Basham forced three fumbles for the 2020 Jets and added another with the ’21 Cowboys. The ’22 Cowboys’ depth at the position left no room for Basham, who played five games for an injury-riddled Titans team to close out the season. Cincinnati rosters Joseph Ossai as a backup edge option, but the 2021 draftee was playing through a torn labrum during the final games of last season. Ossai underwent surgery early this offseason. Basham will join Ossai, a former third-round pick, and Cam Sample (Round 4, 2021) as backup options going into Cincy’s offseason program. Ossai and Sample combined for 5.5 sacks in 2022.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
Jonah Williams is not "average". He ranked in the bottom 5% of all tackles last season, and last season is all that matters. The NFL is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league. While he finally was average one season, 2021, he quickly regressed to his old form, even though he had the addition of three good Offensive Linemen to help him out that he didn't have the year before, in addition to being in a contract season, which should have vaulted his game to above-average or better. His body of work in the NFL is why there are crickets on the trade front for him, and why you get a quote from another team's G.M. that says, "he may not even be a Tackle". The Bengals jumped all over the chance to replace him when the opportunity arose. They got that deal done with Orlando Brown in 48 hours. They couldn't move the paperwork fast enough, while they got the entire organization involved (except for Jonah) in the negotiations.
The only way Jonah can come out of this looking good is to shut up, work his ass off during the off-season (which he should have been doing since the day after his surgery), earn the starting RT job, keep the starting RT job (because he'll lose it if he doesn't, as there are three other players waiting to take that spot, not counting whoever we might add during the 2023 draft), and make the offers for contracts come to him by multiple teams. He had one average season and is trending downward fast. Not one Offensive Lineman let his Quarterback get hit more than Jonah Williams did this season, and that was with Burrow changing his rate of throw after the 2nd game to a very fast pace (so he could survive). When we moved our Rookie LG to LT, he did better than Williams did in 2023 at that position. That spoke volumes.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
They have been consistent where they are keeping certain players for insurance until after they find a replacement first. They weren't expecting to get Orlando Brown, so they were keeping Jonah to compete for the LT position with whoever they ended up signing for competition along with giving their LG a chance at both tackle spots. But, the unthinkable happened and Brown became available as there weren't teams going after him to play LT at the expected price it would take to sign him. They couldn't pay what the Chiefs paid for their LT, but after talking with Brown, the price was in the ballpark (thanks to Brown being reasonable), and that let them go to plan B with Jonah, who now is insurance for RT, not LT. They are still looking for his replacement through the draft, if the draft falls into place that his replacement is there when they pick [but it could be a TE, RB, or CB that is a better pick, too, as you say, all areas of need, though you said Safety, and I say Cornerback, not Safety, especially if they go after the just-released Neal from Seattle (#4 overall Safety per PFF last season, but an outlier as it's the first year he's excelled, making his next contract still affordable, though)].
Same goes with TE. They could go into the season with Irv Smith, Jr to start. There's not a negative to that. They will draft a TE, whether that's a 1st Rd TE that still has to beat out Irv Smith, or a later round TE pick.
They've set themselves up really well for BPA, as they have a lot of flexibility during this draft as far as need.
It's almost certain that Mixon becomes a designated June 1st cut after the draft (unless they come up with a deal with Elliott or Hunt or someone else along the same price-tag that Perine got). Evans is still in the mix at RB. Elliott wants to start. He's not a Starter anymore. Whether that realization has come to him or not, I don't know. I do know that the Cowboys never offered to renegotiate Elliott's deal, and I'm guessing because they didn't want the distraction in the lockerroom of who is the lead back. Roles in that lockerroom are defined when it comes to the lead back. That seems to be the case in Cincinnati, too. The Bengals like to have a workhorse who is complimented sparingly by others. Seems to always be the case with us. Seems crazy to use a 1st Rd pick on a RB who may not make it to his next contract, as few do in the NFL. I think Cincinnati still views that differently, though. Do we give Burrow a Receiver, a Tackle or a RB in the 1st Rd? Do we bypass all of that because a CB we highly covet is there? I'm certain they'd rather have Apple as a Dime CB instead of a Starter, especially with the departure of Bell and Bates.
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I think it all depends who we take with our 1st Rd pick, which the Bengals won't know until it happens. He could get traded Thursday Night.
"One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues."
This is just a wild post after the last two years. They'll be alright man, another 12-14 win season is coming up with another great chance to win a Super Bowl.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Hillsdale87 (04-01-2023),Playadlc (04-02-2023),RiverRat13 (04-02-2023)
Agree. They still have the draft to plug a lot of holes and with what they have done in FA they can go BPA.
Pittsburgh is just another game in the AFC North. The Bengals aren't going to have any easy games in the division and we all know that. All three teams though outside of the Bengals have problems that will impact their season.
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I’m a Wild Card man. Someone has to be.
You can’t say they don’t pull back and start relying too much on what worked and get stagnant. They are counting on Lou to work his magic. On any player. Which I’m not discounting. They used to do that with the OL and Jim McNally as the coach in the 80s into the 90s.
I just can’t see them relying on Hill and Scott then a draft pick or even worse with the CB situation. It’s not a comfortable situation right now unless the DL puts more pressure than last year.
This isn't the 80s or even the 90s.
Mike Brown is letting his kids run the team. They are spending money in ways that we have never seen. They have a once in a lifetime QB and a real chance to possibly compete for Super Bowls.
Sit back, relax. and enjoy the ride.
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Benihana (04-04-2023),Tony Cloninger (04-01-2023)
I would expect growing pains this season as you have 2 new safeties who have not played together, took Bell and Bates 3 years to develop the chemistry they had.
Chido most likely will be out or not back to prime Chido until week 4 or 5...
I see reason to be concerned in the secondary...
Getting Pratt back was huge though he and Wilson are really good at getting the D lined up and in the right spots...if they can get the kid from Pitt to help bolster the line I think the D will be pretty good.
If you have a losing record at Reds games, please stop going.
Kingspoint (04-02-2023)
Cancey is falling on most boards. My guess is he goes top of third round. That said, Bresee is the DT3 guy you want in the first. Upside is Chris Jones, but he's falling because he won't be able to give his team that until year 2.
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. -- Carl Sagan (Pale Blue Dot)
Where are you hearing that about Kancey? I don't pay too much attention to mock drafts, but recent ones I've seen have him going no later than late first round.
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