Just now, vikas83 said:

Campbell for Shemar Stewart + a 4th? Don't think I would do that, but brings in a highly rated DE prospect who has completely disappeared in Cincinnati.

Hell, maybe offer a 6th for Stewart as a flier.

That's exactly the guy I was thinking about.

1 minute ago, Diehardfan said:

That's exactly the guy I was thinking about.

Reports out that Bengals aren't interested in trading him, but he's buried on the depth chart.

I'd rather not trade Campbell for the meager compensation we'd get now. If Vic moves on after this year, he's super talented, and I'd like to see what guys like Schwartz or Flores could do with him.

3 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

Reports out that Bengals aren't interested in trading him, but he's buried on the depth chart.

I'd rather not trade Campbell for the meager compensation we'd get now. If Vic moves on after this year, he's super talented, and I'd like to see what guys like Schwartz or Flores could do with him.

Bengals are a hard team to trade with. Their owner never wants to deal guys away. It’s why it took forever to deal Carson Palmer

Let's revisit why you need to SELL,SELL, SELL with this amazing one hit wonder "Superbowl" team. Right now we are pretty much left with the bag.

People are looking for shortcuts. And are seeing talent that is not even there. They could be blinded by the Howie factor. Not sure.

2025 Team

Hurts- Sill believe he can be that top 10-15 QB. With blood clots and a potential contract extension, everyrthing is murky here. In limbo here for now. Team has no shot without him in games as seen in recent weeks. Getting dogwalked by mid teams like the Panthers and Cowboys. His leadership is missed and underestimated. And his work ethic. Team has very little of it right now and they can learn from it. He gives you a shot every week. And can still steal games for you in the end. Even with this crap preseason roster we have now.Team is 4-13 with out him. Enjoy! They will be drafting another QB here this year regardless. How high? Hard to say now.

LT- Mailata-regressed a little

Talks about early retirement a lot. Still good tho.

LG-Dickerson- A shell of himself and not here next year most likely.

Got nothing there in the pipeline that's close to reliable for starter position.

C-Jurgens-Was a 1 year wonder at Center and Howie with a massive overpay. Kendall may be the replacement. Encouraging signs. But sure, let's pencil him in there.

RG- Steen. Mediocre. Went from a mauler like Becton to him. As mediocre as they come. Can't move anyone. Goner this offseason.

RT- Bell. Young. He's got that going for him. Needs to gain strength. We just took a huge drop from Lane. No matter how you slice this.

RB-Barkley peaked in 2024. This Is obvious now. Back to Giants Barkley at best. And 2.5 years older from Superbowl, when we play meaningful football again in Sept 2027. Starting to break down like older RBs tend to do.Trading him for any decent picks.

TE- Goedert looks about done and a shell of himself. Often injured. No one ready to take the wings there. Need 2 TEs here.

WR- Best group in the bunch. Nothing great. But solid. AJ was still pretty good in 2024, so we still are little bit weaker from that Superbowl standard.

Defense-

Sweat- Should have kept him. Been spinning wheels since. Greenard. 🤣

MW-A game wrecker. Sorely missed. Ojomo is not him as I stated then. And now. Nice player for a 7th rounder, but not Milton. And gonzo this offseason.

JC- Has regressed and takes plays off half of the time. Isn't even ready in his stance this last game. Embarrassing. $40 million softee. Tired of the lame injury excuses and holding call excuses. Been hearing that since last season. He could care less about stopping the run. His effort is unacceptable and unprofessional for his pay or for anyone's pay. Been overlooked too much on here. May have the talent, but no work ethic like Ben Simmons. Got paid and **** is fat and happy. Doesn't work on his craft. One great year in his career and Howie bends over for it after he spits on someone and is lousy for a year. This is our new leader. 😅

JD- A nice guy and everything. Glorified run stuffing tackle who sometimes isn't even good at that. Never took next step as a pass rusher and has one big albatross contract for less than 50% snaps he gives you per game.

Hunt/Smith- Both look like a flash in the pan. And I'm not resigning either for any significant money. Should be backups like Superbowl year. Never took the next step.

BG- They miss his intelligence, leadership and production.

LB- Oh do we miss Dean!! Tackling machine with great diagnoses of offenses and has elite anticipation. Obviously good in the film room and puts the work in. Even tho he was injured somewhat at times, should have been a keeper.

Baun was amazing in that year. Automatic tackling machine. But not seeing that same exact guy right now. Still good tho. Trading him for a couple solid picks before he's on the wrong side of 30. Campbell is a lost cause in my mind. Let's hope Trotter is the guy. No certain shoo in here to replace anyone. He maybe too small in the long run.

Safety- CJGJ & Blank. Those were the good old days. Howie missed on Brown and most likely Makuba. One big shidd show. How Fangio can't collaborate with Howie on talent assessments here and not see this ongoing huge hole(s) on this roster is befuddling. EMW fell in your lap and you said, nah!

CB- Slay, Mitchell and Coop. What a trio!? Been going down since. Right now only one guy playing like that Superbowl self in Q. Coop may have an injury, but he likely also bulked up too much and is slower. Not as good in read and react right now. That's more mental. So not sure on that whole deal. Think he misses having vets back there as a guide and resource. Woolen is only good at press coverage and not a fit.

Howie missed on Ringo and made a waste of a trade on Bennett. We likely have no succesors on the roster.

In summation, this roster has been stripped massively since that Superbowl of Grade A talent or its retired or has deteriorated at this point. 2 years is an eternity in the NFL. And they are nowhere near a serious contender.

In spite of how positive you would like to be. Lacks the talent and is bereft of any real leaders. They are soft as twinkies. Yes, that was a generational type of roster. But we are nowhere close to that team. And you ask why Howie should SELL SELL SELL? This "Superbowl team" is maxed out and you have to swallow that bitter pill right now. It's been mostly stripped anyway. Let me be clear. I'm not saying Howie will do this. I'm saying he should SELL SELL SELL or he's doing it all wrong. As he's done very frequently in the last 2 Years.

11 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

Reports out that Bengals aren't interested in trading him, but he's buried on the depth chart.

I'd rather not trade Campbell for the meager compensation we'd get now. If Vic moves on after this year, he's super talented, and I'd like to see what guys like Schwartz or Flores could do with him.

Schwartz is talented but I think some on here (not you) forget the frustrations we had while he was DC. Outside of the strip they had no answers in the SB. Granted, that was a talented offense, but still. Flores is a another Vic. Great as DC but not a HC. Unless he retires I'd rather stick with Vic or get a name not being mentioned.

1 hour ago, vikas83 said:

Most importantly, history tells us Howie isn't going to look at this as a multi-year reset. They went from 4-11-1 in 2020 to the playoffs in 2021 and the Super Bowl in 2022. So the idea he's going to massively sell guys that can help us be competitive in 2027 and 2028 is unlikely, even before thinking of the cap implications of dealing guys like Barkley. However, we are in a unique position that comp picks may not matter as much as we only have 36 players under contract for next year - he are going to have to sign free agents, so we may not be in a position to maximize comp picks. So dumping a few guys who aren't going to be here in 2027 anyway makes sense. Here's my list in order of most likely to go:

• Ojomo - no dead cap (well, below $50k) so he's the easiest to move, and should get you a 4th I would think. Maybe a 4th and a later pick. Hard to see any way we can afford to bring him back with the $$ at DT already allocated. He should be the easiest to move.

• Woolen - we're taking ~$8.6mm in dead money in 2027 if he's traded or his contract expires, so no financial impact other than small savings on his base salary for the rest of the year. Would hope a 4th or 5th is possible from a contender. He's an adequate NFL starter.

• Goedert - this is a little harder comp wise, and also unclear if there's much demand out there. DG has been available the last 2 offseasons with no takers, but now he'd cost next to nothing (just pro rated minimum salary for the balance of the year). We have ~$18 million in dead cap to take, and if we trade him now, that all has to hit in 2027. We apparently have a poison pill that would allow a post June 1, 2027 release that would push ~$10mm of the dead cap to 2028. So, the pick has to be worth brining $10mm of cap hit forward to 2027.

• Steen - tiny dead cap, so that isn't a consideration. The issue really is - who the hell plays RG the rest of the year? Morris? If they think Morris is ready, then sure. Steen's an adequate NFL starter and hard to see them resigning him. Maybe a 5th?

• Hollywood, Ebiketie, Epenesa, Big Fred, Moore, etc. - unclear if there's any market for them, but you'd take anything for them as they're not part of the future.

True, and good post. Some want to "blow up" the team as if they are the Jets or Browns and have to do a total rebuild. There are going to be a core of players that will remain.

Curious about corner with Woolen. Is there any scenario to extend him? We always expected it a one year temp situation. But then we're back to needing a CB2, and safety is weak. I think they can handle a JAG at CB2 if they upgrade safety so not sure how they'll address that. What do you think they do in the secondary?

Are there any obvious coaching candidates who are free right now that could maybe warrant an in-season change? Or are we fairly certain Lurie/Howie give Nick the whole year and then swap the staff out after the season ends?

And stop the partying in the offseason

No way in hell would I trade Mitchell and Coop

7 minutes ago, Diehardfan said:

And stop the partying in the offseason

Remember this guy?

12 minutes ago, NOTW said:

True, and good post. Some want to "blow up" the team as if they are the Jets or Browns and have to do a total rebuild. There are going to be a core of players that will remain.

Curious about corner with Woolen. Is there any scenario to extend him? We always expected it a one year temp situation. But then we're back to needing a CB2, and safety is weak. I think they can handle a JAG at CB2 if they upgrade safety so not sure how they'll address that. What do you think they do in the secondary?

I'd be surprised if they extended him. Maybe he could come back on another 1 year deal, but Q is going to get the bag this offseason for sure. He'll top what Gonzo got paid in NE ($33.75mm per year). DeJean will be more complicated - will he want to do a deal coming off a bad year, and will Howie want to pay him? With no 5th year option for Coop, he would be a FA after 2027. Personally, I think we need to move Coop back to CB full time and stop the safety in base experiment - he's added too much bulk. CB2 in base, slot in nickel.

I think they draft someone or do another cheap vet for CB2 in 2027.

Woolen is a bad fit and not a smart player. Only useful in press. Gonzo. Not even a doubt.

3 minutes ago, vikas83 said:

I'd be surprised if they extended him. Maybe he could come back on another 1 year deal, but Q is going to get the bag this offseason for sure. He'll top what Gonzo got paid in NE ($33.75mm per year). DeJean will be more complicated - will he want to do a deal coming off a bad year, and will Howie want to pay him? With no 5th year option for Coop, he would be a FA after 2027. Personally, I think we need to move Coop back to CB full time and stop the safety in base experiment - he's added too much bulk. CB2 in base, slot in nickel.

I think they draft someone or do another cheap vet for CB2 in 2027.

Agree on Cooper, keep him at corner. Improved pass rush helps the secondary as well so Edge is a priority but I want to see upgrade at safety as well. Howie is going to have a busy offseason, which has already basically started to plan.

Nick saying he didn't find a lack of effort is INSANE

Oh no

8 minutes ago, jojodancer said:

Woolen is a bad fit and not a smart player. Only useful in press. Gonzo. Not even a doubt.

When we signed him, I saw him as a more optimistic bet than Devin White. He looked good for a few weeks…

Nicolas cage probably not the guy to do this movie.

2 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Nicolas cage probably not the guy to do this movie.

Saw a tweet that said it looked like a bad SNL skit.

24 minutes ago, Waiting4Someday said:

Remember this guy?

Landry. He and Taylor were absolute liabilities in pass coverage.

3 minutes ago, paco said:

Landry. He and Taylor were absolute liabilities in pass coverage.

Ding, ding - winner... yup, DB to bodybuilder to unemployed.

17 minutes ago, Mike030270 said:

Nick saying he didn't find a lack of effort is INSANE

He never publicly calls out the players

3 minutes ago, Waiting4Someday said:

Ding, ding - winner... yup, DB to bodybuilder to unemployed.

I still remember when they drafted him, the morons at ES dubbed those two "Area 51" because their jersey numbers added up to 51 and WRs would "disappear". It took all of two weeks for teams to realize passing right at them was the best plan of attack.

Ironicaly, Landry made his only pro bowl (not as an alternate) when he left Washington.... for the Jets.