You've gone on record here saying Lou put Mahomes in a blender in that AFCCG Bengals win, and they played them pretty tough the next year. Now it's Lou's fault for their decline the last 2 years?

Sorry, but I don't see how that makes sense.

It was partially the scheme, mostly the players. And that was 3-4 years ago. Lesser players = scheme not being as effective.

They may as well pay their DE as well.

Wonder if Cincy will play the Void Year game like the Eagles.

https://i.ibb.co/v9dKkXz/Eagle-Salaries.jpg

Most people aren't that stupid.

They are also not that stupid to think that most contracts aren't structured to keep a low year one, stabilize in the middle at the APY, and then exceed the APY in the last year or two. That means in 2026 and 2027, you're going to have two receivers and a QB eating some serious chunk of your cap, no matter how pretty you want to make it look. That chunk looks to be about 40%.

The only way you aren't is if you do the Howie Roseman dance and put your franchise at risk of being the current New Orleans Saints for a few years by paying serious chunks to nobody on your roster later on.

It's a big investment in 1 position. You can work with it but I feel like money could be better spent on two high-mid tier (15-16 AAV) guys than one Tee Higgins. An example would be signing a really good Safety, that your team needs, and a good complimentary WR.

This just doesn't look like a smart move. These are the moves that put even more pressure on your GM to hit in the draft.

Only time will tell now. It's all on Joe. He whined like a little girl to keep these two so he better win it all. If he doesn't that's his fault.

So they are returning the same 8th place AFC team from last season...just $100 million poorer. Solid off-season...

Why wouldnt he...he hasn't been so great when they arent both playing. It's not his money...he gets to play with these two for the majority of his career now. No one will ever know how good he actually is if he didnt have them...I do know he still doesn't have any 4th quarter TDs in the post-season.

Two years from now, Burrow restructures and drops his cap hits to 19/29. That balances the bigger numbers from Chase and Tee.

Cap will prolly be about 20-30M higher in 2 years as well.

These are 2 very ill-informed posts.

rfaulk - Are you happy with the Higgins contract?

I accounted for the cap differential with the 40% but not Burrow restructuring. You're right that he probably will have to do it. They structured his deal really similarly to Mahomes. Remains an astronomical cost for 2 WRs that normally gets spread among 3 top-tier talents on a team. Will be interesting to see how it turns out. Letting Higgins go and signing a lesser WR as a #2 would have absolutely been my play. Hell, you probably could have got at least a high 2nd trading Higgins to someone. Seems illogical to not use that to your advantage in multiple ways.

I really have no choice. More to the point, i'll be happy if they're able to still sign one of the FA guards left, then draft one in the top 2 rounds, along with getting one of the safeties.

Re-signing Trey would be optimal as well. I don't think these contracts (along with Trey) keep them from still dipping in the FA market.

As far as his specific money...sure, he's worth what he got...if he plays 15+ games. He did speak of consulting some kind of nutritionist (or something like that) about what could help him with his soft tissue issues.

PS. after i see Chase and Tee's yearly cap hits, then i'll comment on how nice it would be to grab Za'Darius Smith...

It's def out of the box thinking and yes...we will all see how it turns out in the end.

I certainly have my fingers crossed.

Paying Chase was a good move except he is not worth $5 million more than Jefferson, Paying Higgins was a dumb move since he keeps getting hurt