Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
Guy's been to the Pro Bowl 3 times in his 3 years there, was an absolute terror in 2 of those 3 years.
Yeah - he's gonna want a new deal. They absolutely stole the guy the first time and so of course he's gonna look to strike while the iron's hot.
What's tough for the Bengals is that he does have the money to hold out and simply wait until week 9 to accrue his FA season. It's less than ideal, but he could do it. And then there's the ol' "hold-in" strategy that nobody's really had the balls to try yet, but Operation Shut Down could be on the table.
And for the Bengals - guy's gonna be 31 next season (and he's technically under contract next year as well). You may not really WANT to be extending him.
The best case scenario for Cincy here is probably something similar to what the Chiefs did with Jones - find a way to get him some incentives in that deal that are reasonably likely to pay out if he plays well again. That'll get him on the field and playing hard. And if it works, gets him paid to the level he feels his performance warrants.
But man - sure sucks y'all won precisely ****-all when you had cheap Burrow, Higgins, Chase and Hendrickson, don't it?
Probably should've been successful and THEN mouthy...
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You couldn't realistically ask for a better contract championship window than they had these past few years. You just don't get that many elite players on cheap deals for three years in a row. The early Mahomes years when Tyreek still was cheap would be close, but that didn't last as long.
It's a steep steep climb back to the top now after they had the most level hill of any team since 2021.