tukafan21

This contract doesn't make any sense How does a RT who has never made the Pro Bowl or made an All Pro (granted he finished 3rd in the voting at RT this past season) get the largest signing bonus for an OL in NFL history? It's really just becoming that every borderline great player who's time is up for a new contract sets some new bar for the next one to top, regardless of how elite of a player they are, it's getting out of hand.

LOL, just gets more murky every minute Just heard on the radio that Stewart’s agent has only one other 1st round client, Zay Flowers last year, who did NOT have this language in his contract. So guess it’s not EVERY other team who does this and the agent has history of not having it included, hence their stubbornness. So now was the Bengals president lying in this article? poo just gets crazier and less clear by the minute haha

Exactly If no 1st rounders ever had those clauses, then it’s not about not signing a contract that puts your money at risk if you do something stupid, it’s about not signing a contract that nobody else has been asked to sign. But now knowing it’s just that he’d be the first Bengal to have to sign that kind of deal, just because they were dumb to not include it earlier when EVERY other team has now been including them, the blame now shifts back to Stewart’s camp and is a really bad look. Sure, the agent is right to ask to not have it included based on Bengals precedent, but once the team really put their foot in the ground, you just have to cave since it’s the league wide precedent now.

So... what they're saying is that we went from having maybe the worst WR room in the league last year to it being the biggest strength of the roster this year... Just because we drafted Tetairoa McMillan GOAT status already, LFG!!!!!!!!

Interesting...... In an article on ESPN today about this situation, there was a piece in there that I hadn't heard before and now completely changes my view on this situation. Previously I had blamed the Bengals for trying to include a new clause into the contract for Stewart that hadn't been done before. But it turns out (assuming this is legitimate and not the team just lying) while it's true that it would be the first time the Bengals insisted on this language in the contract, they are the ONLY team who didn't previously have it in there, that all the other teams have now included it and they're finally jumping on that ship themselves. If that's really true, then it's on Stewart and his agent at this point. I get not wanting to sign a contract that the team had never done before, but when all 31 of the other teams have been including it in their 1st round contracts and the Bengals are just the last to finally do it themselves, I don't think it's something to throw this kind of fit over from the player/agent side of it. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45788560/bengals-prez-brown-foolishness-shemar-stewart-unsigned

100% all of this Basically the only thing this offensive roster doesn't have right now is an already established #1 WR, and that's only because our #1 WR is a rookie. It's time for Bryce to live up to his draft (and trade) status. Unless T-Mac completely busts (which I clearly don't see happening) and XL regresses at the same time, there are just zero excuses for Bryce to not produce at a high level this year unless he just isn't able to do so, and then it's time for the conversation.

lol at everyone wishing we had some stud backup QB Dalton not being a HOFer doesn't mean he's not a great mentor and partial coach to Bryce, he's been in the league forever and seen tons of things, he has so much knowledge to pass on. Most of the good coaches in the league were middling players at best, so it's weird to think Dalton not having playoff success means he can only be teaching Bryce the wrong things. Also, if Bryce craps the bed or gets hurt, we're probably better off with a bad backup who isn't going to win us games and end up with a top draft pick to take a new QB next year anyways. If Bryce doesn't prove to be our QB of the future this year, the worst case scenario would be for a backup to find a way to win enough games to put us drafting like 13th next year.

Nobody is saying they don't count against the cap, because yes, they technically do count against the cap as it's money the team is paying and it needs to be accounted for. But what you're not grasping it seems is that if a player gets $10 million guaranteed in their contract, whether they get literally $0 as a signing bonus or $8 million as a signing bonus, it doesn't change the overall cap hit of the contract, because cap hits are about the guaranteed money, not how much is paid up front. The only thing that how much is paid up front changes, is how the cap hit can be spread out amongst the years. So yes, technically there could end up being a slightly bigger cap hit in year 3 and 4 due to a bigger signing bonus, but if that is the case, it also means there will be a lesser cap hit in years 1 and 2 than there would have been with a smaller bonus. But over the length of the contract, the size of the signing bonus has literally zero affect on the overall cap hit of the contract, because THAT part of it is 100% about the guaranteed money and nothing else.

No, you're not on the hook for a larger than normal signing bonus because you're already on the hook for the guaranteed money. This is the problem with things like Chat GTP, it makes assumptions in a vacuum that aren't correct in the whole picture, or even look at it in different ways. It's basically looking at the signing bonus of a Free Agent, not a rookie who has a set value for the slot they were drafted in. Because yes, for a FA, the more you add to the signing bonus, it does make the guaranteed money increase right along with it.

Right, so basically what I said in my first post about this last night. Tepper needs to use that big wallet of his in one of the few ways it can be used in the NFL given the cap. Give Scourton a bigger signing bonus but not a fully guaranteed deal. Everyone wins in that scenario as if Scourton is smart and hires good money people, he'll take that bigger signing bonus and use it to make more money in the end over the next 4 years than if he just had his fully guaranteed deal and a smaller signing bonus.

I think google is confusing signing bonus with guaranteed money. If you get a guarantee of say $10 million, it doesn’t matter if the signing bonus is $5 or $8 million, it’s the $10 million number that affects the cap, as the signing bonus is always just a portion of the guaranteed money anyways. And again, I’ll admit I’m not 100% sure about it, but I’m pretty sure it is the case.

Not if just giving a bigger signing bonus but the same guaranteed number, as that’s still part of the guaranteed money that they can space out for future cap hits. Guaranteeing more money is what affects the cap space. The amount of a signing bonus is only about how big of a check the owner has to cut once it’s signed (at least I’m 99% sure that’s the case)

This is where I feel like Tepper can throw his big wallet around to solve a problem. Scourton was the 19th pick of the round, even if a few more teams give fully guarantees, I can't see them all getting it. So don't give him the fully guaranteed deal, but give him a bigger signing bonus than his slot normally would get. It might piss off other owners for setting a new precedent of giving bigger signing bonuses, but it would help stop the fully guarantee precedent the agents are trying to make.

I'd rather see what Scourton and Princely can be that bring on cheap contracts than bring in another rookie edge rusher who would need 1st round money.

Coaches can't mentor, they coach, they are two entirely different things, and your coaches can also only do so many things at one time. When they're running a drill, the vets are pulling the young guys aside after their reps and giving tips while waiting for the drill to reset. You do also realize that for the most part, players are only around the coaches in the film room and on the field, coaches aren't in the locker room other than just before the game and at half. That's another place someone like Thielen shines, he's always been a pro's pro, he's going to take these young WRs under his wing and team them how you go about being an NFL player. That's not stuff coaches do, you NEED the vets for it and Thielen has embraced the role. When you have a guy who made his career on doing the little things right, and he is willing to be that vet mentor to a group of young WRs in their 1st or 2nd year that you hope to be your future 1-4, then he's worth every penny we're giving him this year.

So an alumni who played in the NFL is giving back to his high school by volunteering with the team and pays around $75-100k out of his own pocket to train, transport, and feed the kids... and you want to suspend him over that? Quite literally one of the most asinine things I've ever heard of, dude should be given awards for doing that with his time and money instead of chilling on a beach enjoying life.

Deebo is maybe one of the most overrated players in a long time thanks to one bonkers fantasy season that was very much an anomaly. He has had over 892 yards receiving only one time in his 6 year career and has only 2 seasons with over 3 TD Receptions (with 7 and 6). Yes, I know his versatility and ability to take handoffs and reverses adds to what he brings, but even then, he's only had one season with more than 232 yards, and that wasn't really anything super crazy with only 365. Him getting 8 Rushing TDs in the season she also had 1,400 yards and 6 TDs rushing gave him an absurd fantasy season and I think most fans struggle to separate one crazy fantasy season output (4 years ago) for being a great player in general.

We sucked, T-Mac was the only reason I even watched our games this past year.

He was a QB in middle school before Fifita joined the team and he moved to WR, he's 100% a player we can do a WR pass with at some point

lol, that second part is quite literally one of the dumbest things ever. Having or not having guaranteed contracts has absolutely nothing to do with how much these billionaires have to pay. Because there is a hard cap and a minimum cap spend requirement, and teams either use their cap or roll it over to use it all the next year, so the owners have to pay the same amount of money in the end no matter what. Having fully guaranteed contracts in the NFL would only hurt salary cap management, and thus would end up screwing over the team and its fan base when teams kiss on signings as they take up cap room that is needed to improve the roster. Look at the Browns with Watson, they gave him the fully guaranteed deal and all it’s doing is sucking up massive cap space now. If they hadn’t done that, the owner would still be paying the same amount of money each year as that cap space would still be used elsewhere. If you want to argue for fully guaranteed contracts because the players deserve it, that’s an entirely different argument and a fair one to discuss. But anyone against fully guaranteed deals isn’t doing it to argue for the billionaire owners.

And really, it should be 4 reasons with the last one being that there were ZERO other offensive weapons on that team in 2024, opposing defenses only had to worry about one player all year long and they constantly double and triple teamed him right off the snap all season. In 2023, we still had Jacob Cowing who had 90 catches that year and was drafted by the 49ers last year, so teams couldn't just send everyone after T-Mac on every passing down.

3 main reasons he was better in 2023 and none of them concern me for his NFL prospects 1. Totally new coaching staff that was a massive downgrade and had god awful play calling and designs, the entire fan base was ready to run the coaching staff out of town a month into their first season and the play caller ended up getting changed because it was so bad. 2. Along with the staff downgrade, his QB played significantly worse after being the Pac 12 Freshman of the Year in 2023. Constantly missed T-Mac when he was wide open, lost out on a number of TDs and a good amount of yardage, half the time T-Mac still almost made miraculous catches on the bad passes too. 3. He hurt his ankle over the summer and missed all of fall camp only to return to practice a few days before the season started and I think he had to deal with it all season long and was slightly limping at times mid season too, but kept fighting through it to still be a 1st team All American.

lol well that kinda ended up working out in the end, even though I still don't have my jersey yet. Was supposed to ship by tomorrow this time, but just got another email saying it was delayed another 3 weeks and because it's been delayed so long, I had to tell them to keep the order or cancel it, but gave me a 25% off my next order as an apology. Well, my original fear came true and they are now selling the FUSE version (but still not the Blue unfortunately) before the one I ordered was ever shipped. But that's awesome, because I was able to use that coupon to order the FUSE instead and then cancelled the original order. So I got the jersey I wanted for only $6.30 more than the crappier version costs, and it also says it will be shipped immediately and get here early next week, or 2 weeks before the other was now supposed to be shipped out.

The intro to the article talked about how they picked the teams and it wasn't just on overall career, it was a factor, but their peak ability also factored in. He 100% should be on a roster like this, because it was building the best roster from players since 2000, not the best careers during that time. And no matter how you slice it, CMC's peak ability if he could have had a long healthy career would have made him one of the best RBs of all time. He had back to back seasons with over 1k rushing and 100 catches, with the 2nd of them also having over 1k receiving, that's wild. He's also still only 29 and I think is going to end up playing at least another 5-6 years as he's going to slowly shift into being a slot WR at some point I believe and basically become what Deebo was for the 49ers for a while.

This is nothing against Bryce (or the trade) but I think the riser of 2025 is going to be Caleb Williams. A full offseason to get better, a new staff who has shown elite offensive game planning, added more weapons and significantly upgraded the OL, and really not as bad of a rookie season as many made it out to seem. He has breakout written all over him this year.