Evil Hurney

I would absolutely trade him; he is one of the best "when" he plays but shows no signs of wanting to play for this team. Trade him for a day 2 pick or a WR and let some other team pick up his 5th year option.

Nash Jensen

My initial list: Ben Johnson (was the favorite last cycle) Kellen Moore (was a finalist last cycle) Ejiro Evero (young, well regarded, Tepper has already paid him well and complimented his unit) Bobby Slowik (why not steal the primary coach for the OROY) Jim Caldwell (an interesting option if you want to leave the rest of the high-priced coaching staff in place; Ejiro at DC and Thomas at OC) I don't see a DC type other than Evero getting a chance. Basically, any hire will be encouraged to keep Evero (and Tabor) on staff and a defensive type coach would make that redundant. I'm on the fence with Bienemy since he interviewed a few cycles ago; I'm not sure if they would want to bring him back in (not saying they shouldn't).

No idea. But I feel pretty confident that part the early season problems on offense stem from trying to create a playbook by committee instead of it having a singular voice. It'll be interesting to see if the amount of pre-snap motion increases significantly.

My guess is this is to reduce the number of "cooks in the kitchen" and let TB do his thing.

I think his prorated cost would be ~$6M, so we don't even have enough cap space to claim him right now. If we somehow found the money and claimed him, he would cost around $1M in cap per week until he did agree to a new deal.

The Bengals have more (effective) cap space. They have already paid Burrow, so that is accounted for. If they want Higgins at his price tag they can afford him. The only way he hits FA is if they decide he isn't worth "that" contract. It's a similar situation we are in with Burns; we can afford him, but is he worth "that" contract?

Not a fan of shelling out top 10 LB money for a lottery ticket. When he passes through waivers, then I'd be open to bringing him in.

Cincy has more cap space than us over the next 2 seasons. If we can afford Higgins and Burns they can easily afford Higgins and Chase.

Agreed. TE is Hurst and Tremble next season (I expect Ian to get cut). You can maybe grab a cheap vet or a rookie, but we aren't getting out of Hurst's contract until after next season.

T. Higgins, M. Pittman, M. Brown, and C. Ridley will likely be retained by their current teams. A more likely list: Mike Evans (current age 30.2) Tyler Boyd (29.0) Curtis Samuel (27.2) Kendrick Bourne (28.2) Gabe Davis (24.6) KJ Osborn (26.4) DJ Chark (27.1)

Going to disagree. I was happy to see multiple running plays yesterday that used a power run scheme. I'm pretty sure Olsen commented on it during the broadcast as well. They also put Bryce under center more than I can remember in any other game.

Dang. This tells me that Frank is staring at one-and-done. I thought for sure he'd get at least 2 years.

Wonder if Throck takes his spot on the PS.

This breakdown provides a small glimmer of hope; The play calling against the Bears was actually scheming players open!

How is Arthur not on this list? I'd be surprised if he gets a 4th year if the Falcons miss the playoffs.

Frank seems like the type that will fall on the sword for his guys. He basically did that by taking the bullets in the early season and then trying to set TB up for success against the soft part of our schedule (after a bye).

What's the point of firing someone? To send a message? I'm pretty sure everyone in the building knows they need to do better. Firing because you are [insert negative emotion of choice] is the exact thing a caricature of Tepper would do right now. The only reason to fire someone at this point is if they are doing (or not doing) something that is hurting Bryce's development.

Was thinking the same thing. Do what you can to protect Bryce the rest of the season, while still letting him play and get reps. Literally, the only thing that matters is Bryce's development at this point. He will likely outlast the GM and HC that drafted him.

The opportunity to trade Chinn went out the window when he was placed on IR.

Wonder if this means they are bringing someone else in.

The whole 2021 QB debacle. Trading for Darnold before the draft which led to us having to trade Teddy for peanuts and pass on Fields when he fell to 9. Then following that up by NOT trading the 9th pick to the Bears when they obviously wanted to move up and take Fields. Could have kept the BRIDGEwater QB in place, let Fields develop for a year, and not begin the whole train of throwing away draft picks.

Only signed for this season. Very cheap for the acquiring team, < $1M after proration.

Nice writeup. And I agree 100%. Patience is important here.