Den Brothers and Sisters…. The emotions that have poured through a dozen or so threads involving blockbuster trades, bargain moves, standing pat, Holmes strategy, windows etc have been fascinating. I’ve gleaned that nearly EVERYONE really wants to see a move made, but only at the right price and none of us have the data to know what the actual cost would be…
I will say that in a 17 game season, and with 9-10 games left- most teams are still in it…. The Bengals are the #9 seed in a 7 team playoff in the AFC right now, and they get the floundering Raiders this weekend. If Cinch wins… the 4-4 Colts lose in Minnesota, and the Chargers stumble somehow in Cleveland- then suddenly the Bengals are a game out? What if the Broncos lose in Baltimore?
Looking at the next 2 weeks… if the Bengals feel they will beat the Raiders, and could beat Baltimore the next week, then they expect to be in the playoff bracket by end of week 11….
I presume the reason for holding onto Z Smith this long has a lot to do with Trey, Max and Myles outcomes…. If none of those “untouchable” guys get loved, then Z Smith could be worth a 2nd or 3rd to a desperate team. I’m betting Smith sits out this week. I’m betting T Hendrickson gets moved if the Bengals somehow lose to Vegas.
However if the Raiders get smoked… I can’t see them holding onto Max- he’s underpaid right now and will likely demand a new deal if he’s stuck in a rebuild for the next 2-4 years. He’s a stud, but if you were rebuilding would you want an edge turning 28 and making 24-30M plus, or the picks to truly rebuild like Detroit did?
My point? Why would blockbuster moves happen well before the trade deadline? I love the idea of Carl Granderson and Arden Key… could be cheap deals and Grnaderson could be an ideal player across from Hutch the next 2-3 years.
Don’t you think the hand wringing over a trade not being done yet… followed by self soothing that we maybe be better off staying the course… vs… the sky is falling Brad is a college scout only camps is a bit premature?
I feel like Trey’s team believes they are still in it, and even Burrow said this week is a must win to keep the playoff hopes alive.
I feel like trading Max will create completely new level of indifference in Vegas and end Pierces short run, and this he’s not going to be for it. When they are sitting at 2-6 with no QB, no RB, no WRs, and a meh OL- it will be clear they need resources to rebuild or they will simply pay Crosby til he’s 31 while finishing last.
Garrett is different. I have no clue how Cleveland would get out of his or Watson’s contract unless they are blessed by a lawsuit freeing them of Watson’s dead cap hit somehow?
I think a lot goes down in Monday around the league.
Has this guy seen the 1st 10 minutes of a game thread? If some fans don’t have a reason to think the sky is falling, they will look for and invent reasons for it be.
The trade deadline is just one long game day thread.
I actually thought Granderson would be an interesting add until I saw this on his Wikipedia page…
Granderson was sentenced to six months in prison on July 11, 2019, after pleading [no contest]
(Nolo contendere - Wikipedia) to sexual battery and unlawful contact from an incident in 2018 involving two women
I might rephrase what @Lyonfan1 is trying to say with perhaps a twist:
As much time as we love to spend on this forum and look into the crystal ball, we have literally zero say in the actual decisions MCDC/Holmes make or the other actors and factors they might be dealing with in any trade drama. At best we will know in a couple of days if or what trade actually happens.
Until then I’m invested in looking forward to GB on Sunday and hopefully becoming 7-1. That’s about as much personal energy as I’m willing to put into any trade speculation because from where we all sit as fans, it’s almost if not all speculation.
I’m not sure that when Dan and Brad are talking about “no turds” that they necessarily mean off the field turds. Obviously no team wants those off the field distractions and maybe that is a deal breaker, but I’ve always believed “no turds” to be about football character - doing the dirty work, not taking plays off, approaching practice and every snap as if it were in the Super Bowl, etc.
As the OP pointed out, as long as teams still feel there’s hope of a wild card, they’re not going to trade pass rushers, especially starters. Furthermore, it’s a seller’s market–there’s a shortage of pass rushers and high demand.
The WR market is the opposite–there’s teams willing to dump WRs all over the place and several have been traded already.
The only team who has potential assets to sell and no realistic hope of chasing a wild card is Tennessee. In theory, they could trade either Landry or Key now and it likely have no impact on their season. If the Titans lose to the Patriots at home to fall to 1-7, then a trade on Monday or Tuesday seems more likely.
You might be right, just look at the way they’re handling the Jamo situation.
Jamo, by all accounts, is a hard worker and definitely fits the grit/loves football criteria so it seems like they’re willing to let some of the off the field stuff slide because he displays high football character.
And IMO all that angst was proven correct. Our offense was not in sync until we brought Patrick up to be an every game starter. And now all the folks who were saying that we were just fine with St Brown, Jamo, LaPorta, and Gibbs and didn’t need a true X receiver are all singing Tim Patrick praises and acting like they didn’t completely dismiss the need for a true X receiver.
100% folks were saying that we didn’t need that true X because we already had too many weapons and only so many balls to go around. I was in those conversations. I know exactly what folks were saying. There were absolutely folks who were saying that it wasn’t an issue.
What I saw was people saying, don’t worry, Brad would figure it out. I do think some thought it was more pressing than others, but everyone agreed he needed to do something since somehow Green and Smith both got hurt while DPJ busted.
Now a lot of were advocating for very cheap solutions which may have made it seem like they didn’t want to do anything (I espoused we go cheap as well), but it was only because of faith in Brad. And what do you know, we solved it VERY cheaply.
Of course you see it in that light…lol. Not surprising at all these days.
But that’s alright, I’ll see if I can dig up some of the stuff that was said and try to post it without calling anyone specifically out. But just to make it clear, I’m not saying you specifically said anything. I don’t try to remember who said what and when. I just know what was said because I was pretty darn adamant in saying we needed a “True X Receiver” and got a lot of push back from some folks.
Again, it’s more about so many people spending all that time agonizing over it, and for what? That’s why I posted in the first place. I always thought it would be an easy fix, and so it proved.
