theJ Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 4 hours ago, INbengalfan said: But $6 mill per for Uzomah is pretty stupid. Why do you say that? It's TE2 money. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparky151 Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 Not many TE2s get 6 mil per. If they do it's because they were beaten out for the starting job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJ Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 8 hours ago, sparky151 said: Not many TE2s get 6 mil per. If they do it's because they were beaten out for the starting job. It's more complicated than that. Point 1: You can't really look at contracts that were signed 2 years ago. And those signed last year have to be evaluated through the lens that everything is probably 10% or more expensive this year. Inflation in the NFL doesn't pace real life. Last year you had: Eifert for 8 mil (1 year) Trey Burton - 4 years, 32 mil (8mil/year) Darren Fells - 3 years, 12 mil Jimmy Graham - 3 years, 30 mil Eric Ebron - 2 years, 15 mil Austein Sefarian Jenkins - 2 years, 10 mil (left out some of the lower value deals) The Uzomah deal is most comparable to Burton or Ebron's deal. Burton and Ebron were both guys who hadn't posted big seasons, but showed some flashes. Burton hadn't had the chance to start for a full season, and Ebron had underperformed on a lousy offense. Both were signed to deals that weren't top of market, but put them in the top 10 in terms of APY. Likewise, Uzomah hasn't had a chance to start, and has played his most significant time on some pretty lousy offenses. His deal puts him in the barely in the top 15 in terms of APY. But again, that's comparing against contracts signed several years ago. Guys like Vance McDonald, Jack Doyle and Evan Engram would get a larger deal today if they were up. Point 2: A 3 year/18 mil deal isn't going to stop them from drafting a guy if they really like the prospect. 3 years put Uzomah back on the street before the draftee is available to be resigned. So you have a team friendly deal, plus a cheap rookie deal. Result is that they've barely invested in the position, but have a functional receiver and blocker for a league average deal. Point 3: I think we can surmise the Bengals got the evaluation right on this particular contract because of one other fact - Tyler Kroft got basically the same deal in Buffalo. He's shown far less in his career. He's a worse blocker, a comparable receiver, and has been hurt more often. Point 4: The alternative to trying to bring Uzomah back was to go into the draft needing to draft 3 TE's. I don't think i need to explain why that is a bad idea. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
INbengalfan Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 (edited) 9 hours ago, theJ said: Why do you say that? It's TE2 money. Elite TEs get around 8-9. If TE2 numbers are that high, then just draft new ones in cycles, but not all at the same time (like Eifert one yeasar with the other two the next year) so you can cycle them in and out. Until we know the guarantees and structure, I guess you might be right. We shall see. Edited March 12, 2019 by INbengalfan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJ Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 Just now, INbengalfan said: Elite TEs get around 8-9. If TE2 numbers are that high, then just draft new ones in cycles, but not all at the same time (like Eifert one yeasar with the other two the next year) so you can cycle them in and out. Elite TE's got 8-9 mil a few years ago. Like i mentioned, inflation in the NFL is nuts. That's TE2 money now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJ Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 I mean, my goodness, the Raiders just made Trent Brown the highest paid tackle in the league. That ought to tell you something about the crazy inflationary numbers in the NFL. Every year there are about a dozen good players that hit FA. And hundreds of millions in available cap space. With the way teams lean on rookie contracts, vet deals are bound to keep going up and up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmittyBacall Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 32 minutes ago, INbengalfan said: Elite TEs get around 8-9. If TE2 numbers are that high, then just draft new ones in cycles, but not all at the same time (like Eifert one yeasar with the other two the next year) so you can cycle them in and out. Until we know the guarantees and structure, I guess you might be right. We shall see. If we had stability at the position I would agree with you. But one of Uzomah and Kroft HAD to be resigned. We couldn't go into the draft without any under contract. It would force us to pick for need which is never ideal heading into the draft. Uzomah got fair money for a high-end TE2. He's still young, has some upside, and doesn't have the injury concerns of the other two. I liked the resigning. This isn't the signing you should be concerned about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE DUKE Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 I'm ok with the Uzomah deal. A little more than you'd like to give him, but it's what the market dictates, and he has shown potential for more. The Hart deal? However, it was fun seeing Goodberry lose his **** on Twitter reacting to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparky151 Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 Some of you seem to think that Uzomah is a viable starting option at TE. He got the job last year by default and had a whopping 3 TDs. He's clearly a TE2. Since he's coming off a 6th round rookie deal, that's fine. But we still need a starting TE plus a blocking guy for depth (Fisher/Hewitt?). Bills signed Kroft to start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmittyBacall Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 Just now, sparky151 said: Some of you seem to think that Uzomah is a viable starting option at TE. He got the job last year by default and had a whopping 3 TDs. He's clearly a TE2. Since he's coming off a 6th round rookie deal, that's fine. But we still need a starting TE plus a blocking guy for depth (Fisher/Hewitt?). Bills signed Kroft to start. He is a viable starting option, and he has potential to develop even further. Tight ends are late bloomers in this league. Rarely do they contribute substantially within their rookie contract. And using TDs as a metric for his performance is absurd. @theJ and I explicitly said he’s being paid as a high-end TE2. There is still potential to find a TE1 in Eifert or through the draft. Worst case scenario we have Uzomah being paid a reasonable contract to fill our TE void. He’s a solid player who signed a solid contract at a position we were desperate to fill. I don’t know why we are complaining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJ Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 17 minutes ago, SmittyBacall said: And using TDs as a metric for his performance is absurd. Tyler Boyd's TD% wasn't much better last year. Guess he shouldn't get paid either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJ Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 BTW, they only targeted CJ 6 times in the redzone last year. Converted 3 of those for TD's. They just didn't make him a priority. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmittyBacall Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 8 minutes ago, theJ said: Tyler Boyd's TD% wasn't much better last year. Guess he shouldn't get paid either. Speaking of Boyd, I wouldn't be surprised if he was the next investment. Slot receivers Adam Humphries just signed for 4-years/$36 (9 per year) million and Jamison Crowder signed for 3-year/$28.5 (9.5 per year) million. It would be pertinent to sign Boyd now at that price point before he has another great year, the cap grows again, and he demands 11+ million annually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJ Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 3 minutes ago, SmittyBacall said: Speaking of Boyd, I wouldn't be surprised if he was the next investment. Slot receivers Adam Humphries just signed for 4-years/$36 (9 per year) million and Jamison Crowder signed for 3-year/$28.5 (9.5 per year) million. It would be pertinent to sign Boyd now at that price point before he has another great year, the cap grows again, and he demands 11+ million annually. I wouldn't be surprised if Boyd gets that 11mil now. He's better than those two guys, and isn't just a slot receiver. He showed he can excel outside last year. If the Bengals don't sign him, someone else will as their #1 or high end #2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmittyBacall Posted March 12, 2019 Share Posted March 12, 2019 1 minute ago, theJ said: I wouldn't be surprised if Boyd gets that 11mil now. He's better than those two guys, and isn't just a slot receiver. He showed he can excel outside last year. If the Bengals don't sign him, someone else will as their #1 or high end #2. I honestly wouldn't be opposed to offering him that 4-year/$42 million contract right now. He was legitimately our best receiver last year. Guy's a stud. I'm sure it would be tempting for him and his agent considering it's his first major contract after making peanuts as a second round pick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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