WhoDeyRevolution

Let The Lack Of Signings Begin.

There are a number of things that have been a constant during the Mike Brown Era. Losing. Frugality. Fan Disrespect. Going along with those general issues, Mikey Boy does not sign top flight free agent talent. I think there a couple reasons for this. His nonexistent scouting department doesn't produce a good evaluation of newly free players from around the league. Maybe it's because he despises paying good players top dollar when he can just draft 10 guys and then pay them very little until they possibly become good a couple years down the road. At which point he cuts half of them loose because they ask for a huge pay raise. And also, let's not forget that players are aware of Brown's shortcomings and even if he did offer them fair market value, they probably say no thanks because they don't want to become embroiled in Mikey's world of cost cutting and defeatism. So with all that, I think we all know Mikey Boy isn't going to explode onto the scene Friday with a big name signing. We can hope for it, staying up late at night fantasizing about Brandon Marshall wearing the stripes, but we all know deep down that the Matt Jones signing will be the only one at WR.

Of course, there is one WR out there that if Mikey really wanted to drive me off the cliff of insanity, he would give a deal to. Terrell "sunshine on my goddamn shoulders" Owens. Please don't sign him. He's really old and not nearly as good as he used to be. I'd much rather have no new receivers than that receiver.

Don't Worry Everyone, Keiwan Ratliff Has Entered The Fold

I know this isn't an epic Hobspin Mailbag. But when Hob is forced to spin a Keiwan Ratliff signing into another sound Bengals maneuver, I'll be there.

Keiwan Ratliff has seen the Cardiac Cats up close.

Keiwan Ratliff: Amateur Zoologist.

Two years to the day the Bengals cut him, he was in the Steelers secondary back on Sept. 27 at Paul Brown Stadium for the first of Carson Comeback’s winning last-minute drives in the Bengals’ 23-20 win secured on 71 yards, the last four coming on wide receiver Andre Caldwell’s touchdown catch with 14 seconds left.

Umm, what? Maybe Hobson's brain isn't bound by the same constraints as the rest of ours. Because if that sentence sounds right to him he obviously is working on a whole different plane of reality. Hobson's writing is like Quantam Physics. His style doesn't exist until you are looking directly at it. The rest of the time when you aren't paying attenting it resides in an alternate universe as a group of atoms. 

Thoughts on Weeks 1-6

Hey there WDR readers, I haven't been writing much recently, did you miss me?  No?  WELL I WASN'T ASKING YOU ANYWAYS.

Now that we have that out of the way, here are my quick thoughts on the current state of Bengaldom (Hobson, Bengals.com) through the first 6 weeks of the season.

The "Real Fans" Argument: People come on this site all the time and claim that the writers and comrades of the Revolution aren't "real fans" because we want the Bengals to change their management decision-making personnel and process.  Then there are others who are angry that the team magically seems to have more "fans" whenever the team does well.  To them I say, relax.  We are talking about sports here.  This is not 'Nam.  Sports are a distraction from real life, something to enjoy. People enjoy supporting a winner.  That is why WDR exists - to try and force the Bengals to change how they do things so the team wins more often.  Let's take out the personal attacks and agree that we all want the same thing - for the Bengals to win football games. 

The "4-2 Record Means the Revolution is Over" Argument: The NFL is designed to promote parity - every team is hypothetically doing everything they can to get an edge.  The league is absurdly competitive.   Take a look at the Titans - from 13-3 last year to an embarrassingly putrid 0-6 this year.  The margin of error that results in wins and losses is razor thin.  To win, teams need to do everything they can to get an edge.  Is WDR pleased that the Bengals are 4-2?  Yes, yes and yes.    But could the Bengals be doing more to ensure that these wins continue, perhaps (GASP!) into the playoffs?  YES.

Nice Call, Mike Brown

As we detailed yesterday, the Bengals should keep both DeDe Dorsey and Brian Leonard.  The reasons are obvious - both have skillsets not readily available on the open market while fullbacks Chris Pressley and Fui Vakapuna are players who can either A) make the practice squad or B) are easilty replaced.

Well, the Bengals announced their 53 man roster today, and Joe Reedy says both DeDe and Leonard made the initial cut.  We're not afraid to say when we think the Bengals get one right, and this is one of those cases. 

So, nice work, Mr. Redeemer, sir.

Bengals Pass On Chance To "Say Thanks"

Last week, Hamilton County Commissioners learned exactly how much trouble the stadium fund will be in the next few years...and the news was worse than expected.

Over the past decade, the Bengals have had multiple chances to improve their status in the community, and every single time, they have failed to capture an opportunity to show their fans and the citizens of Hamilton County one simple thing:  We're in this together with you. 

Now, Hamilton County, and more importantly the citizens of Hamilton County, need some kind of solution to fill a gap that could reach $92 million by 2014.  At the very least, $13.2 million in 2010 if the tax revenues decrease by two percent. 

While the Bengals have claimed they have 'not talked to the county yet', be sure that informal talks have been on-going and persistent. 

The Bengals, once again, have been presented with an opportunity to build an incredible amount of public goodwill.  Once again, they will likely stay silent.

Congrats Andre, You're #6!

Not only in the 2009 draft, but as of today Andre moves into 6th place all by himself on the list of longest rookie holdouts in the Mike Brown era!

Since the Brown family apparently has no plans to pay you based on your slot (like every other NFL team would have done weeks ago), I see no reason why you can't ride this out well past John Copeland and Akili Smith, maybe even dethroning your cousin Justin at #1.

Mike Brown to Alvin Keels: I Got Your Slotted System Hangin'

You've probably seen the news by now that 49ers 1st rounder Michael Crabtree has threatened to sit out the season and reenter the 2010 draft if the team doesn't acquiesce to his contract demands.  At this rate, Andre Smith won't need to make the threat, it will happen organically.

From Joe Reedy:

According to parties familiar with the negotiations, the Bengals have offered of $33 million. That's $5.25 million less than what the seventh pick, Darrius Heyward-Bey, signed for with Oakland.

That contract is complicating negotiations between the Bengals and Smith, who was selected sixth.

Heyward-Bey’s deal has a base of $38.25 million, with $23.5 million guranteed. That contract is an increase of over 20 percent from what last year’s seventh overall pick made.

Vernon Gohlston, last year’s sixth overall pick, signed for $40 million.

It goes on...

Smith's camp is looking for something slightly higher than Heyward-Bey's deal. The sides had not talked since Monday as of this morning. (Emphasis mine)

This, my good friends, is almost unthinkable.  The NFL has a terrible, awful, flat-out dumb system for signing draft picks.  Nonetheless, it is the system.  Each pick gets a contract that falls somewhere in between the guy picked ahead of him and the guy picked behind him.  Sometimes, it comes closer to the person picked in front of him.  In some situations (like this one), it should come closer to the guy picked behind him, considering that fifth pick Mark Sanchez is a quarterback.  But always, the advertised total value of the package is in between the range given.

(Note:  there are times when someone gets an better contract than the person picked in front of him.  This is a rarity and is generally because of front office stupidity.  See Darrelle Revis's contract from 2007.  Even in this case, the advertised, base package fell into the proper range.) 

Why Bengals management feels that Andre Smith signs a contract less than that of the guy picked behind him is beyond me.  Maybe it's because Smith's agent, Alvin Keels, is handling his first 1st round pick.  If he agrees to a deal less than Heyward-Bey's, it will also be his last 1st round pick.

Also worth mentioning is that the two sides hadn't talked since Monday morning.  Not as if this is worth wasting time on though, right Mikey?  There has to be plenty of Denny's in the Georgetown/Lexington area to check out!  Plus, it's not as if Andre is known as lazy and slightly unstable, I'm sure he's working hard down there in Alabama to make sure he's in camp shape!  He'll be ready from snap one!

The only real question left - Will HBO still be around to film the scene where Andre signs and then rushes out to practice?

I Hope Mike Brown Doesn't Read the Memphis Commercial Appeal

Frightening news from Memphis.  Grizzlies' owner Michael Heisley has let a few college scouts go.  And by a few, I mean every single one of them.  According to Geoff Calkins, the team decided to let go of all five of their scouts in order to cut costs.  General manager (and frequent target of Simmons' scorn) Chris Wallace said of the move, "I prefer a smaller group."  That sounds like it could come from the mouth of a certain general manager/head scout/owner/Redeemer here in Cincinnati, doesn't it?

To be totally fair to the Grizz, Calkins does somewhat concede Wallace's point that scouting in the NBA is totally different than scouting in the NFL.  A team only makes a few picks a year, and the top few players are totally obvious to anyone who follows basketball.  At least the Grizzlies have somewhat of an excuse, unlike another wildly unsuccessful sports franchise named after an aggressive animal.

However, as Calkins rightly points out, you can't claim you're "building through the draft" with a straight face if you have a bare bones scouting department.  God, this all sounds so familiar, doesn't it?

In a completely related story, the Grizzlies were founded in 1995 and have yet to win a playoff game.

An Overview of the Bengals Cap Strategy: 1) Dream Small & 2) Give Big Middle Finger to Fans

Because beating a dead horse is awesome (and it's the premise of our entire site), let me drag up an old post by Showtime on the Bengals salary cap strategy.  The main point is the Bengals don't take advantage of a "glitch" in the system like most teams that actually care about winning do (aka, the entire NFL ex Arizona) because it raises the amount they HAVE to spend.

The "glitch" allows teams to rollover unused cap space from one year to the next so if they want to spend a little more in the future to sign/retain key players they will have a higher salary cap to work with.  This also raises the salary floor, though, which is a percentage of each team's salary cap.

Raising the floor clearly terrifies the Bengals much more than being able to spend more without adverse cap hits and, as this Football Outsiders post notes:

Arizona and Cincinnati have historically never rolled over unused cap space

...they just don't even bother to rollover cap space.  So let's actually look at the numbers here to see exactly what's going on.

JJ Cooper is a Handsome Scholar

Because I can't do it any more justice, the full text of a post by JJ Cooper at FanHouse:

If the Bengals needed any more evidence that Mike Brown is lining his pockets at the expense of the team's success, here it is.

Mike Brown is one of the worst owners in the NFL. Dan Rooney is one of the best, but guess which one gets paid more?

As has been reported for a while, Mike Brown has made a bonus of at least $1 million in each of the past 18 years on top of his salary. Brown and four other members of his family earn salaries of at least $700,000 a year. Altogether the family received $50 million from 1994-2000.

Those salaries are for running one of the most inept franchises in football. The Bengals have had one winning season in Brown's 18 years of running the club. On the other hand, Rooney has made $2.2 million over the past year and a half, which became public when he accepted the ambassador post to Ireland. To break that into a yearly salary it's $1.5 million. He will get a little less than $1 million as severance as he heads overseas.

It's hard not to feel for Bengals' fans. They're stuck with an owner much more concerned with cashing checks and running a jobs program for his family than with winning football games. There are other Rooneys who work in the Steelers front office as well (Art Rooney II and Art Rooney Jr. both work on the staff), but the team's football operations are run by Kevin Colbert and contracts are negotiated by Omar Kahn. With the Bengals, most decisions are kept all in the family.

I know this will be shocking information to many of you.  Our Mike Brown, more concerned about money than having a competent staff around him?  No!  And Dan Rooney, that rapscallion, doesn't make nearly as much?  It must be a lie!