Lewis airing disappointment in Stacy Andrews; not paying $80 million for no Pro Bowls, a few draft picks, seems right

When any other team lets a free agent go somewhere else to colect a bigger paycheck they are considered genious (Pittsburgh). But when Cincy doesn’t want to make Justin Smith one of the top paid D-ends in the league, people call them cheap. Let’s all be honest. Of all the Bengal FA’s that left to collect a huge payday somewhere else, how many were worth it? J.Smith-NO / M. Williams-NO / L.Johnson-NO (and just had to take a pay cut already). Listen, I love T.J. but the Bengals would have been idiots to pay 9 mil a year for a 32 year old possession receiver. He will be missed but everyone can agree that Seatle overpaid. When your team goes 4-11-1, there aren’t very many players on that roster that I would be handing record deals to. Let the money walk and build up young talent through the draft.

…I would say you would find less support for Florio than might be thought. Do the Bengals have a history of not paying players who perform, as he claims? The answer there would be, no. Chad (twice), Levi, Big Willie, Jeremi Johnson, Carson, Peko, and Geathers spring immediately to mind. And in years past they paid the likes of Brian Simmons and Corey Dillon. Even TJ got paid once, after not doing a whole hell of a lot early in his career. But you can’t pay everyone, so some loss of quality players is inevitable, which is true for all clubs.

As to what they spend on other teams’ free agents, well, they gave Odom $30 million last year, and Utecht $9 million, and basically $10 million guaranteed just this year to Coles. And I seem to recall the Bengals tossing wads of bills at guys like Thornton, James, and Hardy back in ‘03 with the usual free agency mixed results. Certainly they’re not the Redskins in free agency, but they’ve been far more active in the the Marvin era than they were in the 1990s.

Now, if you want to argue that they spend their money foolishly — franchising Stacy, giving $5 million a year to Peko, paying top dollar for an over-the-hill LB like Hardy, extending Willie and letting Steinbach walk, etc. — I’ll agree completely. They Bengals spend plenty. The real problem is they don’t know what the hell they’re doing.

how could we be cheap!!!! we have no cap room left!!! mikey is just trying to get the best deal. u would do the same thing in his spot

You have to reallize that this isn’t MLB where the Yankees spend 10 time more than the Reds. Every NFL team has the same amount of money to spend. Letting mediocre players walk does not make you cheap.

Mr. Kirkendall,
i’m starting to worry about the Naufahu Tahi situation…….should we be ready for the Vikings to swoop him back up at the last minute???? the signing of tahi was a clutch move, we need a FB badly. I’d hate to lose him, he’s a heck of a FB.

‘preciate ya dude, i’ll be checking the web Friday at 5:00pm Eastern Std time……..CMON Tahi

Cheap, in this instance would more appropriately, stupid. Paying big money to the wrong guys, drafting the wrong guys in the first place, etc.

Where Mikey is accurately labeled cheap is in infrastructure and personnel. What? No indoor practice facility, which even some high school programs have? Check. A draft/talent evaluation team that can fit in a single sedan? Check plus. No cap consultant or, god forbid, a general manager? Checkmate.

Stacy Andrews was a project from the get-go, a track and field guy who kinda played football by default. Franchising him at all was stupid. Failing to get anything back from him via a trade was worse. As of now, I’m leaning towards Odom and Utecht, both, as stupid moves with money. Not trading Chad last year when the getting was good was real stupid. Holding on to him still is only slightly less stupid. Franchising Graham was stupid because you’re supposed to kick gingers not reward them.