Bengals Banter: SB Nation Launches Regional Hub Sites
by Josh Kirkendall on Jun 7, 2010 9:50 AM EDT
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PrintSB Nation's weekend was a busy one. On Sunday, the company launched regional hubs for respective cities, such as Chicago, Boston, DC, Detroit, Arizona and New York with scheduled launches for Houston, Dallas, Kansas City, St. Louis, Minnesota, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle and the Bay Area (Oakland, San Francisco). The New York Times covered the launch. SB Nation's Jim Bankoff announces the launch on SBNation.com. It's very exciting.
Before you ask, no, Cincinnati isn't one the list yet. Even though we have a decent connection to college sports, Cincinnati only has two professional sports covered in the major sports categories. I'm sure in time we'll get something rolling; but for now, we're with the status quo.
+ Shayne Graham likely wanted more money, according to Joe Reedy, and the relationship between player and team "went south" after Graham was hit with the franchise tag.
The benchmark that Graham was looking at was the contract signed by Oakland’s Shane Lechler, who avoided being tagged when he signed a four-year, $16 million contract to make him the top paid kicker/punter in the league. Based on his percentage of field goal accuracy, Graham and his agent, Rob Roche, were looking at that deal and St. Louis’ Josh Brown. Both believed that Graham should be one of the top two paid kickers in the league.
The Bengals did not see it that way, but still had a fair deal. Their last offer would have made Graham one of the top five paid kicker/punter in the NFL and would have been similar to Chicago’s Robbie Gould’s, which averages around $3 million a year. It also would have been more than the $2.483 million Graham earned last year. It was a proposal that Graham did not like, calling it “a discount” to friends.
+ With Bengals games included, the annual combined economic impact of attractions in and around Cincinnati nears $1.1 billion.
+ Would you take a chance on 10-year veteran Adalius Thomas, who is still a free agent?
+ Don Banks remembers two plays during non-replay eras that helped usher in two ages of instant replay reviews.
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Regional sites?
It isn’t clear how these regional sites are going to be different from the one’s on SB Nation. Are we talking more bloggers? Or a reorganization of what is out there by region rather than sport?
I would pass on Thomas
Before Rey, Thomas would have been an excellent signing. But with Rey, MJ and Jeanty here, there is no need. I don’t think we have a logjam at the position but adding THomas, who would want a chance to start at least, would create one. I am happy with the depth at every position in the front seven right now, and I don’t see a reason to add an expensive guy with no noticable improvement who could slow the development of our talented guys.
Competition?
Wouldn’t it be worth it just for the competition before the season starts? With no salary cap and the way contracts are wrote, you could ditch the worse player before they start the season without owing the full amount of the contract.
My thinking....
I could see giving him a deal for the minimum. I don’t know that we have much room for him. He could come in and see where he is when the dust clears. Just like a lot of the other signings, I definitely wouldn’t promise him anything. I wouldn’t go much over league minimum though.
And Shank Graham
Is not worth the money for one of the top two kickers in the league. I can’t even believe the Bengals even offered him the deal they did. Not worth that either…. Pathetic!
I wondered If that was just Mikey Boy, Marvin or both?
I am not so sure WHYUS. I think Graham is going to be solid in his new enviornment.
Kicking FGs, especially in tight situations is 90% mental. He disappointed his teammates and was just thinking too much. If they can somehow help him repair his damaged psyche he can be a very good kicker. He is IMO better than anyone we have on the roster. Decent kickers are all over the place – good kickers are at a premium. This may be a move we will regret.
"If we always agree, one of us is not necessary"
all it takes is one important miss and
Shazaaaaam!! The psyche is broke again. Shank will have to prove to most of his new fans that he can do it and his new teammates, which will be disappointed in him too.
And I won’t regret it one bit. It was time to move on b/c good kickers make at least some of the clutch FGs and they would be worth the asinine money he was wanting…
I will not argue that Graham has his problems
What I am worried about is our situation here in Cincy. They guys we have here are more suited to the teams we used to have – not he one we have now. The appear at this point to be mediocre players on a potentially very good team. At least Graham made the meat and potatoes kicks with a high rate of success. Our current guys have not shown they can even do that at this point.
What I do not want to see is ML choosing to go for it on 4th and 8 from the 35 because they have a better chance of converting on 4th down than making the FG and I certainly don’t want to to see a punt into the end zone from there either. I see that situation coming up several times in close games where 3 points can make a difference. I see this as a real problem.
"If we always agree, one of us is not necessary"
Hummmmmm,
What I do not want to see is ML choosing to go for it on 4th and 8 from the 35 because they have a better chance of converting on 4th down than making the FG
Like we should’ve last year on the critical misses. We had a better chance to go for it than have the Shankster miss it. Look at all of the 4th down conversions we made last year.
I understand our concerns about the kicking, but the same situation exists with the other kickers we have now as you mentioned that Shank has with Baltimore. (mental) They gave the Shankster a chance and he blew it. So give Nugent a chance, he was a really accurate kicker once too.
That was my point WHYUS
The smart, and most, reliable action in the situation described is to go for the FG and get the 3. We couldn’t do it last year and both of the kickers in camp have a significantly lower percentage than Graham. Graham at least got us the meat and potatoes FGs. I am not confident that the guys we have can even do that. Here is to hoping they are better than I think they are.
"If we always agree, one of us is not necessary"
Wish I could be so awesome as to thumb my nose at three mil a year to kick a freaking football...
…AND MISS WHEN THE TEAM IS COUNTING ON ME TO MAKE THE FIELD GOAL.
Douche.
by Craig Conrad on Jun 7, 2010 12:36 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
no doubt, Prag
the arrogance of the Shankster is simply hilarious. he feels he deserves to be the Top paid kicker as the top choke artist in the NFL….
3 yards and a pile of dust
+1
If you ever met the guy you would understand Hude’s point
In Zim We Trust......Collaros for Heisman
by TennBengalfan on Jun 7, 2010 2:24 PM EDT up reply actions
If he wanted to be payed top kicker money there should be a clause in his contract!
Anytime you miss a FG you lose $250,000. If however that field is a game winner or reflects in the outcome of the game you lose 1 million dollars. He would be in the negative before we even reached game 10. Stupid Ginger
A Discount? HELL NA!!!
He was lucky to get a deal at all in my opinion from anybody! He made all the kicks that didn’t mean anything towards the game and missed all that were clutch, can you remember the last clutch FG he made? I give praise to our front office (Becoming a more common thing) that they didn’t offer up more to this chump, I hope they (the Ravens) botch a snap and he has to pick it up and run vs us and somebody like Rey Maualuga gets a lovely clean hit on Shank. I sat there on that night against the Jets in the playoffs for his first FG attempt, and the whole house said in sequence “He will miss it” and what do ya know!!! He even performed an encore later in the game that could’ve kept us in the game….Jeeeez im glad he is gone……next stop….see ya Marvin…in Zim we trust!
In Zim We Trust......Collaros for Heisman
and before you say the last cluthc FG he made was vs the Browns in overtime...
Half the country thinks he missed it anyway, an easy FG and he made it scary.
In Zim We Trust......Collaros for Heisman
by TennBengalfan on Jun 7, 2010 2:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Discount? What discount?
If that’s the case, then the deal he actually signed with Baltimore is a fire sale.
Happy Shane is Gone from Cincy
But still concerned about his replacements are not going to be any better. For all his faults, the guy lived like a rock star. Liked nice cars and fast toys and nice stuff. Plus, he could eat more food than most linemen!
Have faith my friend
I hope Nugent can get back to his Ohio State days
In Zim We Trust......Collaros for Heisman
by TennBengalfan on Jun 7, 2010 4:48 PM EDT up reply actions
it should help
a major part of kicking is psyche. and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in ohio that doesn’t love nugent. he was a god at OSU, and there’s a ton of bucks fans in this state. having that kind of fan base and a good kickers coach in simmons should bring him back.
think about this, since we’ve had simmons, who was our last bad kicker? rackers one bad year?
RIP Slim.
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