Bengals Bytes (7/6): Players giving back

Bengals Give Back: 2018 Offseason Community Highlights
Here's a look at some of the community events the Bengals have participated in this offseason.

Cincinnati Bengals safety George Iloka gives his 2018 outlook for a 'wiser' Bengals team
Cincinnati Bengals safety George Iloka joins "NFL Total Access" to talk about his outlook for the 2018 season.

Bengals have 1 of PFF's newcomers most likely to make immediate impact
Will Cordy Glenn help the Bengals offensive line protect Andy Dalton better this season? The team sure hopes so or they wouldn’t have acquired him from the Buffalo Bills via trade prior to the NFL draft.

Bengals' 2018 Roster Projections: Quarterbacks
Mediocre. Static. Uninspired. Those words could be accurately used to describe the Bengals’ quarterback play in 2017. Andy Dalton continued his run of extremely average play – punctuated with occasional below-average play – as a starter last season. He developed a particularly bad habit of panicking and throwing the ball away early instead of attempting to extend plays. Yes, the offensive line was an issue, but Dalton’s poor performance wasn’t merely a product of theirs. If the Bengals want to be playoff contenders in 2018, Dalton has to perform better.

AFC North Bytes

14 Over/Unders for the Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens will begin training camp on July 19th, which is a week earlier than most teams as they have five preseason games this year. Not only is this season expected to be make-or-break for several players and coaches, but for the first time in recent memory, they appear to have a lot of depth at seemingly every position. That will force the Ravens’ brass to make several tough decisions. With training camp starting in 14 days, below are 14 Over/Unders for the 2018 season.

Brandon Boykin Retires?
Boykin, 28 next week, was a fourth-round pick of the Eagles in 2012. In 2013, he turned in a career year with 47 tackles, six interceptions, and 16 passes defended. In 2015, he landed with the Steelers and had his least productive year with just 21 total stops. He has not seen live action since, though he signed deals with the Panthers and Bears in 2016 and the Ravens in 2017.

Random Bytes

2018 NFL Odds: Full Playoff Odds Revealed for Eagles, Patriots, All Teams
The updated playoff odds for the upcoming NFL season have been released, and the New England Patriots at -1500 are the overwhelming favorites

NFL’s PED policy encourages players to snitch
While reviewing the PED policy earlier today in connection with the Julian Edelman suspension, I noticed a provision I’ve either never seen before or at some point knew about and forgot.

Pitfalls and Practicality in the Age of the QB Megadeal
The most tenuous distinction in sports over the past year has been the highest-paid player in NFL history. Since June 22, 2017, five men have held that title, based on the average annual values of their massive new contracts. It started with Oakland quarterback Derek Carr, who inked a five-year, $125 million deal that made him the first player ever to crack $25 million per season. Two months later, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford topped him with a five-year contract worth $27 million per year. Stafford’s reign lasted until the week after the Super Bowl, when the 49ers handed Jimmy Garoppolo $500,000 more per season than Stafford is set to earn from Detroit. Jimmy G would later surrender his perch to Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins ($28 million), only for Atlanta’s Matt Ryan ($30 million) to knock Cousins from the top spot within a span of two months. Sense the pattern here. No one holds onto this belt for very long.