State of the Union

Well, free agency is now underway. Thought I'd take some time to reflect on the state of the union of my beloved Bungals at this time.

Last season: The Bengals shocked the world. Despite having a pretty miserable offseason (their starting qb declared that he'd rather retire (or be traded) than ever play for the Bengals again) and their starting wr demanded (for about the 8th season in a row) to be traded. They had a new offensive coordinator, but due to the labor lock out didn't give a very, very young team any time to work together. Plus, when the draft finally rolled around, the Bengals took a WR fourth overall and couldn't trade back up in to the first round to get a young qb that they had their eye on for some time. However, they did catch a break when that very qb fell to them in the early portion of round two. When their lone member of the Hall of Fame, OT Anthony Munoz, made the pick by uttering two words "Andy Dalton" for them on national TV, all things began to change.

But it didn't seem like that right away.

First, when free agency opened, they lost their best defensive player, Jonathan Joseph. Then they traded Chad Ochocinco for next to nothing. Then the preseason began and the Bengals were drilled terribly in their first few games.

They finished the preseason without one iota of hope. Yet, by midseason they Bungals were an amazing 6-2. They struggled down the stretch, finishing 9-7 and backing into the playoffs before getting blown out by Houston in the playoffs, but it was fun to watch a very young team exceed expectations.

Now comes the hard part. Putting back-to-back winning seasons together, something that has never happened for the Bungals.

And it started yesterday with free agency. Of course, the Bengals didn't make a big splash. They never do, even though they always have a ton of space under the salary cap (this year they have the second most room). Someone said they're like millionaires who are content to shop at the dollar store. There certainly is some truth to that.

It's frustrating having all that cash and a miser for an owner. He always says he's sitting on the cash to extend current player contracts, but if that's so why are negotiations with the Bengals always so difficult and rarely result in extensions. They let Jonathan Joseph walk when they had to overpay him (you have to overpay some to keep your own player from heading to more successful franchises). The same happened with Justin Smith a few years ago. Both those players - who the Bengals drafted and helped develop into strong NFL players - are now Pro Bowlers. That proves Mike Brown's hypocrisy.

But he's in real trouble now. The fanbase is so fickle and disenfranchised that even though they had a winning season and a very entertaining team to watch, the Bungals only sold out two games.

The fans are tired of his cheap ways and are simply not showing up. It looks like egg on an owner's face when they finally put a strong team together (four Pro Bowl players in the last two drafts), and the fans still refuse to show up!

So Mike Brown needs to step up his game if he wants to make any money off home games next year. Plus, next offseason the league will impose a minimum amount of money that each team has to spend. So Brown will be forced to spend money for once.

Now, to be fair, he has made some concessions. He did trade his beloved Carson Palmer when he never ever would have in the past. Better yet, he got a king's ransom for Palmer.

He has also slowly been building up his scouting staff, which has been the smallest in the NFL for years.

He didn't raise ticket prices this year when most other NFL teams did.

But we'll see if that's enough to actually produce another winner next season.

The good news is that the best and most consistent teams in the NFL don't spend tons of cash in free agency. Just see how many big ticket names the Colts, Pats, Saints, Steelers, and Pack have signed over the past five years.

Very few.

And the teams that always seem to struggle, like the Raiders and Redskins, always dole out the cash for big name free agents. And they get burned again and again.

Remember when the Redskins made Albert Haynesworth the highest paid player in NFL history? How'd that work out for them? They probably paid ten million dollars for every sack they got out of him. Bargain, right?

Truth is free agency should only be used to supplement your team. That's how the good teams use it. Look at how the Pack replenish their receivers every year through the draft. Or how the Steelers keep bringing in linebacker talent. Or how the Saints strike gold on their offensive line. All through the draft. Teams are wise to let the market settle and then get some bargains who can come in and help the younger players.

I don't know why more players don't see this logic. Does anyone really think Vincent Jackson or Cortland Finnegan is ever going to see the majority of the cash the just signed for? Finnegan will never see 50 million dollars. Jackson will either be asked to restructure his contract in two years or he'll be released.

If there's one thing to admire about the Bungals and how Mike Brown does business is that when he signs a player to a contract, a majority of the time, the player will see every penny. He is never fiscally irresponsible so he'll never ask a player to restructure a contract. He is firrcely loyal, so he doesn't cut a player when they can still be productive (just look at Ochocinco). So if you sign with Brown for say 5 years 40 million, odds are you'll be there all five years and get every cent of that 40 million. But many players are like Finnegan. He'll be with the Titans two or three years, then have to restructure or face getting cut, and only see about 25-30 million. But the flashy contracts always get the agent's attention.

So here's hoping the Bengals can land a solid running back, perhaps Michael Bush from the Raiders, and a guard (Ben Grubbs from the Ravens would be great). Then they will rely on their two first round drafts picks to help bring in more young talent (I am hoping for David Decastro to be there at 17 so he can start at the other guard position and then adda corner (Dre Kirkpatrick) or WR (Malcolm Floyd) with the 21st pick. In the second round they can get some help for the defensive line or a runningback - no need to take runners high in the draft anymore).

With a full offseason for Andy Dalton and AJ Green to gel better and with Mike Zimmer back as defensive coordinator, they'll have a top ten defense. With those blocks in place, maybe they can actually put back-to-back winning seasons together.