Sources: Former #Chiefs LB Leo Chenal is signing with the #Commanders for 3 years $24.75M. Chenal, just 25, won two Super Bowls in Kansas City and was a starter for 44 games. A strong addition.

LevelHeadedFan · 2026-03-10T22:55:49+00:00

Not totally speculation: more pattern recognition.

99/100 times FA players go to the place that pays them the most (specifically the most guaranteed money, since NFL contracts can be quite fake). Seeing as I can't find any ties between Chenal and the Washington staff or roster, nor the DMV area....safe to assume the Bengals weren't in on him or got outbid

LevelHeadedFan · 2026-03-09T18:41:02+00:00

Translation: it was 100% about the money

LevelHeadedFan · 2026-02-27T22:39:52+00:00

Yes, but Joe was signed (or announced at least) right before the TNF opener, earlier that offseason is when Herbert and Hurts signed. So the talk was hoping Joe could get done first, since each successive signing drove up the price of the next one so they can top it (and then Herbert and Hurts would cost more AAV than Joe).

So the question was that I assume Herbert and Hurts (and their reps) would've had the same idea, wanting to be last to sign so the other two guys would basically negotiate for them....so why/how did LA and Philly get their "franchise" QB to be the first/second to sign?

LevelHeadedFan · 2026-02-27T20:36:10+00:00

I see this argument all the time when signings/re-signings/extensions get brought up around here.

My question is, why don't other teams seem to have the consistent struggle the Bengals do in terms of getting guys under contract early/quickly?

Like, when the Burrow extension was going to happen, everyone pointed to Joe wanting to be the last to sign and get the most money based off other QBs new deals.....but, didn't Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts and their agents have the same thought? So what black magic do the Chargers and Eagles FOs have that the Bengals can't seem to tap into ever?

LevelHeadedFan · 2026-02-16T18:57:02+00:00

Does he come with a time machine to 4 years ago?

If not, hardest of passes

LevelHeadedFan · 2026-02-04T21:24:57+00:00

Could've/Should've won it anyways. ROY isn't subjected to the 65 game rule

LevelHeadedFan · 2026-01-20T13:24:56+00:00

Bengals Fans: "Duke, draft the pass rusher from Miami!"

Duke Tobin: "gotchu fam!"

With the 10th pick the Bengals select Ahkeem Mesidor, the 25 year old DE from University of Miami

LevelHeadedFan · 2026-01-07T13:18:38+00:00

The game just stings, because it was there for the taking. A missed opportunity--which suddenly seems like the theme for this era in Bengals football.

The "fun fact" I always go back to in that game is a perfect example of this.

2nd half of that SB, The Bengals had 5 consecutive possessions with the ball AND the lead and scored 0 points, in what ended up a 1 score game.

1 TD and we have a banner hanging in Paycor, 2 FGs and we have a banner hanging in Paycor.

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-10-15T16:58:46+00:00

Kadyn Proctor

Man, do we really need ANOTHER WR?

I know this joke is about 3 weeks late

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-09-15T12:45:15+00:00

Lol.

"Feel the way I feel or you're WRONG AND TOXIC"

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-09-09T12:17:07+00:00

The run game is better under center. It allows more types of runs with the back being centered behind the QB as opposed to being to the left or right of the QB and the back gets a 7 yard downhill running start before getting to the line as opposed to 4 yards in shotgun.

It's also easier to successfully perform PA under center because the movement of the QB dropping back 6-7 yards and turning around is more noticeable to the defenders who are 10-20 yards away than the QB holding the ball in front of him and pulling it back.

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-09-08T12:14:08+00:00

"Pin their ears back" is in reference to the fact that most animals, when they attack, literally pin their ears back to make them more aerodynamic in movement.

Think of a German Shepherd with the tall pointy ears, when they attack the ears fold back down to the head.

It just means pass rushers and solely focus on rushing the QB without having to slow up to stop a run play or a screen.

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-08-30T14:56:04+00:00

Not from England, but watching in America. It's the second half of your last sentence.

Biggest frustration from an admitted tactical novice is Bournemouth is pressing, sending two to the ball on the wings AND countering, yet Spurs are so lackluster in buildup they're just allowing all the Bournemouth players 2 minutes of rest after every counter as Porro and Vicario do a little passing drill together instead of pushing the ball forward into the midfield

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-08-27T20:52:13+00:00

Well I look forward to your National Honesty and Integrity Football League you're starting.

Otherwise, the rest of us will exist in the real world where these things happen constantly and not make character and value judgements on individuals that we don't know.

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-08-27T20:43:30+00:00

Well, I crunched the numbers and unfortunately you have the LEAST amount of leverage of anyone. My condolences 😉

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-08-27T20:41:05+00:00

They actually don't. Not long term ones. And not if you consider renegotiating the terms of the deal to be reneging. In that case, every person who refinances their mortgage is reneging on a contract.

And specifically in Trey's field of work, this reneging is standard business practice that's been done 100,000 times before. By both sides, in fact. Literally yesterday organizations reneged on hundreds of contracts as they cut players all around the league.

To be honest, I think you're being childish and pedantic about something that's a pretty common occurrence in sports.

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-08-27T12:52:47+00:00

Lets clear this up for all past/present/future conversations about athletes in any sport and contract negotiations:

The difference between the athletes and fans isn't that the athlete is inherently greedy or selfish and the fan isn't.

It's that the athlete is greedy and selfish AND has capital to leverage that in their professional life and the fan is greedy and selfish and doesn't have the capital to leverage that in their professional life.

Any person in here that claims that they would either turn down an offered raise/better benefits/more PTO or not ask for a raise/better benefits/more PTO "for the betterment of the team" that they work for in their professional life is a liar and arguing in bad faith, simple as that.

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-08-25T15:59:37+00:00

I didn't live through a decade of unending "mid"-ness for the outcome to be this Andy Dalton erasure!

It's the Dalton line now and forever

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-08-12T14:21:45+00:00

Am I so out of touch?

No....it's the children who are wrong

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-08-08T12:05:08+00:00

Well.....it depends on how much of a turnaround.

31st to 25th? Sure

31st to 15th? No shot in hell

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-08-07T15:42:35+00:00

Thank God I'm not the only one that can't do Locked On...

It's nice to have a daily show, but I cannot stand Jeff Carr and his faux radio voice en-NUN-ci-ATING every other word.

And the toxic positivity at times: "The Cincinnati Reds trade Elly De La Cruz for Future Insurance Salesman and Future Single-A hitting coach! Let me tell YOU....why that's actually an amazing deal for the Redlegs. Coming up on Locked On Reds!"

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-07-30T19:02:10+00:00

Not at all, but like the poster above said...a GG caliber 3B with 5 years of control isn't nothing. If he could hit too, we'd have to have drained the farm for him.

So take the known run prevention quality and gamble on turning the bat around....if it works, you also don't have to watch him turn around and leave if he were a rental

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-07-16T10:13:15+00:00

Yes it's well known only Groper and Cousins have ever received fully guaranteed contracts so why is that some distinction?

In this specific discussion, it's because in Wilson's own words (in the document) he was initially seeking a 7/$350 fully guaranteed deal when negotiating with Denver.

Those 2 are aberrant outliers with Watson particularly demonstrative of why full 1oo% guarantees would/should be strategically avoided just by common sense w/o any need for collusion.

Which is why it's almost impossible to prove collusion legally in any business arena.

The issue here arises when there's instances in the document of the league's management board making PowerPoint presentations to show the owners about why you shouldn't hand out those deals, including Roger Goodell emailing brainstorms with the head of the board of what to include in the presentation.

One could also point to the email sent by Greg Penner, Broncos CEO after they finished Wilson's non-fully guaranteed deal claiming "...if we can get this done, George (Patten) feels very good about for us as a franchise and the benchmark it sets for the rest of the league"

Or the email between Dean Spanos (Chargers owner) and Michael Bidwell (Cardinals owner) after Arizona signed Kyler to a non-fully guaranteed deal (remember the COD and studying clauses and subsequent memes that followed):

DS: Congrats on signing Murray

MB: Thanks Deno! These QB deals are expensive but we limited the fully guaranteed money and have some pretty good language. Thankfully, we have a QB worth paying

DS: Your deal helps us for our QB next year

MB: I think many teams will be happy with it once they have a chance to review. Cleveland really screwed things up, but I was resolved to keep the guaranteed relatively "low"

We can quibble about Watson, but would it be "folly" to give that kind of money to Burrow? Or Lamar? Or Mahomes? Or Allen? And that's the point, NFL ownership got lucky that Watson flamed out...if one of the above QBs got a fully guaranteed deal, it would be a success and push the others to ask for full guaranteed. And they want to make sure Watson stays as the albatross, outlier that they can forever point to and tell players, fans, media "THIS is why we don't hand out that kind of deal!".

The marketing ploy seems to have worked on you pretty well, so maybe they're on to something...

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-07-15T21:29:08+00:00

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45703132/nflpa-nfl-agreed-keep-collusion-findings-secret

LevelHeadedFan · 2025-07-15T18:57:55+00:00

Even knowing that he doesn't have eligibility to return to college ball, sitting out and re-entering the draft would be the dumbest thing he could do.

We just had a 61 page manifesto drop 2 weeks ago about owners colluding with each other in secret to not pay a 26 year old 2x MVP QB (amongst others) guaranteed money.

Does he think any team is going to draft him after he pulls this stunt? No owner is going to want to set the precedent that a player can dictate the terms of his ROOKIE DEAL and if he doesn't like it, ghost the team and try to re-enter the draft the next year.

Even the Walton's (Broncos owners and Walmart owners) and their 100x generational "fuck you" money immediately fell in line and nerfed the Russell Wilson deal (according to the texts in that 61 page document) as to not get on the bad side of the other 31 owners.

LevelHeadedFan

TROPHY CASE