Bengals plan to use franchise tag on Justin Smith

Exactly.

We're ho-hum about our own guys, bringing in another ho-hum guy isn't going to fix much.

I do like Smith, but not with that price tag.It's not like we would be giving him 8 mil a year (well, never say never) because thats just the franchise tender for a DL. 8 mil for 1 season. A contract to Smith would have been in the 4-5 million a year range.

But maybe this is a blessing in disguise, I don't know.

how often do true difference makers at LT or DE hit the market? the truth is, almost never, hence the overpayment.

Perhaps that player is Alan Branch.

It's not like we would be giving him 8 mil a year (well, never say never) because thats just the franchise tender for a DL. 8 mil for 1 season. A contract to Smith would have been in the 4-5 million a year range.

But maybe this is a blessing in disguise, I don't know.

Oh I know, but the more I think about it the more I question whether he'd even be worth $5M or $6M per year, which is probably what he'll end up getting.

this means that tafkas is sitting in the corner, crying

I realized a long time ago that getting Smith was probably just a pipe dream...a crack pipe dream. Sigh