You guys are doing great with constructive comments on the draft. I don’t agree with some, couldn’t agree more with others, but hey, that’s why I love this stuff so much. I will say this, I WANT the Bengals to prove me wrong, I WANT this massive OT from Kansas to jump in at guard and demolish Cleveland’s NT (anyone catch his name, Rogers or something?? lol) and I also WANT to have to post an apology at the end of the season for being wrong all along.
I think Rivers will contribute and getting Thurman back (if he plays at [...]

The rookie mini-camp is this coming weekend. We’ll get our first dose of how these guys look and what kind of ethic and attitude they’ll have.
As for the draft grading, I’ll stick by my grade of D. I’m going to let these guys prove me wrong, which I’ll gladly admit if so. But, as of this morning, I’m not the only one to say the Bengals drafted poorly, just the first one to say it. The Yahoo Insiders give the Bengals a D-  and ESPN gave the Bengals the #1 Losers spot in the draft.
I’m thinking it can’t be all [...]

Well, here it is Monday. The much anticipated draft came in like a lion, and went out like a sheep. We’ve been fleeced. We see a WR coming out of Florida who until the National Title game really wasn’t the biggest draw on the Florida team. With WR Caldwell out of Coastal Carolina (ok, before Saturday, who knew where that school even was?). We got a big boy for the defensive line, but he’s in trouble with the law on occasion (sound familiar?) We got a big OT from Kansas, who may turn out to be the steal of the [...]

Well, Cincinnati has now drafted two WR’s in the first four rounds (5 picks total for them). They have a new LB, new DT and new OT as well. Merril Hoge from ESPN reported Cincy’s asking price for a trade for CJ was steep, which of course it should have been. First, I am opposed to trading CJ to give in to the tactics of him and his agent. He signed his contract for long term, he needs to be a man and live up to the contract he signed. Secondly, it sends a strong message to the NFL that [...]

Updated: Seventh round pick Mario Urrutia, WR Louisville. Finally a player in this region of the draft that can at least return kicks and play on special teams.
 Seventh round pick OLB Angelo Craig, a local product from the University of Cincinnati. What a wasted pick, not because of the player, but because of the position. We don’t need a 7th round LB to come in that isn’t going to compete for a starting spot. We need OL that can provide depth and we need WR that can catch and run a route, along with a DL-man that can stop someone.
Updated: Sixth round pick TE Matt [...]

If anyone read the transcripts from Coach Lewis’ press conference yesterday, they will note the following:
- We have not received an offer for Chad Johnson from Washington
- Chad Johnson won’t be traded
2-3 hours later, we heard this from the very same lips of Coach Lewis
- We rec’d a contact from Washington in regards to Chad Johnson, and we turned it down
- Chad Johnson will count $8M against our cap in 2008 if released or traded before June 1
What does all that mean??
It means, after June 1st, when his $8m salary cap hit can be spread into 2009, expect to see [...]

This version of our mock draft takes into account the signing of #1 draft pick Jake Long, recent free agent activity, pro day workout results, rumors and retirements. Also, it’s worth noting here, that I believe Cincinnati and Kansas City will work out a trade of picking order and or an after draft trade that puts Cincinnat at #5 to ensure they can get Sedrick Ellis of USC or that KC drafts Ellis and trades him to Cincinnati.

We want to welcome bloggingdirty.com to the Fansided network of NFL fan blogs. Also, stay tuned right here to stripehype.com on Saturday for the NFL draft. We’ll have a Fansided man at the draft live blogging, sending us all the poop on the Bengals straight from the NYC and all that is the 2008 NFL Draft.

Cincinnati Bengals Head Coach Marvin Lewis stated today that he believes Chad Johnson is a man of his word. He also said, that since he believes that, Chad should sit out the entire season because that’s what he said he’d do without a  trade, and that the Bengals weren’t going to trade CJ. Check out the entire press conference from Bengals.com here:
 http://bengals.com/media/index.asp?multimedia_id=1798

Unconfirmed rumors say that Dan Snyder, the outlandish Redskins owner, has offered Cincinnati this year’s first round pick and possibly next year’s pick for disgruntled Bengals receiver Chad Johnson. Coach Lewis and Mike Brown have said they have not been contacted by the Redskins in regards to Ocho Cinco. There have also been some unconfirmed reports that Indianapolis has also contacted Cincinnati about #85, but again the Bengals won’t comment publicly on any type of negotiations.
I would think that Cincinnati won’t comment until a deal is done if something were to happen. They’re not going to take the black eye [...]