The Cincinnati Bengals were neither the subject of nor even brought up during the latest episode of The Dan LeBatard Show with(out) Stugotz.
But that did not stop in-studio guest, former NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith, from taking a stunning and poignant shot at Bengals’ President Mike Brown.
And while we all know about the “cheap” reputation that the Brown family has around football and how they will do anything to save a buck, allegedly, this newly public insult hurled in Mike Browns’s direction is the most damning and salient criticism of all.
NFLPA discussion takes unexpected turn toward Mike Brown
The 25-minute conversation between Smith and the LeBatard crew centered around the upcoming labor dispute between the Players’ Union and the owners.
One of the major concerns for the players, stemming from that conversation and extensive reporting by Pablo Torre, is whether newly elected NFLPA Executive Director JC Tretter is ready for what is sure to be an incredible fight with the owners, who will look to claw back some of the players' revenue share.
But what we are here for now is the latest and most horrifying claim, non-illegal category, that could be attached to Mike Brown if you are a Bengals fan.
One simple question led to a brutal answer involving the Bengals owner
In what was a short, succinct question asked by Meadowlark Media’s and up-and-coming ESPN voice, Jonathan Zaslow, wanted to know, “As someone who was in the room for years of negotiations with the owners, are the owners smart?”
Smith could have said anything about the collective intelligence of the NFL owners. Furthermore, if he wanted to point out any individual CEO, he had 32 options. However, in an attempt to illustrate that some owners are not as intelligent as others, he chose Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown as the example.
“Some of them are brilliant. Some of them I wouldn't consider smart. And look, I have a high bar for smart.”
The subsequent statement makes it clear that Smith does not think Brown meets his bar for brilliance.
Smith states that during a speech, “I made the statement that Roger Goodell was underpaid. Here’s why. Mike Brown pays Roger less than three million dollars per year to be a billionaire."
If we were to translate that into French, it would sound something like, "Roger Goodell does not get paid enough to put up with Mike Brown."
That was a flame thrower aimed directly at the Bengals President, for free. And it was accompanied by a pause and a facial expression that suggests Smith thought this was an open secret that everyone would know, including Dan LeBatard.
Smith would continue, "So, as you look around the league, and there are some brilliant owners, there are some where you would say for that guy to pay a little as two million dollars a year to be a billionaire, that guy’s got a really good deal.”
We should credit Smith for saying this on the record rather than an anonymous source taking shots at the Bengals’ owner.
Nevertheless, that harsh truth, as Smith sees it, will not have fans of the Men in Stripes feeling the best as we head into a critical time in the NFL calendar with the draft around the corner and more contract decisions on the horizon for players such as DJ Turner, Dax Hill, and Chase Brown.
Will those decisions be based on saving money, poor decision-making, or both? As if we did not have enough to worry about as far as the roster construction and draft decisions go.
We knew the ‘cheap’ label, but this hits different
It is one thing to call Mike Brown cheap. As Bengals fans, we are used to that particular criticism. That said, "not smart" is not one that we have heard before. At least, not publicly and in such a matter-of-fact fashion.
If an owner is going to be cheap, they must be smart enough to play Moneyball to try to compete for a championship. If the owner is cheap and not smart enough to play Moneyball, that is a horrendous combination that only generational talent on the field can hope to overcome.
At least we know that the Cincinnati Bengals have that. You can watch the entire episode, facial expressions included, here.