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10 Mar 2010

Bengals Nab Antonio Bryant

The Bengals have given Antonio Bryant a four-year, $28 million deal.

Posted by: Bill Barnwell on 10 Mar 2010

16 comments, Last at 27 Mar 2010, 4:12am by sports-veronica

Comments

1
by tunesmith :: Wed, 03/10/2010 - 7:12pm

Broncos and Marshall might be stuck with each other...

2
by Thunderbolt of ... :: Wed, 03/10/2010 - 7:14pm

I can't imagine there's much guaranteed past the first season, for a guy with Bryant's CV.

3
by Thanos (not verified) :: Wed, 03/10/2010 - 7:14pm

So much for TO. Poor Ochocinco...

4
by .woobly doobly (not verified) :: Wed, 03/10/2010 - 7:35pm

poor antonio bryant. has he ever played on a real football team?

12
by KarlFA :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 2:43pm

The cowboys turned out to be pretty legit, I would say. Think they've got a half way decent qb, at least. Throwing a jersey at Bill Parcells probably wasn't the best idea.

Karl, Miami

5
by R. Carney (not verified) :: Wed, 03/10/2010 - 8:17pm

Poor Antonio Bryant? For what, becoming the new highest paid player in football? Salary cap or no, this is out of hand. Antonio Bryant is now making ballpark Boldin (3 yr, 25 mil), and Steve Smith (the Carolina proven good Steve Smith, 6 yr 45 mil) money. Ridiculous.

11
by AnonymousMe (not verified) :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 10:07am

Agreed. 7 million a year average is WAAAAAAY to much to pay this guy. He is almost 30 years old, has been in the league since 2002, and has only broken 1000 yards twice. He caught for 600 yards last season.

He was out of the league two years ago for god sake.

Well, thats why the Bengals are the Bengals.

13
by KarlFA :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 2:54pm

Anquan Boldin isn't any better than Antonio Bryant. Sure, he burst onto the scene as a rookie - but hasn't improved much if at all.

In the past four seasons, Boldin has had three 1000+ yard seasons - Bryant has had 2. And the difference can arguably be chalked up to the offenses they played in. Namely, Bryant's numbers probably would've been a lot better if his QB was Kurt Warner as opposed to Trent Dilfer/Alex Smith/Jeff Garcia/Josh Freeman.

Furthermore, during that period Bryant has consistently averaged more yards per reception than Boldin - on teams where he was clearly the #1 wr in an otherwise weak receiving corp, and not getting the kind of protection afforded Boldin by being paired with Larry Fitzgerald.

These guys are pretty comparable, and the argument can be made that Bryant is probably the better player (in addition to being a bigger pain in the ass). $7mm/year might just be what wrs just below the top tier get paid now.

The bigger question is, what does the next crop of very good young WRs get paid? The likes of Desean Jackson, Sidney Rice, Santonio Holmes, etc.

It's called inflation, fellas.

Karl, Miami

14
by Bowl Game Anomaly :: Fri, 03/12/2010 - 2:45am

Surely you can't be serious. Bryant and Boldin are nothing alike in terms of style, performance, or maturity. In no way is Bryant better than Boldin at anything except making longer catches, since Boldin is a possession receiver and Bryant is more of a deep threat. Oh, and at pissing off his coaches and getting cut.

6
by Hari-Kiri Bengal (not verified) :: Wed, 03/10/2010 - 8:20pm

I don't know how I feel about this. I'm thrilled to have another receiver, but that does seem like a lot of money. You'd think we could've gotten him *and* TO for that much.

7
by MilkmanDanimal :: Wed, 03/10/2010 - 9:32pm

Do the Bengals realize 2009 happened? Did they see the stats for 2008 and think that's what they were getting? Do they want Michael Clayton in a special two-for-one sort of deal?

8
by Theo :: Wed, 03/10/2010 - 9:42pm

lol he's pretty bad right?

9
by Rocco :: Wed, 03/10/2010 - 11:35pm

Is that supposed to be 4 years, 2.8 million?

10
by Arson55 :: Thu, 03/11/2010 - 2:36am

Is this where we make the default statement about a troublemaker going to the Bengals?

15
by Tom Selleck (not verified) :: Fri, 03/12/2010 - 9:46am

Bryant is a good player, but it's important to note that under Jon Gruden the Bucs offense was a one receiver offense. One guy put up great numbers every year, with no one else doing much of everything.

2008: Bryant 1248 yards, Clayton 484 yards
2007: Galloway 1014 yards, Hilliard 722 yards
2006: Galloway 1057 yards, Clayton 356 yards
2005: Galloway 1287 yards, Clayton 372 yards
2004: Clayton 1193 yards, Galloway 416 yards

Basically, when you're the only player who gets the ball thrown to you, you're going to put up some numbers.

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