I’m only half joking here. Is this season a bust? Yeah. 5-5 with a BRUTAL schedule coming. We are winless in the division and only have 1 win in Conference. Our franchise QB and pillar of our team just injured the wrist on his throwing hand and cant grip the ball. Looks pretty fucking bleak to me.

Can we win out? Yes. Could we still make the playoffs? Of course. Will we? Fuck no. Understand the situation at this point. Statistically there are too many negative variables to overcome. So a prudent and forward thinking franchise would pivot to 2024.

First play all the young guys we can. Time for Charlie Jones to play more in the slot. Time for DJ Turner to get more reps. Nick Scott? Peace out, chief, you’ve been replaced by Jordan Battle. When Chase Brown gets healthy bring him back off the IR and give him some meaningful carries. Don’t rush Sam back and be careful with Trent. Let Murphy cut his teeth down the stretch and reduce the wear on those guys. Carter needs more snaps at DT. Lets see DJ Ivey play some CB in spots. Yoshi should get some plays and packages designed for him when he gets healthy. Just get the young guys as much meaningful PT as possible.

We are in a good spot franchise wise. Only going to lose a few players in the next batch of Free Agency. We wont have many holes to fill. So lets get to planning.

Tag and trade Tee Higgins. I love Tee but we cant afford him. As I have stated multiple times on this board we should do whatever we can to move up to get Marvin Harrison Jr. (After you stop laughing at me, consider it) Tag & Trade Tee gets you another #1 pick. If this season keeps unfolding as it has we will have a mid tier pick. (Could be bottom half of top ten if Burrow is out extended periods of time) You package the two #1’s and go up to get him. Going to have to go into the top 3 to pull it off as its Williams, Maye and Harrison in some order. (Assuming the QBs > WRs as usual)

Let Tyler Boyd go. (Unless he wants one of those team friendly end his career here deals) Determine if Charlie Jones is his replacement. If not find a slot guy in the draft or get a cheap veteran looking for a ring to play slot mercenary for a year. (Haven’t really checked the list of upcoming WR FAs as there is SOO much talent in the draft)

Resign DJ Reader. Is he going to be 30? Yes. Do I care? Fuck no. Does the Brown family? Probably. Get over it. Guys an animal and the key to our Dline’s success. He loves it here. We love having him. Make it work.

Replace Cordell Volson. Nice kid but he’s CLEARLY the weak link upfront. He can ride the pine as a valuable bench OG who will have a ton of experience. But we need to fix that leak in the line like yesterday.

Let Awuzie go. Just cant afford him. CTB & Turner are the starters in the future with Hilton holding down the nickel for 1 more year. (Also need to draft a future Hilton replacement at Nickel CB in this draft - perhaps the cheatin Mike Sainristil from TCUN to go with Turner)

Figure out RT. Has Williams finally found his home? If so we have to pay him and I am not sure. Should we cut bait? I don’t really know other than we should have grabbed Dawan Jones for the future when we had the chance but we didn’t. So now we need to figure that out.

Get a quality TE. Irv wasn’t it. I love me some Tanner Hudson so far, but that’s only 1 guy. I assume we resign Sample again since he’s close with Burrow and has done good work this season. But there’s a hole for a playmaking move the chains guy. (Hoping its Hudson but experience tells me to look for more)

This seems like a lot when I type it out, but really its not much in the grand scheme. Play the young pups. See what we have. Evaluate and plan accordingly. Get value out of Higgins and use this deeply stocked WR draft to replace him. (Marv might be a pipe dream but Odunze, Coleman, Egbuka or Nabers) Or my secondary choice, Brock Bowers. Get the best TE since Pitts to give Burrow a best friend safety blanket for the next half decade plus. Shore up a couple of spots and keep adding quality depth. We likely have a last place schedule if the current trend continues. (The ONE benefit of the brutal AFC North)

2023 is a minor setback in this franchise’s march to the Lombardi. Lets shore up the few future question marks and get ready for Joey B to bring us back to the top in '24 .