Hobson's Choice

A look at Orlando Brown Jr.'s first day as a Bengal.

That power lunch in Midtown Manhattan Thursday where Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow met his new Pro Bowl protector turned out to be an X-and-O session with Orlando Brown Jr., as they munched on Shake Shack's high-end burgers and chicken at Brown's hotel. "He's a lot cooler," said Brown Friday of his first impression.

A year ago this week in free agency the Bengals overhauled their offensive line.

This week, as they prepare to welcome four-time Pro Bowl tackle Orlando Brown Jr., to Paycor Stadium on Friday, they solidified it.

For the fourth straight year the Bengals opened free agency with a swashbuckling move for an elite starter. Multiple sources reported late Wednesday night that the Bengals gave four-time Pro Bowl left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. a record $31 million signing bonus to protect quarterback Joe Burrow's blindside just a month after helping the Chiefs win the Super Bowl.

Thanking his parents for what the Bengals training staff calls "unbelievable genes," cornerback Chidobe Awuzie plans to go from this offseason's rehab to this season's Pro Bowl while also taking on a bigger leadership role.

It's not like the gritty old days back in High Point when she worked three jobs; one for each son that she was raising by herself. Yet, it is a bit poetic when Germaine Pratt's first call after he agreed to his new Bengals deal went to Shemeka Bland as his mother got ready to go to work.

Joe Burrow doesn't even have to roll out the cookies and crackers for prospective free agents now that March is here: just being around for a while is enough to keep some guys already here in Paycor Stadium-- just take linebacker Germaine Pratt Tuesday after he signed his three-year deal.

The Dax Hill Era has begun.

As NFL free agency began to swirl Monday, the two-time AFC finalist Bengals were true to their word when their first big move of the offseason kept one of their core stars in linebacker Germaine Pratt. Pratt, whose clutch play has earned him the nickname "Playoff P.," confirmed that he had agreed to a three-year extension.

Scott Burson, the college philosophy professor who has written a book about C.S. Lewis, and Sam Smathers, the resourceful electrician who re-built a carburetor on his kitchen table when he was 14 and hasn't stopped, have teamed up to jolt Bengaldom with the best look yet at the ever-elusive Joe Burrow.

Ken Riley II vowed he wouldn't visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame until his late father belonged and it was there on the doorstep where it finally hit him that the family's decades-long quest had ended.

The NFL's new year begins next week with the advent of free agency and even though the numbers are now in the astronomical billions, the philosophy remains grounded in the same economic principles that guided the Bengals through five straight playoff appearances from the previous decade to back-to-back AFC title game berths the last two seasons:

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor has bottled his playoff chemistry with a cork of connectivity. Whether it's between coaches and players, offense and defense, veterans and rookies, Taylor has emphasized knocking down walls and the Bengals are literally doing that this offseason as Paycor Stadium's training room undergoes a massive facelift bringing everybody even closer.

INDIANAPOLIS _ Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin says he only compares Joe Burrow, his quarterback, to Joe Burrow, a Pro Bowler and two-time winner of the AFC North. Another former Ohio State quarterback who has been compared to Burrow appreciates the comparison.

INDIANAPOLIS _ What we hear about the Bengals as we prowl the halls of the NFL scouting combine this week:

INDIANAPOLIS _ Returning Wednesday to the spot where at last year's NFL scouting combine he declared he was on the look out for "Glass-Eaters," Bengals offensive line coach Frank Pollack said Jackson Carman chewed enough chards in his two playoff starts to be in the mix at right tackle if La'el Collins isn't ready Opening Day.

INDIANAPOLIS _ If you bump into the Bengals scouts here at the NFL scouting combine, tell them they're having a heck of a decade. And how the next three drafts may have to be better than the last three as they shift from building to maintaining.

INDIANAPOLIS _ Two of the Bengals' top decision-makers met the media for the first time this offseason Tuesday at the NFL scouting combine and director of player personnel Duke Tobin and head coach Zac Taylor spoke of a different world beckoning a franchise that has become an NFL power over the past two seasons.

It's never too early for a Joe Burrow retrospective. With all the timing of a 40-yard dash, this week is as good as any with the Bengals scouts and coaches headed to the scouting combine in Indianapolis.

After moves in the last three offseasons have translated into back-to-back AFC title games, what can the Bengals front office do for an encore as it preps for next week's NFL scouting combine? In this Bengals' version of the Roaring '20s, it again revolves around Joe Burrow.

Candice Matthews Brackeen, who began inspiring change when she found out she was one of 88 black women in the country who do what she does, breaks trends much the same way she roots for the Bengals.  With an uncommon singular focus that can still distill the big picture. That's how she became the Bengals' first Inspire Change Changemaker Award winner.

Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo may not have been named the head coach in Arizona Tuesday, but "Coach Lou," returns as a centerpiece of Bengals head coach Zac Taylor's remarkably stable AFC power, as well as an immensely popular figure in a Bengals locker room where players routinely drench him with complimentary sobriquets. Such as "the mad scientist," or "the professor."

It has become increasingly clear that Team Burrow, the offensive staff Bengals head coach Zac Taylor has assembled, is staying intact as offensive coordinator Brian Callahan quoted the quotable Jim Harbaugh.

"Don't try to out-happy, happy."

PHOENIX, Ariz. _ The euphoria of the announcement and the surrealism of the luncheon have given way to the busy nuts-and-bolts of inducting a Pro Football Hall-of-Famer.  From crafting a bust to fitting a ring to finding artifacts, Ken Riley's family begins planning for Aug. 5.

PHOENIX, Ariz. _ Go behind the scenes of Ken Riley's first full day as a Pro Football Hall-of-Famer.

PHOENIX, Ariz. _ Willie Anderson shook off the disappointment of not reaching the Pro Football Hall of Fame Thursday night despite his second straight trip to the finals and echoed all of Bengaldom hailing the election of fellow Bengals Ring of Honor member Ken Riley. "I'm in a good mood because Kenny Riley is in," Anderson said.

PHOENIX, Ariz. _ Ken Riley II vowed never to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame until his father's induction. The door opened Thursday night when the Hall announced its 2023 class and the date is set for Aug. 5. That's when Bengals Ring of Honor member Ken Riley, the late, great Bengals cornerback, carries his 65 interceptions into the Canton, Ohio, shrine forever.

PHOENIX, Ariz. _ The fate of two Bengals in the finals of the Pro Football Hall of Fame balloting is revealed with the 2023 class Thursday night here during Super Bowl week's red-carpet NFL Honors and the best right tackle of this time is rooting for the best right tackle of his time.

A.J. Green may be retired from the NFL. But not from rooting for the team that drafted him a dozen years ago.

PHOENIX, Ariz. _ Even in the swirl of Super Bowl Opening Night, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo wanted to tell you what he said to Joe Burrow after he finally got the Bengals quarterback on his fourth try in last week's AFC title game.

A.J. Green, the elastic wide receiver who seemingly made the boundary lines disappear while high-pointing the Bengals to five straight postseason appearances, retired from the NFL Monday the same way he tortured AFC North defenses. With barely a word, he put a bow on his career at age 34 in an Instagram post and then let everybody else do the talking.

Our window (unlike Joe Burrow's) is closing on handing out the Bengals.com 2022 awards. So we beat Saturday's Senior Bowl kickoff and take the envelope.

A Numbers Game heading into the Bengals' offseason. Stats you'll love to see.

Down here on the corner as the locker room closes up shop, you can get a pretty good representation of the Bengals' offseason as they try to become the first team to win three straight AFC North titles. A few notes and quotes from three cornerbacks heading into different parts of the offseason.

The biggest equalizer in the NFL is the day after every team's last game. Whether you win it to avoid the first draft pick or lose it like the Bengals did in Sunday's AFC title game, the next day is always the same at 0-0.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ This is why these Bengals did what no other team did before them in franchise history with those 10 straight wins, back-to-back division titles and Sunday. Playing in a second straight classic conference championship game. This is why Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow thinks Paycor Stadium is a place to be in The Jungle's Roaring '20s