Last thread was at 300 comments and with free agency starting this week it is the perfect time to start a new thread.
Unrestricted Free Agents
- S Jessie Bates-Awesome player, awesome draft pick, good guy, sucks to see him leave. Sadly it just doesnt make sense financially to pay him. Bengals did a good job drafting Dax Hill last year to replace him.
- LB Germaine Pratt-Went demon mode in his contract year and is going to get paid big money as the top off ball LB. No other LB on the roster can fill what Pratt did.
- CB Eli Apple-Underrated corner who has been a serviceable starter on cheap deals. Showing this level a couple years in a row should get him a better deal this offseason. Going to be interesting with the Bengals finding a great talent in Cam Taylor Britt in the draft and having Chidobe Awuzie on the other side.
- TE Hayden Hurst-Came on a 1 year prove it deal trying to get paid and it worked out perfectly for Hurst. Hurst hasnt had a big deal in his career and as he is approaching 30 he will be looking to cash in in what could be his only opportunity to do so.
- RB Samaje Perrine-Played really well as the third down back for the Bengals. They will certainly want him back but question will be how much they can pay him.
- CB Tre Flowers-Probably the most underrated player on the roster. Played a lot of snaps and was mainly brought in to play man to man on tight ends and was the backup nickel corner.
Cap Space
- Bengals have $35M in cap space. They likely wont be able to have money to get a tier 1 caliber free agent but should be able to resign who they need and go get a few more contributors on top of resigning players.
Potential Extensions/Restructure/Releases
- Joe Burrow-Of course he will be resigned. Expect this deal to not affect this years cap too much. This will likely be announced after March. When NFL teams guarantee salary they have to place that money into an escrow account immediately. If they wait until March 31 however the Bengals will have until March 31, 2024 to put the money there.
- Joe Mixon-Duke Tobin was very candid about Mixon being a cut candidate. They could save $7M by simply cutting him which would be enough for a starter elsewhere.
- Lael Collins-Bengals could save $6M by cutting Collins. His injury is something they could want to avoid dealing with.
- Tee Higgins-Rumors have been that they are very serious about resigning Higgins. They would likely want to get that done now to avoid any issue with it next year.
