Cap space

[*ochocincos*]

(02-08-2022, 10:30 AM)mikey6866 Wrote: Reiff 2nd yr was voided the day he signed.  They structured contract to have dead money in yr 2 and is only a 1 yr year contract with 2nd yr voided.  He is UFA when FA starts.

Those numbers listed above was a generic illustration of what i thought those players AAV would be.  That doesnt mean thats what their cap number would be, that was just a generic illustration to show that we would still have a bunch of cap room with 4 "high dollar" signings.  We can also pick up another 6 million cutting hopkins if we sign a guy like bozeman.  The cap is so easily manipulated we could technically sign the 4 i listed plus all of our FA / draft picks and still be 15-20 mil under cap.  I think most fans really dont understand the cap and then they get complete nonsense articles from Hobson who has no idea how cap works and they believe its impossible to sign guys to deals.  Look around the league.  We have seen teams almost 100 million over cap and not cut any real quality players and magically be under cap.  We have seen teams with 2 million in cap space sign players to mega deals.  The brown family doesnt usually operate that way so i went for a more realistic approach where those 4 i listed would be easily signable with no real cap manipulation.  I believe we will sign Uzomah as well.  Well have to decide between Ogunjobi or Hill.  I dont think anybody really sees Apple as the long term starter, so if a team is willing to give him starter money look for him to be replaced with pick #32!!!!.  If we dont fix oline in FA the priority in draft has to be Oline.  I prefer to fix oline with young veterans because oline is hardest position to transition from college to pros, fixing oline with veterans would be my approach.  In my opinion, the oline we sign is much more important to the future success of the team than say somebody like eli apple or ogunjobi.

I didn't realize the contract was already voided. I thought Reiff had the option to do that if he wanted but he didn't yet.

I don't know if I'd be a fan of Bradley Bozeman. He's a better run blocker for sure, but he's not been consistently a better pass blocker than Hopkins.

You mention how teams can finagle the cap to fit guys in, but the Bengals don't typically do much of that. They don't restructure. Once they get a contract set, they typically leave it. About the most we can expect is a potential cut if there is a good amount that could be saved cutting that player.

I think Apple needs to be retained and still draft a CB, as teams always have CBs get injured. I wouldn't offer Apple that much. Maybe $5 mill or less. There are other good CBs the Bengals can sign for that much if Apple leaves for more $$.

What I'd expect the Bengals to do for OL:
Re-sign Spain, keeping the left side intact
Keeping Hopkins at C. He's much improved the second half of the season.
Re-sign Reiff or sign another vet FA to cover RT
Maybe draft a new, true OG on Day 1 or 2. That guy can compete with Adeniji and Carman for starting at RG.
Draft a swing OT as well to groom behind the new RT and Jonah Williams.

I think a good amount of money will be used to retain their own guys like Uzomah, Hill/Ogunjobi (maybe both), Spain, and Apple. They'll probably tag Bates if they can't come to a long-term deal before the tag deadline. Or maybe they'll let him walk, which would allow $10+ mill to go toward a FA OL. They've never paid a safety $10+ mill a year, so it's hard to tell.