Report: Bengals are trying to sign Tee Higgins long term

[*ochocincos*]

(02-26-2024, 11:52 AM)schroomytunes Wrote: Good deal! now try to lock him up longer term on a smaller cap hit with guaranteed money, I'd also look at the Bengals to jettison some contracts now to regain some cap space:

1) Nick Scott-4.3 million
2) Chris Evans- 1.1 million
3) D'Ante Smith-1.2 million

-frees up @6.5 million and these guys can be replaced by draft picks or veteran minimum players

That's not quite right, as you need to factor in the dead cap.

Nick Scott: $4.3 mill cap hit - $2 mill dead cap = $2.3 mill savings
Chris Evans: $1.1 mill cap hit - $43k dead cap = $1.05 mill savings
D'Ante Smith: $1.2 mill cap hit - $125k dead cap = $1 mill savings
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Total savings = $4.35 mill

*Bonus - Jackson Carman: $2.37 mill cap hit - $700k dead cap = $1.67 mill savings
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With Carman gone too = $6 mill savings

With the Bengals having three guys on their OL hitting FA (Williams, Scharping, Ford), I would expect we'll keep at least one of Carman or Smith, possibly both...at least until after the draft.
Ted Karras, Trey Hill, Jackson Carman, and D'Ante Smith are all entering their final year under contract this season.
I have a gut feeling they'll draft at least one OL, possibly two.