Bengals Cut The Cord On Nelson

[CJD]

I think Iloka was the better choice.

He's only 25 and will be entering a third contract at 30. Nelson is turning 33 in the first month of the regular season and probably only has 2 to 3 years left in him.

I will say that safeties age better than just about every position in the NFL outside of special teamers, so if Reggie were to go unsigned for a bit, I could see us throwing him a 2 to 3 year deal at a reasonable price of 2-3 million per year.

That said, signing Nelson to a big money deal would have been like re-signing Andre Smith, even though we have two 2nd year OTs waiting to become starters.

Between Shawn Williams and Derron Smith, we'll be fine.

We still need to re-sign Brandon Williams and, ideally, Vinny Rey and perhaps Pat Sims if the money is right.

Overall, this has been a good free agency period.