Gotta Keep Building through FA

[*ochocincos*]

(10-05-2020, 11:30 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: Its too early to say. We have some huge holes that will open up

WJ3, Mackensie Alexander, Leshaun Sims , Torry Mctyer, and Tony Brown (RFA) are all FA. Thats like all of our CBs other than Waynes and Phillips.

Could be major turn over at WR too which wouldn't be ideal for a young QB. AJ, Ross, Erickson, and Thomas will all be FA.

Add in those cuts and we are only 20mil under the projected cap and we have to replace all these guys...

It will be tough

WJ3 would be my priority for re-signing. The pass defense is actually good this year. WJ3 and Bates are the biggest contributors to that.
Lawson is worth extending too, but only to a point.

I would bet though that re-signing both of these guys would eat up the available cap the Bengals would have for outside FAs.
So cuts/trades/restructures might have to be made for this team to push for playoffs next year.

The Bengals need at least 1 upgrade on OL, and one could argue 1-2 more beyond that. They should be able to get 1-2 in the draft, but that'd be taking away from other positions. So addressing in FA might be needed.

Moving on from Atkins and Dunlap would free up ~$20 mill in cap space for 2021. $13.5 mill would be freed up for 2022.
To me, this year is big for both of them to justify keeping them at their contract amount.