01-06-2021, 10:35 AM
AJ Green's 2020 salary + Geno Atkins' 2021 cap savings if cut before 6/1 = 27.771 million dollars.
That is so much money from 2 players who didn't really contribute that much in 2020 and that could, easily, go towards two high quality starters. For context, Jack Conklin, last year's prized Free agent Offensive Tackle, signed a 3 year 42 million dollar contract, with a cap hit of 8 million dollars in its first year (15 million of the 42 million dollar contract was a signing bonus, which split over five years [somehow the contract is considered a 5 year deal even though there is no base salary for 2023 and 2024. I don't know how the Browns managed this, but it's a cool idea], meaning his base salary of 5 million and signing bonus of 3 million dollars makes him cost 8 million, then 13 million and then 15 million in his 3 official years with the team).
I know the Bengals don't like guaranteeing those kinds of numbers but they could still afford a player of this caliber with just the cash saved from Geno's contract.
Now, they could, apparently (according to spotrac.com), save an additional 2.6 million dollars in 2021 cap space if they cut Geno Atkins after 6/1, which may be a good idea because it gives you time to work in free agency and the draft and be completely comfortable with your DT depth at that point, but it would also be a bit cruel to Geno, since it would mean he would miss the meat of the free agency period. I guess if you cut them after 6/1, you can split the dead cash over 2021 and 2022 for whatever reason...
Of course, Zac has shown that he doesn't really care about doing players favors like cutting them in time for them to see real action in free agency (See Andy Dalton, who Zac also benched on his birthday), so maybe they do wait until after 6/1 to cut him to get that additional 2.6 million dollars in cap space.
Geno may not be completely done, but I don't think he's at a stage in his career where you can justify paying him 12+ million dollars for the next two years of his career. Where we're at in our rebuild right now, we desperately need that money to sign some starters on the offensive line in free agency. If they renegotiate and cut a lot of money out of the contract, I'd love for him to stay but I don't really see that happening.
That is so much money from 2 players who didn't really contribute that much in 2020 and that could, easily, go towards two high quality starters. For context, Jack Conklin, last year's prized Free agent Offensive Tackle, signed a 3 year 42 million dollar contract, with a cap hit of 8 million dollars in its first year (15 million of the 42 million dollar contract was a signing bonus, which split over five years [somehow the contract is considered a 5 year deal even though there is no base salary for 2023 and 2024. I don't know how the Browns managed this, but it's a cool idea], meaning his base salary of 5 million and signing bonus of 3 million dollars makes him cost 8 million, then 13 million and then 15 million in his 3 official years with the team).
I know the Bengals don't like guaranteeing those kinds of numbers but they could still afford a player of this caliber with just the cash saved from Geno's contract.
Now, they could, apparently (according to spotrac.com), save an additional 2.6 million dollars in 2021 cap space if they cut Geno Atkins after 6/1, which may be a good idea because it gives you time to work in free agency and the draft and be completely comfortable with your DT depth at that point, but it would also be a bit cruel to Geno, since it would mean he would miss the meat of the free agency period. I guess if you cut them after 6/1, you can split the dead cash over 2021 and 2022 for whatever reason...
Of course, Zac has shown that he doesn't really care about doing players favors like cutting them in time for them to see real action in free agency (See Andy Dalton, who Zac also benched on his birthday), so maybe they do wait until after 6/1 to cut him to get that additional 2.6 million dollars in cap space.
Geno may not be completely done, but I don't think he's at a stage in his career where you can justify paying him 12+ million dollars for the next two years of his career. Where we're at in our rebuild right now, we desperately need that money to sign some starters on the offensive line in free agency. If they renegotiate and cut a lot of money out of the contract, I'd love for him to stay but I don't really see that happening.
![[Image: oN5QAdY.png]](https://i.imgur.com/oN5QAdY.png)
