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Very Important Year for Jonah Williams
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So, I'm sure a lot of people are aware of this but some may not be; the decision to pick up Jonah Williams 5th year option is coming up after this season. (You have to decide after year 3).  As the title of the thread states, this is a very important season for Jonah Williams.

Fwiw, with the new CBA, the rules for the 5th year option have completely changed.  Frankly, it's confusing as hell.  Now the amount is tied to play time and performance (Pro Bowls), so we don't know exactly how much he will cost.  As it stands right now he'd be looking at a "basic" tier.  I don't think he can reach the play time amounts even if he plays 100% of the snaps in 2021, but if he makes a Pro Bowl his number will go up a bit.  Like I said, confusing.

Anways, that's not really all that important right now.  Regardless of where he lands we can be assume he's going to be looking at an 11 million amount and up.  That's the number (at minimum) the Bengals will need to commit to after this season.  The other thing is the new rules make it so once the option is picked up, the 4th and 5th years become fully guranteed.  So, not only would you be locking him into a huge raise but you're guaranteeing those final 2 years in advance.  That's going to be a risky proposition for the team with a player with his injury history.

He's really going to have show he's worthy of this in 2021.  Not only is he going to have to stay healthy, which he obviously hasn't been able to do, but he's going to have to play at a semi-high level (top half of the league LT).  If he misses time, or if he's just average or below, then the team may very well balk at picking up his option.

I like Jonah and was pretty impressed with his play last year.  I'd love to see him show some improvement with some experience under his belt.  If he can do that, which shouldn't be that unlikely, then I think he'll be a no-brainer to pick up.  He's just got to stay on the field.  But if for some reason he can't do these things then we may be nearing the end of his time here.

I'm too lazy to do all of the research required but I think you'll find that a very small amount of 1st round picks who don't get their options picked up end up staying with the teams that drafted them.  I gotta imagine it's well less than 50% (probably more like 20%).  So we really need to root for this guy this season.  Because if he goes into year 4 without that 5th year then it's likely he's all but gone.

I thought this thread would be interesting.  I think a lot of still think of Jonah as a young guy and that we still have some time for him to live up to his draft position.  And that's partly true.  He is still young, and he's certainly capable of proving he was worthy of being a high pick.  But it's also true that the time is starting to run out a bit.  I think this year is more important than some realize.  It's put up or shut up time.  This kid needs to have a quality year or he may not be here in a couple of years.
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Very Important Year for Jonah Williams - Wes Mantooth - 06-21-2021, 10:21 AM

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