04-03-2020, 08:42 PM
(04-03-2020, 07:26 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: You do realize that the Bengals only have 3 players under team control right now for the 2023 season?
Tyler Boyd
DJ Reader
Jonah Williams (only if they exercise his 5th year option)
That's it. Done. That's all of their theoretical contractual commitments they have right now for when Burrow is actually eligible for an extension.
Meanwhile the salary cap will rise another $40m+ in that timeframe. That's why making contract moves to plan for something that may or may not happen 4 years from now is an absurd idea in the NFL.
If Burrow is what we all hope he is then the years the Bengals should be targeting to win it all are 2022 and 2023.
So you frontload Reader's contract and pay him in 2020 and 2021 so you have the cap-space to try and assemble an all-star team in 2022 and 2023 when Burrow is established but cheap and players want to join to win a ring.
Paying Reader now allows you to sign more of those players when you are ready to go all in.
Rebuilding teams should be frontloading contracts. It's only once your team is established and your window is closing that it makes sense to start backloading the contracts.
