Mike Hilton makes a statement

[JaggedJimmyJay]

I figure they'll find a way, either this offseason or next. I tend to believe that a lot of trends believed to be reflective of organizational philosophy are instead reflective of circumstance (perhaps moderated by organizational philosophy). We heard for years that the Bengals don't spend first round picks on the interior offensive line, only to see Kevin Zeitler and Billy Price as two IOL first round picks in the same decade. "They don't spend big on safeties" probably reflects [mostly] the fact that they haven't had a safety worth retaining for such a long time, or a free agent they've wanted/been able to land. The only example I can think of is Reggie Nelson, and they did lock him down for 4 years at $18 million in 2012 (not super comparable to Bates money, but also 9 years ago).