Back on a one year deal.

https://www.bengals.com/_mobileview/news/bengals-roster-moves-cody-ford-re-signed-one-year-2024-season?

Feel free to add guys onto the list! Going to start off with 3 names.

Johnathan Allen DT 29 years Old Commanders-
2 years left on his deal.
21 mil cap hit in 2024 and 23 in 2025.
Compensation-3rd Rd pick + 5th Rd pick value

Milton Williams DT Eagles 25 years old
final year of rookie contract.
Cap hit 3.4 million
Compensation - late 3rd Rd to early 4th Rd value.

Tutu Atwell WR LA Rams 25 years old
Final year of contract
Cap hit 1.9 million
Compensation 7th Rd pick

Bengals get 2 extra 6th rounders #208 and #214 for the Bell and Perrine pick.

208 is the first comp pick of the round...Bell was expected to be a 5th round...games missed with injuries hurt

the Perrine pick was projected to be a 7th rounder

The NFL 2024 season for me kicks off with FA and Monday it starts, the 13th Wednesday players can sign FA contracts.

My wish is the Bengals would make Simmons (recently cut by Denver) their #1 off season move. He has been an all-pro safety; he can help develop our young guys and he won't count against future compensatory picks.

Is anyone else excited for FA? I attempt to temper my expectations knowing we are likely to rely more on the draft than free agents, so I am not disappointed when we idle for first week or longer. Any signing early to me is a plus.

Says the Front Office has been bringing in good people and being smart about who walks.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/the-bengals-haven-t-just-hit-homers-in-free-agency-they-re-nearly-batting-a-thousand-in-letting-guys-walk/ar-BB1jrUlx?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=9ffaaa9ff46d4088b55c571957c6957d&ei=119

Quote:CINCINNATI – After years spent as passive observers in free agency, the Cincinnati Bengals are constructing an impressive register of impact acquisitions.

But while making the right call on which players to add obviously is a key factor in roster building, deciding which players to let leave is equally as important. And the Bengals have excelled there as well.

Perhaps the line of demarcation is a coincidence, or maybe the lessons letting Andrew Whitworth and Kevin Zeitler walk out the door in 2017 is a driving factor in the sharp turn of fortunes for the Cincinnati front office.

Free Agents Who Leave the Bengals Often Flame Out
In the previous six offseasons, the Bengals have seen 25 of their free agents sign with other teams from the time free agency opened until the draft.
And they are nearly batting a thousand.

Some of the 25 spurned offers from the Bengals to go elsewhere, while some never were invited to stay. Of them, 12 signed multi-year deals with their teams.

Only one of them played out the duration of that contract, while three others are incomplete.

That means eight of the 12 (67%) were cut or traded before their contracts expired. The number was six until Tuesday when the Carolina Panthers released Hayden Hurst, who signed a three-year, $21.8 million contract last March, and the New York Jets parted ways with C.J. Uzomah, who left Cincinnati after the 2021 season to sign a three-year, $24 million contract.

Uzomah never came close to matching the production from his career year in 2021 with Joe Burrow when he logged 49 catches for 493 yards and five touchdowns. In two seasons with the Jets, Uzomah caught 29 passes for 290 yards and three scores and earned $16 million.

The Bengals replaced Uzomah with Hurst for $3.5 million.

Hurst caught 52 passes for 414 yards and two touchdowns in his one season in Cincinnati. The Panthers gave him $13 million in guaranteed money as part of his three-year deal, and due to injuries and a dreadful offense, he managed just 18 catches for 184 yards and a touchdown before Carolina let him go.

The other former Bengals who didn’t finish their multi-year deals elsewhere include:

Andre Smith. The 2009 first-round pick signed a two-year, $8 million with the Arizona Cardinals in 2018 and got cut in the middle of his first season there (and returned to the Bengals for $915,000).

Chris Smith. The defensive end inked a three-year, $12 million deal with the Cleveland Browns with $4.5 million guaranteed in 2018. Cleveland cut him after one season in which he recorded 21 tackles and one sack in 16 games.
AJ McCarron. After winning a grievance against the Bengals in 2018 due to the team putting him on the non-football injury list in 2014, McCarron signed for two years and $10 million with the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo traded him before he played a snap.
Tyler Kroft. The 2015 third-round pick signed with the Bills for three years and $18.8 million in 2019. Buffalo cut him after two seasons in which he caught 18 passes for 190 yards and four touchdowns.
William Jackson. The Bengals did not attempt to keep their 2016 first-round pick in 2021. Jackson signed a three-year, $40.5 million deal with Washington with $16 million guaranteed. Jackson recorded two interceptions and eight pass breakups in his first season, and then Washington traded him to Pittsburgh after four games in 2022 and he hasn’t played a snap in the league since.
Cethan Carter. The special teams standout left in 2021 to sign with the Miami Dolphins for three years and $7.8 million with $2.7 million guaranteed. Miami cut him after two seasons.
The lone exception on the list is Carl Lawson, who was one of 10 Bengals free agents to sign elsewhere in 2021. The Jets gave Lawson a three-year, $45 million contract with $30 million guaranteed. In three seasons, he played just 23 games with 38 tackles and seven sacks.

The player the Bengals replaced Lawson with was Trey Hendrickson, who has missed just one game in three years while registering 39.5 sacks.

Three other players who left last March could still end up on the list. Jessie Bates III has three seasons remaining on the four-year, $64 million contract he signed with the Atlanta Falcons. Vonn Bell (three years, $22.5 million) has two seasons left in Carolina, and Samaje Perine (two years, $7.5 million) has a year left with the Denver Broncos.

Even if Bates continues to play at an All-Pro level, the Bengals will be content with their decision not to pay a safety $16 million a year. Of the 17 highest-paid safeties in the league in 2023, only four were employed by playoff teams.

It’s not just the Bengals who have left for long-term contracts who have fizzled.

Of the 13 former Bengals who left to sign one-year contracts elsewhere, nine never finished that season, with several failing to even make the 53-man roster.

Some of the names included on that list are Kevin Minter, Jake Fisher, Shawn Williams, Alex Erickson, John Ross, Auden Tate, and Darius Phillips.

And of the four who played their new one-year deals to fruition, none left the Bengals bathed in regret for letting them leave — A.J. Green (Arizona), Mackensie Alexander (Minnesota), Cedric Ogbuehi (Jacksonville), and Jeremy Hill (New England).

KEEP READING: Cincinnati Bengals Free Agency Suggestions 2024 — Sign Trent Brown, DaQuan Jones, Double Down at RB

Cincinnati has 16 free agents they can re-sign this offseason.

The ones who walk away will be traveling a foreboding path.

A friend just sent me the link on X:

Quote:REPORT: The #Bengals are expected to release Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon, per Matthew Berry of NBC.

Cincinnati would save $6.1 million in cap space if they were to release Mixon.

Next Monday

Which will happen first?

A Bengals free agent is signed by another team or the Bengals will sign a non-Bengal free agent?

who do you think it will be in either scenario?

With all of this talk about Tee Higgins, the franchise tag and possible trade, perhaps we should be thinking about what extending our WR1 will look like?


https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/ja-marr-chase-contract-extension-projection-is-massive-number-for-bengals/ar-BB1jmO7K?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=4a6f58284e1a49b98027e9392db7c6b4&ei=15

Quote:What might a contract extension for Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase look like this offseason?

Other than resetting the wideout market, of course?

For Spotrac's Michael Ginnitti, the contract projects to come in at four years and $120 million with a $30 million-per-year average, with $70 million effectively guaranteed:

Injuries to himself & to QB Joe Burrow over the past two seasons have limited Chase’s ability to reach his max ceiling. Cincinnati likely pays a king’s ransom to see that happen within their offense soon. The 24-year-old has 2 years, $26.6M left on his rookie deal through 2025, so there’s not an immediate rush to get something done here, but it’s certainly worth discussing. Spotrac projects a $70M guarantee over the next 3 seasons, including back to back $20M bonuses to keep cap hits at bay while this contending team continues to get more and more expensive across the board.

At face value, that looks like something the Bengals should be willing to rush to sign, should Chase and his reps be willing to accept. By Spotrac's own projections, that's in line with what CeeDee Lamb will get in Dallas and actually under what Justin Jefferson will get in Minnesota.

Of course, Chase has been very open about the fact he wants to wait to do an extension until Jefferson and others have signed their own, which will need to happen sooner.
As such, Chase is bound to reset the market and be the highest-paid receiver in football by pretty much every metric. But these projections, at least, provide a baseline -- and further explain why an extension with Tee Higgins is so tricky.

As with Joe Burrow before him, even an extension signed this offseason wouldn't kick in on the cap space until after the 2025 fifth-year option, though for the Bengals, sooner is probably better for peace of mind and a full understanding of what they're working with on the balance sheet.

I am calling it now.

From what I've read and the tone of the Bengals (FO and ZT) it's sounding more and more like Mixon is going to be a part of this team.

I also think loyalty comes into play here. With the environment in the market these days (most players seeking guaranteed money and the Bengals not offering that to everyone) I think the Bengals like to show that they keep players around for the life of their contract as a negotiating piece when trying to land free agents and extensions. Basically saying "we offer guaranteed money by keeping guys and not cutting them." Cutting Mixon flies in the face of that.

So, don't be shocked if Mixon is here come September. Not the worst thing in the world, especially since you have a guy like Chase Brown who should significantly cut into his snap counts.

Small one but significant.

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