Carson Palmer was right

[*ochocincos*]

(11-18-2024, 04:56 PM)Trademark Wrote: He is being proven right more and more by the week. It is truly sad how this organization constantly wastes talent

Let's play a game.

Keep Bates at the same contract he was given by ATL.
Structure it the same way they did so that his cap hit last year and this year was under $20 mill combined.
Yes, they are set to have a cap hit of $45 mill for Bates across the last two years of his contract, but with the way he's been playing, you could probably argue it's worth it.

They had $10.7 mill cap space available in 2023 plus they signed Nick Scott to a 3-year, $12 mill deal. Scott carried $2.6 mill cap hit in 2023.
They would have had enough room for Bates minus Scott.

For 2024, let's assume same cap hit for Bates as he has with ATL, so $10 mill.
Let's also assume DJ Reader is kept at same cost he signed with DET, especially structured the way they did (3 void years to reduce cap hit in 2024-2025).
Cap hit this year for Reader is $5.3 mill. Combined with Bates, $15.3 mill.
Bengals would have saved $18 mill if they hadn't signed Stone and Rankins.

I am bringing this up because the Bengals FO could have found a way to make it work with these two cornerstone pieces of the defense.
This defense would be SO much better with Reader and especially Bates compared to Rankins and Stone.
And they still could have done all the same draft picks to develop and all that jazz.

Bengals FO needs to learn how to manage the cap better and stop worrying about frontloading contracts. The winning teams find ways to push the cap further and further down the road because they understand what it means to keep your contending team together as long as you can.