Should Bengals get creative with cap to win now

[*rfaulk34*]

(01-07-2025, 09:18 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: Many teams are getting creative manipulating the cap to sign high priced players. Many ask how we can afford Tee, extend Chase, extend Trey, resign guys like Hill, Gesicki and add a high-priced guard in FA.

This is a good read and gives an idea how teams now are manipulating the cap so they can still pay good contracts but kick the burden down the road. It is like putting debt on a credit card, get what you want now someday the CC will need to be paid back and with heavy interest. Signing bonuses are used over the life of a contract. Some reams convert base salary into a signing bonus later in a contract. The other way is voidable year(s). Adding void year(s) to a contract has to be accounted for sooner than later.
https://nypost.com/2021/03/22/how-nfl-teams-use-voidable-years-in-contracts-to-beat-cap/

Should of front office get creative in 2025 as we do pro rate signing bonuses, but I don't think I have ever seen them use voidable years or convert a huge base salary into a signing bonus and spread over the duration of an existing contract.

If you think about it, teams lie the Ravens who have very little cap dollars in 2025 will figure out a way to bring on key free agents and/or sign guys like their starting 2 OT's currently not under contract.

It says we have 59 million in cap space in 2025, but with cuts and contract structures and restructures that number could balloon to over 100 million easily. Is the risk worth the reward? I say yes as I see the NFL adding revenue sooner than later with the international market and popularity continues to rise.

Thoughts?

My thoughts are that if you have a QB like Burrow, you certainly put aside your M.O. and push the can down the road as much as you can, to win rings. When Burrow is gone, you can deal with the cap issues and hopefully, you can do it with trophies in your case, which would make it much easier. You go for what is in your reach and deal with reprecussions later. 

All the talk about the Rams and what they were doing was going to kill the team were blown way out of proportion. The got the ring, had to "suffer" for a couple years and now they're back in it. 

The Bengals are currenly in a position that would allow them to add multiple big contracts because of how they've been operating. They could sustain it for years and if it means some losing records a few years down the road, if you win SBs, it's worth it.

Continuing to pinch pennies is just going to lead to a bunch more "what ifs". 

Five years in, no rings and look where they're currently sitting...

Stop pinching and open the damn wallet.