02-13-2025, 03:59 PM
As always cap isn't the issue, cash is and will continue to be the issue. People do forget that wealth of the owner does allow for distinct advantages in how you manipulate the cap. All of those restructuring and even void years to an extent rely on buying cap with cash. So it's not just about the signing bonus to get the guy you want, it's the conversion of cap to signing bonus for other people (that gets paid immediately in cash) to create the cap to sign those guys.
Cap rich and cash poor is a thing and continues to be the crux of our issue. It's why drafting is so important and why you'd think the team would invest more in draft resources, and staff to support it, to potentially offset some of the other tactics where they are at a distinct disadvantage against other teams. Paying guys early is one way the could also couter act this to an extent because the signing bonuses would be cheaper earlier even if you had to take bigger cap hits later.
In all though, the Bengals have never embraced any sort of tactic to get around their bigger hurdles in roster construction and that's probably the most disappointing thing. When you are the underdog you have to utilize any sort of "gimmick" or work around to get an edge and we have simply never embraced it instead choosing to approach things head on like we are the elephant in the room instead of the mouse.
Cap rich and cash poor is a thing and continues to be the crux of our issue. It's why drafting is so important and why you'd think the team would invest more in draft resources, and staff to support it, to potentially offset some of the other tactics where they are at a distinct disadvantage against other teams. Paying guys early is one way the could also couter act this to an extent because the signing bonuses would be cheaper earlier even if you had to take bigger cap hits later.
In all though, the Bengals have never embraced any sort of tactic to get around their bigger hurdles in roster construction and that's probably the most disappointing thing. When you are the underdog you have to utilize any sort of "gimmick" or work around to get an edge and we have simply never embraced it instead choosing to approach things head on like we are the elephant in the room instead of the mouse.
