03-01-2025, 07:02 PM
Congratulations to Germaine Pratt, the only free agent the Bengals have brought back to start in the last 5 years. On the minus side, Xavier Su'a-Filo and Trae Waynes were the only multi-year FAs who weren't auto-starters, probably due to injury. Over 60% of the outside FA contracts were for 1 year.
The Bengals pencil in a ridiculous number of free agents as starters who haven't played a single down in Cin. Where the Bengals (and the whole league) miss out is the failure to sign quality backups (e.g. Cody Ford) to longer contracts so that the team isn't a brand-new jigsaw puzzle every spring.
Free agency is this weird overpaying of veterans based largely on the fact that rookie contracts are clearly too low and teams hold on to questionable rookie contracts just because they are cheap.
The Bengals pencil in a ridiculous number of free agents as starters who haven't played a single down in Cin. Where the Bengals (and the whole league) miss out is the failure to sign quality backups (e.g. Cody Ford) to longer contracts so that the team isn't a brand-new jigsaw puzzle every spring.
Free agency is this weird overpaying of veterans based largely on the fact that rookie contracts are clearly too low and teams hold on to questionable rookie contracts just because they are cheap.
