Adam Jones contract - team option for 2018

[masterpanthera_t]

(05-04-2017, 03:47 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I was sitting here thinking of what position(s) would be highest priority in next year's draft if Ogbuehi and Fisher both progress well enough this season and Eifert, Burfict, and/or Minter re-sign. It made me think about CB and the fact that with Dennard's option, he's now signed through 2018. So then I went back and looked at Adam Jones's contract...

Adam Jones has a team option for 2018, which would be for near $7 million. The Bengals could be preparing to cut ties with him after this season since they already decided to pick up Dennard's option of ~$8.5 million. I don't think the Bengals would be willing to pay out $9.6 million to DK, $8.5 million to Dennard, and also almost $7 million to Jones. That'd total just about $25 million, which would be way too much tied into three CBs of their caliber.

Therefore, I believe the Bengals will keep Jones this year as insurance while Dennard and WJ3 develop but will not pick up his option, sending him to FA after this year.

Do you foresee this happening or do you think the option will be picked up?

I kinda agree that they will move on from Jones after this year.  If it were up to me, I would cut him today or at the worst wait until training camp, and if the other guys showed enough, cut him.  Maybe that's what they're thinking too.  It might be ok for MB to not cut him based on his latest incident, because of his family,  but it's debatable that Jones can show restraint in a tense situation once the season starts, based on the last two years.  Seeing how we have a glut of corners, although, only two of them are proven (Dre and Shaw), and none of those two plays Jones' position, I would think that between WJ III, Dennard, Russell and Benwikere, some combination of those four can make up for whatever Jones can still do.  I guess it makes sense to wait until they see these guys before they decide whether they want to keep Jones this year or next year.  Or maybe it makes sense to keep Jones and have 7 corners on the roster for overall depth at the position.