09-26-2017, 03:20 PM
And here from Bengals.com:
By opting out on Whitworth and Zeitler, the Bengals stayed true to two of their basic principles. Whitworth is coming off his third Pro Bowl season and was ranked as the NFL's second best pass-protecting tackle by profootballfocus.com. But since he's 35, the Bengals were wary of multiple years. So Whitworth took a three-year deal with the Rams that featured $13 million guaranteed this year. The Bengals detest moving money into future years of their salary cap, particulalry with older players that may not make it to those years but the team still picks up some of the charges.
And, they don't pay guards big money. Zeitler is at the top of his game. He was rated the best guard on the market after not missing a snap in 2017. That translated to $12 million per year, but the Bengals don't believe guards win enough games on their own to warrant top of the market money. The Bengals didn't offer a contract but told his agent, "If you don't get what you want, come back."
http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Facelift/6f86968a-e26b-4fa0-95c3-75c043ecf393
By opting out on Whitworth and Zeitler, the Bengals stayed true to two of their basic principles. Whitworth is coming off his third Pro Bowl season and was ranked as the NFL's second best pass-protecting tackle by profootballfocus.com. But since he's 35, the Bengals were wary of multiple years. So Whitworth took a three-year deal with the Rams that featured $13 million guaranteed this year. The Bengals detest moving money into future years of their salary cap, particulalry with older players that may not make it to those years but the team still picks up some of the charges.
And, they don't pay guards big money. Zeitler is at the top of his game. He was rated the best guard on the market after not missing a snap in 2017. That translated to $12 million per year, but the Bengals don't believe guards win enough games on their own to warrant top of the market money. The Bengals didn't offer a contract but told his agent, "If you don't get what you want, come back."
http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Facelift/6f86968a-e26b-4fa0-95c3-75c043ecf393
