Marcus Hardison

[Luvnit2]

(08-16-2015, 11:47 AM)BFritz21 Wrote: Was watching a show and they were talking about how the Bengals and AJ weren't rushing into contract talks and would probably try to get something done at the end of this month or just before the season starts, which maybe they could make a decision on Peko, cut him, and use the 3.7 on AJ.  They have somewhere around 17 right now, which would be enough, but maybe they're also just making sure that there's no major camp injuries where they'd need to sign a free agent to a nice-size deal (although I think we're ok because of depth).

The Bengals are in great shape with cap space. AJ is already set to count 10 million against the 2015 cap so any contract he signs long term likely to be minimal for 2015 cap if the Bengals choose to add it in 2015 to defer and make other years more manageable (less cap in future years to sign others).

I would not be surprised if the sign AJ long term to then go after IIoka long term and others like Zeitler as they FO seems to do a great job of keeping the nucleus together. I think others may factor into the decision to keep Peko if Sims and Thompson stay healthy and keep playing as well as him. Again, I like Peko more than most, I like Hall more than most, I just feel both should take lower restructured contracts for 2015 (extend Hall, but for less money to keep him a Bengal for life just as the Steelers did a few years ago with Ike Taylor). I think our FO is too loyal to some players who have not played to their contracts so they deserve less pay.