Bengals on (essentially) one-year deals

[CJD]

(05-07-2020, 01:15 PM)SHRacerX Wrote: I made a comment on another thread about the potential benefit of Ross, Mixon, and Green all being in what is essentially a contract year.  That got me thinking about how many guys on the team are in the final year of their contract and are in a "prove it"-type of season.

I listed them below.  I didn't list the guys at the very bottom of the roster.  Just most of the starters and a few other significant players:

Shawn Williams
AJ Green
John Ross
WJIII
Kevin Huber
Joe Mixon
Alex Erickson
Fat Randy
Mackenzie Alexander
Carl Lawson
Ryan Glasgow
Jordan Evans
Clark Harris
Alex Redmond
Cethan Carter
Josh Tupou
Auden Tate
Leshawn Sims
Josh Bynes
Samaje Perine
Mason Shreck

I bolded the names I feel will be the most significant players that could make a big impact in 2020 playing for their next contract.  That is a heck of a lot of talent that could be playing for new deals.  No doubt, there will be some tough decisions to make next year and someone line Green, Mixon, or even Lawson could be extended before the season starts, but I am not holding my breath.

Tate will be an RFA, so we shouldn't be too worried about him next off season.

Glasgow's season will be incredibly important for him, because he hasn't played much at all in his career. Even if he stays healthy and has a good year, it'd be difficult for him to get more than 1 year deal in 2021, considering he's been injured the last 2 years.

John Ross will probably bounce around the league on 1 to 2 year deals for a while simply because of his speed. We'll see if he can live up to that in 2020 and earn a new contract.

I'm most concerned with Carl Lawson, Joe Mixon and Mackenzie Alexander. WJII and Green fall into the "If we re-sign them, that'd be great, but we have their replacements lined up (in Phillips and Higgins)."

Lawson, Mixon and Alexander don't have heir apparents on the roster right now. I would love to sign Mixon to a 3 year extension with an AAV of 8 to 10 million, but I also understand that RBs basically have no value in this league unless they're CMC.

I don't know how much Lawson is worth. How much is a 5 to 8 sack rotational player worth? Maybe 8.5 million AAV? Maybe we'd be able to replace him in the draft in 2021.

Alexander is also a relatively low cost contract as a slot only corner. If he performs up to snuff, I'd be happy to give him a 3 year 18 million dollar deal.