10-20-2020, 11:11 AM
(10-20-2020, 10:25 AM)ochocincos Wrote: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cincinnati-bengals/cap/2021/
When Dalton was taken off the books, that was before the rookies started signing. They wouldn't have been able to sign all rookies and keep Dalton at the salary he was supposed to make.
Don't forget they also signed Mixon to an extension and signed big contracts to Waynes and Reader.
Waynes and Reader are eating up $20 mill of this year's cap. Mixon is consuming $4.3 mill.
Next year, those 3 take up $40.2 mill alone.
The last thing worth noting is the cap is actually expected to go down next year, which is why the Bengals (and the rest of the teams) are expected to not have as much to work with.
About the only way they could re-sign Lawson and WJ3 while also signing a FA like Thuney is to cut Dunlap and/or Atkins. They have more than just Lawson and WJ3 to re-sign too. Brandon Wilson, Bullock, Huber, and Harris are all set to be FAs. All of them combined could cost ~$8-10 mill. They cost just over $8 mill this year. I would imagine not all would re-sign though, so the Bengals might address some of the ST needs on Day 3 of the draft.
Not re-signing AJ, Ross, Shawn Williams, Alexander and Erickson saves $34m, although much of that ($20m+?) will be taken up with rises that are due.
Alternatives cuts to Geno and/or Carlos would be Hart, Uzomah, Gio and Price but it is likely at least one of the two defensive stalwarts won't be back next year. Cutting or trading Dunlop and using that money on Lawson seems an obvious move, as does cutting Hart and Price and using that money in FA on the O-line.
But that opens up more needs in the draft: DE, S, CB on top of the existing ones.
