11-20-2020, 04:06 PM
How much do the Bengals have to spend in FA? What should the draft priorities be? Who will be potential cap casualties?
Under contract for 2021
QB
1 Burrow
2 Finley
RB
1 Mixon
2 Bernard
3 Williams
TE
1. Uzomah
2. Sample
3. Shreck
WR
1. Boyd
2. Higgins
3.
4. Tate
T
1. Williams
2. Hart
3. Adeniji
4. Johnson
G
1.
2. Su'a Filo
3. Jordan
C
1. Hopkins
2. Price
3. Finney
DT
1. Reader
2. Atkins
3. Tupou
4. Wren
DE
1.
2. Hubbard
3. Khalid
4.
LB
1. Wilson
2. Pratt
3. Davies-Gaither
4.
5. Bailey
CB
1. Waynes
2.
3. Phillips
4.
S
1. Bates
2. Bell
3.
That's 34 players under contract (I've cut Seibert, Prince and Sutherland) and Over The Cap (OTC) reckons there's $35m to spare.
Let's then say that they ink Spain to a $5m a year deal.
Rookies would take up say $12m so that's 34 + Spain + 8 draft picks - and filling out the rest of the roster with depth players at somewhere between minimum wage and $2.5m a year would be let's say another $15m. They've basically used up their cap and now need to use the draft to replace: WJIII, Lawson, Alexander, Green, Dunlap, Shawn Williams. So let's say they go
Rd 1 DE1
Rd 2 CB2
Rd 3 WR3
Rd 4 DE4
Rd 5 S3
Rd 6 PR
Rd 7a K
Rd 7b LS
If they do that have they actually improved? That wouldn't seem to have moved the needle to me and if anything they'll have probably gone backwards.
So where can the Front Office get the cap space to improve?
Bobby Hart ($1m dead money, $5.9m in cap savings). With Adeniji and Johnson you have potential replacements on the roster so this seems an obvious choice despite Hart's improved play
BJ Finney ($3.5m in cap savings) - it may seem strange to cut someone they just traded for but it would make little sense to keep a 3rd C for that money so it looks like he was a 2020 salary dump by the Seahawks to make room to take on Dunlap. With Hopkins and Price already on the roster you wouldn't particularly need to find a replacement.
Those are easy cuts that don't especially create holes on the roster.
The other savings are a little more problematic
Atkins ($2.6m in dead cap; $12.2m in savings) - a big saving but this the opens up an additional hole on the roster to be filled. The Bengals would likely need to use an early draft pick.
Uzomah ($1m in dead cap; $5.075m in savings) - a sizeable saving but opens another hole on the roster
That would save approximately $25m which could instead be used for a Tier 1 O-lineman and re-signing one of Lawson and WJIII. Maybe you can do all 3 if you spread some of that cap hit to 2022 when the salary cap should increase?
For a team with so many holes and a QB on a rookie contract there seems to be surprisingly little cap room.
Under contract for 2021
QB
1 Burrow
2 Finley
RB
1 Mixon
2 Bernard
3 Williams
TE
1. Uzomah
2. Sample
3. Shreck
WR
1. Boyd
2. Higgins
3.
4. Tate
T
1. Williams
2. Hart
3. Adeniji
4. Johnson
G
1.
2. Su'a Filo
3. Jordan
C
1. Hopkins
2. Price
3. Finney
DT
1. Reader
2. Atkins
3. Tupou
4. Wren
DE
1.
2. Hubbard
3. Khalid
4.
LB
1. Wilson
2. Pratt
3. Davies-Gaither
4.
5. Bailey
CB
1. Waynes
2.
3. Phillips
4.
S
1. Bates
2. Bell
3.
That's 34 players under contract (I've cut Seibert, Prince and Sutherland) and Over The Cap (OTC) reckons there's $35m to spare.
Let's then say that they ink Spain to a $5m a year deal.
Rookies would take up say $12m so that's 34 + Spain + 8 draft picks - and filling out the rest of the roster with depth players at somewhere between minimum wage and $2.5m a year would be let's say another $15m. They've basically used up their cap and now need to use the draft to replace: WJIII, Lawson, Alexander, Green, Dunlap, Shawn Williams. So let's say they go
Rd 1 DE1
Rd 2 CB2
Rd 3 WR3
Rd 4 DE4
Rd 5 S3
Rd 6 PR
Rd 7a K
Rd 7b LS
If they do that have they actually improved? That wouldn't seem to have moved the needle to me and if anything they'll have probably gone backwards.
So where can the Front Office get the cap space to improve?
Bobby Hart ($1m dead money, $5.9m in cap savings). With Adeniji and Johnson you have potential replacements on the roster so this seems an obvious choice despite Hart's improved play
BJ Finney ($3.5m in cap savings) - it may seem strange to cut someone they just traded for but it would make little sense to keep a 3rd C for that money so it looks like he was a 2020 salary dump by the Seahawks to make room to take on Dunlap. With Hopkins and Price already on the roster you wouldn't particularly need to find a replacement.
Those are easy cuts that don't especially create holes on the roster.
The other savings are a little more problematic
Atkins ($2.6m in dead cap; $12.2m in savings) - a big saving but this the opens up an additional hole on the roster to be filled. The Bengals would likely need to use an early draft pick.
Uzomah ($1m in dead cap; $5.075m in savings) - a sizeable saving but opens another hole on the roster
That would save approximately $25m which could instead be used for a Tier 1 O-lineman and re-signing one of Lawson and WJIII. Maybe you can do all 3 if you spread some of that cap hit to 2022 when the salary cap should increase?
For a team with so many holes and a QB on a rookie contract there seems to be surprisingly little cap room.
