I would only sign eight of the 29 Bengals UFA

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

And to be completely honest, I could cut that down to only signing one. Three of my picks are Special Teams. If Zac Taylor is going to keep his job, this will be his best chance to finally "bring in his guys", if they actually exist.

Keep
Carl Lawson - Only made $763,155 this year. He's going to get quite the raise. Franchise tag.
Mike Daniels - $1.45 million and was a leader the moment he stepped onto the field
Christian Covington - $1.5 million is not bad for quality depth
Xavier Williams - $910,000 and plays hard
Mackensie Alexander - still up in the air about him but he will be cheaper than dealing with William Jackson
Brandon Wilson - Kick Returner only
Kevin Huber - although making $2.65 million might make the Bengals look at a 6th or 7th round punter
Clark Harris - He'll be 37 next season and only makes $1.1 million . . . does he still want to play?

Let go - 2020 salary - I like a lot of these guys but most are very expendable.
AJ Green - $18.1 Million
Shawn Williams - $4.8 Million
John Ross - $4.2 Million
William Jackson III - $2.4 Million - Good player . . . too Hot and Cold - Expecting a 2nd or 3rd round CB selected to replace him
Cethan Carter - $2.1 Million - will probably get re-signed but I would look to FA to find better TEs
Josh Tupou - $2.1 Million - not sure if the opt out affected his FA status or if he still has one year remaining
Alex Redmond - $2.1 Million
Randy Bullock - $2.1 Million
Alex Erickson - $2 Million
LeShaun Sims - $1.7 Million
Josh Bynes - $1.6 Million - Will be 32, possibly re-signed
Margus Hunt - $1 Million
Torry McTyer - $875,000
Mike Thomas - $850,000 - Will probably be re-signed but I would re-sign Erickson before him
Greg Mabin - $825,000
Brandon Allen - $825,000
Tony Brown $750,000
Ryan Glasgow - $704,000
Samajie Perine - $690,000
Jordan Evans - $639,130
Mason Schreck - $610,000

Exclusive Restricted Free Agents both making $675,000 - unknown on both
Keaton Sutherland - C
Jalen Davis - CB

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

Keep
Carl Lawson - Only made $763,155 this year. He's going to get quite the raise. Franchise tag.
Mike Daniels - $1.45 million and was a leader the moment he stepped onto the field
Christian Covington - $1.5 million is not bad for quality depth
Xavier Williams - $910,000 and plays hard
Mackensie Alexander - still up in the air about him but he will be cheaper than dealing with William Jackson
Brandon Wilson - Kick Returner only
Kevin Huber - although making $2.65 million might make the Bengals look at a 6th or 7th round punter
Clark Harris - He'll be 37 next season and only makes $1.1 million . . . does he still want to play?

Added from the "Let Go" list
Brandon Allen - $825,000 - Probably earned himself the job of backup next season after the Texans game. I was thinking for sure that they were going to go looking for a veteran but Allen has shown that he can run it for awhile if Burrow still needs a few weeks before hitting the field.

Randy Bullock - $2.1 Million - Moved back up into the "maybe" list. Seibert not really wowing me yet. He's got one more game to show what he has but Bullock may have gotten a lifeline with the kids two misses. Bullock in 2020 is 21 for 26 80.8%, his worst percentage as a Bengal . . . He's a lifetime 168 for 202 at 83.2% and as a Bengal he's hitting his kicks at a 84.9% going 90 for 106.

Let Go - 2020 salary - I like a lot of these guys but most are very expendable.
AJ Green - $18.1 Million
Shawn Williams - $4.8 Million
John Ross - $4.2 Million
William Jackson III - $2.4 Million - Good player . . . too Hot and Cold - Expecting a 2nd or 3rd round CB selected to replace him
Cethan Carter - $2.1 Million - will probably get re-signed but I would look to FA to find better TEs
Josh Tupou - $2.1 Million - not sure if the opt out affected his FA status or if he still has one year remaining
Alex Redmond - $2.1 Million
Alex Erickson - $2 Million
LeShaun Sims - $1.7 Million
Josh Bynes - $1.6 Million - Will be 32, possibly re-signed
Margus Hunt - $1 Million
Torry McTyer - $875,000
Mike Thomas - $850,000 - Will probably be re-signed but I would re-sign Erickson before him
Greg Mabin - $825,000
Tony Brown $750,000
Ryan Glasgow - $704,000
Samajie Perine - $690,000
Jordan Evans - $639,130 - Too bad. NFL body, pee wee football head.
Mason Schreck - $610,000

Exclusive Restricted Free Agents both making $675,000 - unknown on both
Keaton Sutherland - C
Jalen Davis - CB

[Nicomo Cosca]

Ryan Glasgow is on the Saints practice squad...

Also, I’d bring back Perine. Mixon misses a lot of games.

[samhain]

William Jackson III is making almost 10 mil this year, so that's off by a lot.

I'd bring back Daniels, Covington and maybe Xavier Williams.

I'd also keep Perine, Thomas, and Allen, who will likely be due a raise.

I think Bynes is a career journeyman, and he'll do what journeymen do, ie leave. Pratt, Wilson and ADG are the future at LB. Perhaps Parsons, too if they go that route.

Crazy to see guys like Redmond and Carter making 2 mil. Never would have guessed that.

[*pally*]

Mabin plays for Jacksonville

Tupuo, because of the opt out, has another year on his contract. It contractually acts like this year never happened

If Cethan Carter is retained it is because of special teams not because of his position play. Same thing with Jordan Evans. I also would not be surprised if Josh Bynes is signed for a vet minimum type contract

We have to be realistic, 1/3 of the roster is not going to be turned over in one draft/free agency cycle. There are only 7 draft picks as of right now

[SunsetBengal]

To replace all of those guys with higher quality players, I'd estimate that it would likely take at least $80M over the salary cap to accomplish that maneuver.

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(12-28-2020, 11:28 AM)samhain Wrote: William Jackson III is making almost 10 mil this year, so that's off by a lot.

Not doubting you but I got all of the FA info from these two 
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/free-agents/cincinnati-bengals/
https://www.cincyjungle.com/2020/5/25/21252008/bengals-2021-free-agents-nfl-a-j-green-joe-mixon-carl-lawson
The 2nd one was from before the season when Mixon wasn't extended yet.
Some of the other sites didn't list half of the FAs so I just accepted those numbers.

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(12-28-2020, 04:15 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: To replace all of those guys with higher quality players, I'd estimate that it would likely take at least $80M over the salary cap to accomplish that maneuver.

Interesting math.

Total salary of all players on my cut list . . . Less than $50,000,000 even with Maybin and Glasgow listed and over half of that is for three players.

Shouldn't be difficult to find a backup WR making less than $4.2 million and a backup safety making less than $4.8 million(over $5 million on the first link, I listed the lowest hit). I doubt they pay a #1 WR $18 million in 2021. That's 27 million on one starter and two backups and they will still most likely cut Geno Atkins, saving almost another $10 million after dead cap money. Lawson's probable contract will balance some of that out but there will lots of room to improve the team above Cethan Carter, LeShaun Sims and Alex Redmond.

[CanadianBengal]

Some of the backups could be resigned but I agree with you that they don't need to be. There are other guys you can sign for the minimum. They may not turn out to be better but I think guys like Sims etc have shown they aren't the answer even as backups.

Lawson is not worth a franchise tag but hope they sign him. Daniels and Covington are good deals. I am not sure about Alexander but his deal is reasonable.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(12-27-2020, 04:55 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Keep
Carl Lawson - Only made $763,155 this year. He's going to get quite the raise. Franchise tag.

Not a chance in hell I would spend $15.2m on 1 year of Carl Lawson. (That was the franchise tag number for a DE in 2020.)

That's about 8.7% of your cap space on a DE with more games missed (13) than sacks (11.5) over the last 3 years.

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(12-29-2020, 05:53 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Not a chance in hell I would spend $15.2m on 1 year of Carl Lawson. (That was the franchise tag number for a DE in 2020.)

That's about 8.7% of your cap space on a DE with more games missed (13) than sacks (11.5) over the last 3 years.

Fair enough. But he's the only Bengal to get consistent pressure on the QB and those guys aren't cheap. Most franchise tags are canceled out by a long term deal. If he signs the tag and doesn't negotiate for a long term deal, that probably means that he doesn't want to be here, but now he's back to having to perform for his next contract again.

Expecting DL draft picks to fill that roll is actually pretty unrealistic. The top three rookie DL have combined for only 13.5 sacks.

#2 overall Chase Young leads all rookies with 6.5 sacks

5th round Alton Robinson is 2nd with 4 sacks - selected by Seattle directly after Khalid Kareem.

4th round DJ Wonnum has 3 sacks with Minnesota.

The next two rookies with 3 sacks are LB Patrick Queen with Baltimore and Tamp Bay safety Antoine Winfield Jr.

Chase Young has one more sack than Carl Lawson but Lawson has 37 QB pressures(#6 in the NFL), that's 20 more than Young's 17(tied for 65th). Lawson leads the NFL with QBs knocked to the ground after the throw with 21, Hubbard has 5, Chase Young has 2. It's highly unlikely to get a better DE prospect than Chase Young in the 2021 draft. If the Bengals don't sign Lawson, someone else will for a whole lot of money.




Completely irrelevant fact . . . Mr Irrelevant 2020 is #255 overall, NY Giants LB Tae Crowder. He has 27 tackles and a sack this season. Good for him. #65 overall Logan Wilson has 23 tackles and a sack but also has 2 INTs. I like what I've seen from Wilson so that's great value for the Giants for a late 7th round pick.

[TJHoushmandzadeh's Shiny Shoes]

(12-29-2020, 01:10 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Interesting math.

Total salary of all players on my cut list . . . Less than $50,000,000 even with Maybin and Glasgow listed and over half of that is for three players.

Shouldn't be difficult to find a backup WR making less than $4.2 million and a backup safety making less than $4.8 million(over $5 million on the first link, I listed the lowest hit). I doubt they pay a #1 WR $18 million in 2021. That's 27 million on one starter and two backups and they will still most likely cut Geno Atkins, saving almost another $10 million after dead cap money. Lawson's probable contract will balance some of that out but there will lots of room to improve the team above Cethan Carter, LeShaun Sims and Alex Redmond.

It's not as simple as saying they have $27m because AJ Green, Ross and Shawn Williams won't be returning.

The amount they "save" from having AJ Green off the books is less than pay increases already due for players under contract Mixon, Waynes, Burrow etc and this also has to be balanced against a potential decrease in salary cap (although the 17th game might allow them to come in neutral).

I however agree they need to do a better job of finding cheaper alternatives at the back of the roster than paying the likes of Carter and Erickson $2m+ (I think Redmond was initially tendered at $2m which was madness but I'm assuming when they cut him and then re-signed him several weeks later after the whole league passed on him this was then at minimum wage) This is where it makes sense to resign the likes of Perine, Thomas, Bynes, Evans and Hunt (and Carter and Erickson if they're willing to take a paycut). They should all be affordable and at minimum/just over minimum wage and signed to compete for a job in training camp.

[*ochocincos*]

(12-27-2020, 04:55 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: And to be completely honest, I could cut that down to only signing one. Three of my picks are Special Teams. If Zac Taylor is going to keep his job, this will be his best chance to finally "bring in his guys", if they actually exist.

Keep
Carl Lawson - Only made $763,155 this year. He's going to get quite the raise. Franchise tag.
Mike Daniels - $1.45 million and was a leader the moment he stepped onto the field
Christian Covington - $1.5 million is not bad for quality depth
Xavier Williams - $910,000 and plays hard
Mackensie Alexander - still up in the air about him but he will be cheaper than dealing with William Jackson
Brandon Wilson - Kick Returner only
Kevin Huber - although making $2.65 million might make the Bengals look at a 6th or 7th round punter
Clark Harris - He'll be 37 next season and only makes $1.1 million . . . does he still want to play?

Let go - 2020 salary - I like a lot of these guys but most are very expendable.
AJ Green - $18.1 Million
Shawn Williams - $4.8 Million
John Ross - $4.2 Million
William Jackson III - $2.4 Million - Good player . . . too Hot and Cold - Expecting a 2nd or 3rd round CB selected to replace him
Cethan Carter - $2.1 Million - will probably get re-signed but I would look to FA to find better TEs
Josh Tupou - $2.1 Million - not sure if the opt out affected his FA status or if he still has one year remaining
Alex Redmond - $2.1 Million
Randy Bullock - $2.1 Million
Alex Erickson - $2 Million
LeShaun Sims - $1.7 Million
Josh Bynes - $1.6 Million - Will be 32, possibly re-signed
Margus Hunt - $1 Million
Torry McTyer - $875,000
Mike Thomas - $850,000 - Will probably be re-signed but I would re-sign Erickson before him
Greg Mabin - $825,000
Brandon Allen - $825,000
Tony Brown $750,000
Ryan Glasgow - $704,000
Samajie Perine - $690,000
Jordan Evans - $639,130
Mason Schreck - $610,000

Exclusive Restricted Free Agents both making $675,000 - unknown on both
Keaton Sutherland - C
Jalen Davis - CB

Tupou still has a year due to his opt-out.

[LebanonFan]

(12-28-2020, 04:06 PM)pally Wrote: Mabin plays for Jacksonville

Tupuo, because of the opt out, has another year on his contract. It contractually acts like this year never happened

If Cethan Carter is retained it is because of special teams not because of his position play. Same thing with Jordan Evans. I also would not be surprised if Josh Bynes is signed for a vet minimum type contract

We have to be realistic, 1/3 of the roster is not going to be turned over in one draft/free agency cycle. There are only 7 draft picks as of right now

Getting Tupuo back is a pretty big deal