Great Breakdown of Tee Higgins deal

[Luvnit2]

(03-22-2025, 06:41 PM)Housh Wrote: We could’ve had more to spend this year by pushing the cap hits off down the road but we sure are fine with the built in excuse on why we couldn’t get anyone big time done this year



Starting to appear as if the plan was to punish Burrow and the fans by REFUSING to do anything big if we were forced to sign Tee to a deal we honestly didn’t wanna sign.

Yes, we can always spend more money on shiny new toys like Rankins, Stone or others. The thing is they are not out of cap space even after the structure of these deals. I am not privvy to FO meetings, but it is hard to project exactly where these 2 huge contracts were going to land.

In the end, they wanted Tee and they wanted BJ Hill, Gesicki, Ossai and a few others. I can see the whining if we lost Tee or lost Hill, but  we did not. The team is also working to give Trey a raise. There 2025 moves are far from being a cheap franchise.

[NUGDUKWE]

(03-22-2025, 06:56 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: I have called for them to be more creative with the structure of contracts for years. It is their business model, nothing to do with cheap or in. my opinion not wanting to win. If the Super Bowl winner was based on the amount of money teams spend in FA, then the Pats, Chargers and Bears should win the Super Bowl in 2025, they sent the most.

The Bengals have a plan, sorry it is not your plan or someone else's plan (whomever whined about the cap space use) to win it all in 2025. I still feel we can be a very good team in 2025. The Bengals may or may not add more pieces in 2025. I think they will, you think they can't afford more because of poor cap management. We differ on  FO management. I hate dead cap. Bengals FO hates dead cap. Other teams have 25 to 35 million each year in dead cap by kicking the can down the road, you applaud them.

I will take our cap sitaution over the Saints and other teams. Click on teams and look at their dead money and then tell me you are still impressed they don't have that money to spend to. make their rosters better.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cap/_/year/2025

Bucs - over 30 million in dead cap space and over the cap right now so they have to do more maneuvering to get under the cap
Rams - over 45 million in dead cap space and over the cap right now so more maneuvering needs to be done toget under the cap
Bills - over 30 million in dead cap space and have to maneuver to create more cap space
Texans - over 36 million in dead money and have to maneuver to create more cap space

Jets - have no franchise QB and heading for over 70 million in dead money in 2025 and a large dead money hit in 2026 as well

I call this gross mismangement by this teams.

I always taught my children, never use a credt card unless you can pay the bill in full by the end of the month. There will be a time if you borrow money you can't pay monthly when you lose your job or an emergency occurs.

I do believe Bengals could structure deals so more of the contract is pushed down the road. But, it has nothing to do with cash, it is an accounting method and nothing more. To say if they had more cap the team would have brought in THE RIGHT PLAYERS WITH THE EXTRA CAP is pure speculation.

How much dead money do the Eagles have? The Bengals have the worst cap management in the league. But atleast whichever team that isn't the Bengals wins a superbowl we can be happy Mikey and Co. are doing good financially so they won't move the team.

[*Synric*]

BJ Hill is the second highest Defensive Tackle cap hit behind Milton Williams for next season from this FA Class. That should tell you everything you need to know about how poorly they do contracts.

[Frank Booth]

(03-22-2025, 08:59 PM)Synric Wrote: BJ Hill is the second highest Defensive Tackle cap hit behind Milton Williams for next season from this FA Class. That should tell you everything you need to know about how poorly they do contracts.

I dont think it's incompetence. I think they know exactly what theyre doing

[SunsetBengal]

What's really humorous to an old dude like me is seeing some of the same people that were sure that the Bengals weren't going to get the deals done, now whining and bitching about how the Bengals chose to spend their money in securing those deals. Dudes, the deals got done. That's all that really matters, right?

If the Bengals prefer to pay more of the total upfront and not be paying after a player is possibly no longer with the team, that is their prerogative.

[Nepa]

(03-22-2025, 04:48 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: I read some atorney who is a bengals fan break down the hits for the chase and higgins contracts. He implied the begals FO purposefully and unnecessarily inflated their cap hits. Which means they limit themselves on being able to spend more money. And the only conclusion that makes sense is either, they are dumb, or they do it to not have to spend more cash. Pretty eye opening

It seems Goodberry and Jake Liscow, as posted below, are making the same point as the attorney you read. I understand its The Family's choice how they want to spend the money. But it seems every year some teams go all in and stock their teams. Sure, they'll be in cap hell at some point, but it sure would be nice to have the Bengals win a championship some day and not have to go through all these teams that are going all in. Just one championship before they put me into a hole in the ground. And I've been a fan since '68.

[*bfine32*]

The Bengals do an outstanding job at structuring contracts. They cannot go in debt like many of the billionaire owners. Mike Brown is the least wealthy owner in the NFL.

It's not like we're not spending, we just gotta make it make business sense.

[Luvnit2]

(03-22-2025, 10:08 PM)bfine32 Wrote: The Bengals do an outstanding job at structuring contracts. They cannot go in debt like many of the billionaire owners. Mike Brown is the least wealthy owner in the NFL.

It's not like we're not spending, we just gotta make it make business sense.

I don't think fans understand dead cap is created by bad contracts and most often for players no longer on the roster. We have some fans openly rooting for the FO to waste money. It makes no sense to waste money in future years if it can be avoided.

[QueenCity]

(03-22-2025, 10:30 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: I don't think fans understand dead cap is created by bad contracts and most often for players no longer on the roster. We have some fans openly rooting for the FO to waste money. It makes no sense to waste money in future years if it can be avoided

Right but I think the general sentiment is fans want the Front Office to push all their chips in. I think us Bengals fans can stomach a few rebuilding years if they go for it every once in a while. 

[SunsetBengal]

(03-22-2025, 10:36 PM)QueenCity Wrote: Right but I think the general sentiment is fans want the Front Office to push all their chips in. I think us Bengals fans can stomach a few rebuilding years if they go for it every once in a while. 

In their minds, they did go all in for the Chase and Higgins deals, and they're still trying to get something done with Hendrickson. 

[NUGDUKWE]

(03-22-2025, 10:30 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: I don't think fans understand dead cap is created by bad contracts and most often for players no longer on the roster. We have some fans openly rooting for the FO to waste money. It makes no sense to waste money in future years if it can be avoided.

Dead cap is not created by bad contracts perhaps in the Bengals world it is. It's created by prorating contracts with void years. Perhaps the line of thinking that pushing money until later and adding void years will create cap hell or this bill that you will ultimately have to pay up is where we are getting crossed. When those years come you can just restructure players contracts to accommodate this. Sure you create a cycle of continuously moving money around but you are doing this to maximize the cap talent roster equation every year. What do we have another 10yrs with Burrow if we are lucky? Half that potentially with Chase and Higgins? Wouldn't every fan say maximize the roster for the next decade. Heck even then when Burrow is done you have a rookie QB to help absorb any affect. There is a reason the people who report on the Bengals are saying these things about them. They look around the league and see how other teams operate and they want the Bengals to succeed. The Bengals are Lazy, dumb or cheap. Not sure which but none of those fans should backing them on.

[NUGDUKWE]

(03-22-2025, 10:36 PM)QueenCity Wrote: Right but I think the general sentiment is fans want the Front Office to push all their chips in. I think us Bengals fans can stomach a few rebuilding years if they go for it every once in a while. 

I know i can. I've seen enough of hide your head embrassmemt from this team to get me thru some tough times. Take a swing for goodness sake. 

[Joelist]

And again this probably is about how much available cash they have. If they do not have cash for signing bonuses/guarantees right now then why shouldn't they eat more of the cap this year? We just don't know how much their cash stash is. So far they have written checks for about 121 million this offseason. Typically their Operating Income is about 110 million. They have no sugar daddy.

[Isaac Curtis: The Real #85]

(03-22-2025, 08:59 PM)Synric Wrote: BJ Hill is the second highest Defensive Tackle cap hit behind Milton Williams for next season from this FA Class. That should tell you everything you need to know about how poorly they do contracts.

He was also a top 5 ranked DT in the class. As high as 3rd on some sites. It isn't that anomolous. And Gesicki was #2 or #1 on most TE rankings. 

It does not undermine Goodberry's larger point. We did a terrible job of cap maximization. But that is always true. 

They deserve to be called out for it. But BJ Hill getting good DT $$ cap hit is not really out of line.

[Luvnit2]

Over the cap has Bengals at over 15 million left and that includes a 5 million stash for injuries and 16 PS players and 5 draft picks and the Patrck signing.

Sptrac has them at 12 milion so not sure whih one or if either has it correct. But they still have cap money to spend. Why do they need to create more cap money now? Bengals fans want the team to go all in to win whch is fine, but not fine for those same fans to go all in on the team can't win unless every free agent they want is signed.

I get it, fans don't trust the FO. I do trust the FO mainly because if not, I need to quit being a fan. I will always choose hope over gloom. I think the 2025 team if they have a bad draft and don't sign one more FA will win at least 10 games and make the playoffs. Once in the playoffs, I have faith and trust in Joe Burrow to win one game at a time at home or on the road.

Others are saying the team sucks and we have not drafted yet. The gloom and doom croud gets tiresome and old. But hey by all means live your Bengals lives in despair, no skin off my back. For those fans, the Bengals will win in spite of your lack of support.

[sandwedge]

(03-22-2025, 10:36 PM)QueenCity Wrote: Right but I think the general sentiment is fans want the Front Office to push all their chips in. I think us Bengals fans can stomach a few rebuilding years if they go for it every once in a while. 

You wanna bet on that? A few building years and the clowns will have their pitchforks out..

[sandwedge]

(03-22-2025, 10:59 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: I know i can. I've seen enough of hide your head embrassmemt from this team to get me thru some tough times. Take a swing for goodness sake. 

A bit overreacting aren't we?

[sandwedge]

(03-23-2025, 12:26 AM)Luvnit2 Wrote: Over the cap has Bengals at over 15 million left and that includes a 5 million stash for injuries and 16 PS players and 5 draft picks and the Patrck signing.

Sptrac has them at 12 milion so not sure whih one or if either has it correct. But they still have cap money to spend. Why do they need to create more cap money now?  Bengals fans want the team to go all in to win whch is fine, but not fine for those same fans to go all in on the team can't win unless every free agent they want is signed.

I get it, fans don't trust the FO. I do trust the FO mainly because if not, I need to quit being a fan. I will always choose hope over gloom. I think the 2025 team if they have a bad draft and don't sign one more FA will win at least 10 games and make the playoffs. Once in the playoffs, I have faith and trust in Joe Burrow to win one game at a time at home or on the road.

Others are saying the team sucks and we have not drafted yet. The gloom and doom croud gets tiresome and old. But hey by all means live your Bengals lives in despair, no skin off my back. For those fans, the Bengals will win in spite of your lack of support.

Right on! I decided my happiness in life isn't regulated how the Bengals play. I get frustrated at times, but I have loved this franchise since I was 8, 50 years ago. The Brown family knows more about running an NFL team than I do, so who am I to judge them, it's their money, not mine.

[JaggedJimmyJay]

I think the Tee Higgins contract is pretty terrible for the Bengals, at least from the standpoint of roster building. The first-year cap hit is dramatically higher than it needs to be, at no benefit to Tee Higgins. The only thing this achieves is reducing the immediate cash burden on the front office. It's total crap.

They deserve to be criticized for that, and people claiming "this is how every team does it" are just flatly incorrect. No it isn't. That can easily be demonstrated, and Goodberry did a nice job of demonstrating it.

"They have to reach the minimum in cap spending" is also a horrible refutation. That's the whole damned point. Use that added cap space to sign additional free agent(s) and/or extend Hendrickson. Either way they hit the minimum. That argument is a non-starter.

It's good they extended the receivers. They'll have a decent chance in 2025 to make a run. But the Higgins contract is most absolutely not optimized for building the best team. Call a spade a spade.

[reuben.ahmed]

(03-22-2025, 10:05 PM)Nepa Wrote: It seems Goodberry and Jake Liscow, as posted below, are making the same point as the attorney you read. I understand its The Family's choice how they want to spend the money. But it seems every year some teams go all in and stock their teams. Sure, they'll be in cap hell at some point, but it sure would be nice to have the Bengals win a championship some day and not have to go through all these teams that are going all in. Just one championship before they put me into a hole in the ground. And I've been a fan since '68.

Yeah, it's tormenting to not get 1 before we go.