I won’t deny it: I’ve been bellyaching for three days now about the lethargic approach that the Cincinnati Bengals appear to be taking in the free agency window. Even though they had $47 million available before the beginning of the free agency window, the team has just coasted along without much of a splash this offseason. While I want to be hopeful, I worry that this is just more of the same from the Brown family that we have watched squander opportunities for the past thirty years.
Cincinnati Bengals Appear Coiled and Ready to Strike for Huge Offseason Move
While I was worried about the inactivity this offseason, Cincinnati’s superstar receiver Ja’Marr Chase published a tweet yesterday saying “this will be a krazy story to tell”. All of a sudden, fan theories went absolutely wild with different proposals that brought Minnesota Vikings All-Pro receiver Justin Jefferson to Southwest Ohio. The connection there of course is that Jefferson played with both Chase and superstar quarterback Joe Burrow on the 2019 LSU team that went down as the best offense in college football history.
While a reunion would be completely mind shattering, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense on paper. Since Jefferson was drafted a year ahead of Chase, he is already due a contract that would completely wipe the remainder of Cincinnati’s cap space. The Bengals still need to bring in at minimum a starting right tackle and a starting defensive tackle to avoid leaving gaping holes on the roster for the beginning of next season. with a contract to Jefferson, making that happen would be almost impossible.
What About the Two Free Agents the Bengals Already Signed?
On top of that, Cincinnati already gave money to three new free agents over the past two days when they signed Baltimore Ravens free safety Geno Stone, New England Patriots tight end Mike Gesicki and Indianapolis Colts running back Zack Moss. The interesting thing is that if you look at the contracts, they have virtually no money invested in these players for the 2024 season and have the ability to cut them with no penalty ahead of the 2025 season.
To go into specifics, Stone agreed to a two-year contract worth $14 million but his cap hit for 2024 is only $6 million and the team has an option to not bring him back in 2025 with only a $1.5 million dead cap penalty. Moss agreed to a two-year deal worth $8 million but has a cap hit just shy of $3 million in 2024 with the same option to not return him in 2025 with only a $1.5 million dead cap penalty. Gesicki is obviously only going to be on a one-year deal for a measly $3.25 million.
Cincinnati has Big Expectations for Today
With the Mixon trade and the addition of these three players, Cincinnati has actually gained cap space with $47 million available the rest of the offseason. With the free agent pool starting to dwindle, there is no logic to the team building up cap space unless they were planning on a big move. While I still think that Jefferson is not a logical choice based on the positional needs, there are other big name young players in those needs that would be inside the realm with two big names in mind.
The number one option in my book would be for Cincinnati to trade Higgins and possibly a fourth-round pick (Not 100% sure of how much draft capital it would take to seal the deal if any) to the Los Angeles Chargers for left tackle Rashawn Slater. Slater has been a solid tackle since being drafted by Los Angeles with the 13th overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft but he underperformed last season when he fell to a Pro Football Focus Score of 76.6 (17th in the NFL). Los Angeles also has a tremendous salary cap issue so if Cincinnati ate some of Higgins contract, it would be a win-win for both teams.
Another possible option that is from Jefferson’s draft class would be Carolina Panthers star defensive end Derrick Brown. Brown has clearly been frustrated with the situation deteriorating in Carolina and this would be an opportunity for the team to either bring in a star receiver to finally give last year’s number one overall pick Bryce Young some help on offense or return some draft capital to a talent-starved team after last season’s disastrous trade to the Chicago Bears.
Brown is currently playing on his fifth-year option in Carolina and the team may not see a big contract for him due in their long-term plans. After the defensive tackle market went absolutely insane this offseason, this would be a solid opportunity to both upgrade at tackle from outgoing free agent D.J. Reader and also save some salary cap money this season.
It is difficult to gauge variable position trades so there could be up to an extra first round draft pick attached to either of these moves. Cincinnati may be able to negotiate with these teams in dire positions but while they have been inactive in free agency, I would happily eat crow if the franchise put together a foundational trade like either of the two listed above.
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