Salary Cap Figures

[cincygrad]

NFL increases salary cap minimum to $180M

The NFL has informed teams that the salary cap for the 2021 season will be no less than $180 million, a slight increase from last year's previous agreement between the league and the NFLPA.

www.espn.com

It's looking like the cap won't move downward as dramatically as some thought. I think this is the right move by the league. Essentially what they are doing is borrowing money from future yeas to make sure there isn't a lot of turbulence this offseason. Ultimately it doesn't do any good for the owners or the players to have so much roster uncertainty and a bunch of players cut due to a small cap. If I were the owners and players I would definitely bet on revenues returning to normal levels very soon.

Somewhat bad news for Geoff Hobson and any Bengal apologist hoping for built in excuses for them not fixing the offensive line.

 

[DanBengalfan]

you have to remember that the Bengals salary cap is 90%, not 100%

they are required to spend to 89.5% of the cap, or else distribute funds to players to make up the difference. and this is what the bengals front office describes as their salary cap.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

you have to remember that the Bengals salary cap is 90%, not 100%

they are required to spend to 89.5% of the cap, or else distribute funds to players to make up the difference. and this is what the bengals front office describes as their salary cap.

We spent a lot of money last offseason. We have been spending big on our guys. We just can't afford to pay guys like AJ Green that has lot a step as much as I love him. He is not worth the money anymore with younger guys on the roster who can replace. Geno is probably a year away from that same boat. We have a low cost value on the most expensive position on the team in Burrow. Time to build around him before he blows the cap up. Good year for us, terrible year for Pittsburgh and Big Ben's 41 million.

 

[DanBengalfan]

hard to tell where we are right now until we start signing people. when I looked it up it said we had 45 million in cap space, but we had fewer people signed than most teams.

 

[Cincyfan78]

hard to tell where we are right now until we start signing people. when I looked it up it said we had 45 million in cap space, but we had fewer people signed than most teams.

2021 NFL Team Salary Cap Tracker

A real-time look at the 2021 salary cap totals for each NFL team, including estimated cap space.

www.spotrac.com

Based on 185M cap - Bengals are 4th in Cap Space. That's with 48 currently signed. That's really nothing to fill those last few spots.

Also, consider potential cuts in Atkins, Hart, and maybe another 1 or 2 - and that cap number will jump around another 10MM.

Bengals are well primed to make another run at some good free agents in a year where many teams will not be able to offer more than a 1 year deal at minimum due to the cap drop. Bengals are in position to still offer some of these guys good years and good dollars when other teams will be working to clean up their cap mess.

 

[DanBengalfan]

they need to make some upgrades then.

 

[Cincyfan78]

they need to make some upgrades then.

There is good money to re-sign Lawson - and still upgrade across the board.

As we all know - focus should be at OL, with no less than 1 top tier F/A at either OG/OT. I think it's really hard to peg the draft until this is handled. Even with 1 signing, I think there can be a really good case for taking Pitts and looking at OL in round 2 and/or Round 3.

Other areas of need are DT/DE depth and CB/DB depth. These I think can be found with a mix of F/A and Draft as well.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Another item to keep eye on with the cap within the division is Pitt. As discussed earlier - they are over the cap. If it is $185M, that puts them $15M over the cap. they do have 53 signed, but this will obviously change a bit, but probably minimal impact.

However, they have to get Ben under contract - and he's due 41M. Even if they converted half of that to Bonus money - they'd still only have about 5M in room.

I don't see Pitt selling out the future anymore than they already have by changing the structure to move nearly all of this to Bonus money knowing that it may all fully come due in another year. I don't see Ben suddenly deciding to take a new contract that pays him less (a lot less). He'd have to be willing to take a massive, massive paycut to really allow this team to move forward with him at QB - as well as looking to sign their current F/A...JuJu, Watt, Dupree - they also really need to upgrade across the entire OL. Pitt needs a lot to compete with Ben at QB, and him taking a huge contract would prevent them from being able to really do this - and would only delay what really needs to happen. Time to close this window and look at this year and next to get themselves back under cap control, contract control, and look at rebuilding.

From the sounds of the rumblings - I think Pitt is ready to rip the bandaid off - and is trying to talk Ben into retiring. Taking the hits needed this year, and into next, and start the rebuild process now. For me, this makes total sense as Cleveland and Baltimore are already pretty good and their windows are just opening up. Bengals could be looking at their window opening up in the next year, and that means 3 of the 4 teams in the AFCN are currently better positioned over the next few years with both talent and Cap space (Bal and Cleve are top 13 in space). It makes ense for Pitt to take the lumps now and next year, and get themselves set up so that as the windows and contracts start to catch up with the rest of the teams in the league, Pitt can start to swing it's way back towards contention and the top.

 

[cincygrad]

Another item to keep eye on with the cap within the division is Pitt. As discussed earlier - they are over the cap. If it is $185M, that puts them $15M over the cap. they do have 53 signed, but this will obviously change a bit, but probably minimal impact.

However, they have to get Ben under contract - and he's due 41M. Even if they converted half of that to Bonus money - they'd still only have about 5M in room.

I don't see Pitt selling out the future anymore than they already have by changing the structure to move nearly all of this to Bonus money knowing that it may all fully come due in another year. I don't see Ben suddenly deciding to take a new contract that pays him less (a lot less). He'd have to be willing to take a massive, massive paycut to really allow this team to move forward with him at QB - as well as looking to sign their current F/A...JuJu, Watt, Dupree - they also really need to upgrade across the entire OL. Pitt needs a lot to compete with Ben at QB, and him taking a huge contract would prevent them from being able to really do this - and would only delay what really needs to happen. Time to close this window and look at this year and next to get themselves back under cap control, contract control, and look at rebuilding.

From the sounds of the rumblings - I think Pitt is ready to rip the bandaid off - and is trying to talk Ben into retiring. Taking the hits needed this year, and into next, and start the rebuild process now. For me, this makes total sense as Cleveland and Baltimore are already pretty good and their windows are just opening up. Bengals could be looking at their window opening up in the next year, and that means 3 of the 4 teams in the AFCN are currently better positioned over the next few years with both talent and Cap space (Bal and Cleve are top 13 in space). It makes ense for Pitt to take the lumps now and next year, and get themselves set up so that as the windows and contracts start to catch up with the rest of the teams in the league, Pitt can start to swing it's way back towards contention and the top.

I'm also interested in looking at what Pittsburgh does. I can't understand why everyone assumes that they will sign JJ Watt. To me, the last thing they need is a high-priced defensive free agent that they'll need to squeeze into their cap. It's also not really their style to sign old free agents. I think they could position themselves for a rebuild by shedding some old salary and moving on from Ben. It really feels like its time. The only thing that would give me pause is that they have a championship caliber D right now. If there were a way to shore up some offensive problems, or if you bought into the idea that a coordinator change would help, maybe you run it back one more time with Ben and hope for the best..... But, given the current state of the AFC - With KC far and away above everyone else and Buffalo, Baltimore, and Cleveland still poised for a run, I think you start over. We'll see.

 

[Cincyfan78]

I'm also interested in looking at what Pittsburgh does. I can't understand why everyone assumes that they will sign JJ Watt. To me, the last thing they need is a high-priced defensive free agent that they'll need to squeeze into their cap. It's also not really their style to sign old free agents. I think they could position themselves for a rebuild by shedding some old salary and moving on from Ben. It really feels like its time. The only thing that would give me pause is that they have a championship caliber D right now. If there were a way to shore up some offensive problems, or if you bought into the idea that a coordinator change would help, maybe you run it back one more time with Ben and hope for the best..... But, given the current state of the AFC - With KC far and away above everyone else and Buffalo, Baltimore, and Cleveland still poised for a run, I think you start over. We'll see.

Agreed.

I mean, I don't know how all the cap stuff works, so this train of thought may be off some...but if they are 15M over the cap, Ben would need to convert nearly 30M of his 40M to bonus money to get them into the area of 15M in cap space. Could that be enough to upgrade on offense and still look to re-sign guys like Watt or Smith? I dunno.

But, these upgrades would only be short-lived, as eventually that 30M comes due, and even if it is split 15/15 by retiring after the special date in 2022 to split that hit, where will Pitt be with everyone else in terms of cap space, and what will the league cap space look like? I believe there is a new deal coming soon that could help - but again - as everyone else gets a boon in cap space, this would just be adding more breathing room to survive for Pitt.

They would be very well positioned by 2022/2023 if they simply ripped the band-aid off now and told Ben "Thanks for all the years, but it's time".