Winning on the football field is never easy, but neither is winning off of it.
As we've seen this offseason, no team scores a perfect record when it comes to re-signing their own over the long term. Even when teams like the Bengals desperately work to re-sign guys like Marvin Jones, it's simply not always going to work out.
The Bengals' fears came true this offseason as both Jones and Mohamed Sanu left to sign monster deals with the Lions and Falcons respectively, leaving Cincinnati without two of its primary receivers of the past four years. The Bengals reportedly even offered Jones about as much the five-year, $40 million contract Detroit offered, but ultimately lost out.
Must Reads
That deal was about the range that receivers of Jones' caliber are getting now that the NFL salary cap has topped $155 million. You couldn't blame the Bengals if they'd overpaid to keep Jones and/or Sanu, but they stuck to their guns and each walked. Sometimes, taking that 'L' and moving on is what's best in the long term.
But while the Bengals may have lost in the Jones and Sanu sweepstakes, they've posted a winning record over the long term when it comes to keeping their own, while also adding quality free agents on minimal deals. That was apparent this offseason as the Bengals spent just the 19th-most money of any team since the 2015 season ended, according to Spotrac.
That included Cincinnati spending just over $105 million in free agent acquisitions and extensions, the majority of which going to running back Giovani Bernard, cornerback Adam Jones, safety George Iloka, linebacker Vinny Rey, and safety Shawn Williams. They also added free agent linebacker Karlos Dansby and receiver Brandon LaFell, two quality players who will likely start, to deals paying them a combined $4.4 million.
And that's not the only way the Bengals are winning in the front office. They've been one of the NFL's best teams at not handicapping themselves with big-money deals including masses of guaranteed money. That was also evident in the Spotrac study, which had the Bengals spending the fifth-least amount of guaranteed money this offseason.
That's smart company to be in when you see the rest of the top five includes the Jets, Steelers, Cardinals and Packers, teams that, including the Bengals, combined to win 55 games in 2015. Those teams have, like the Bengals, been very good at keeping their own and not spending big bucks to land many outside free agents.
Ironically, the five teams who spent the most guaranteed money this offseason were the Giants, Eagles, Colts, Jaguars and Raiders. Those teams combined for a 33-47 total record in 2015, aka a losing record. They've been letting players dictate the terms of contracts, which has led to deals with lots of guaranteed money that later hamstring the teams and prevents them from addressing other weaknesses.
Part of why Cincinnati has avoided committing too much money to players and have dished out almost exclusively team-friendly deals, is the level of trust the Bengals share with their players. The team rarely cuts players before their contracts end, and when they do, there's little, if any dead money to deal with because of the type of low-guarantee contracts to which the team signs its players.
Over the past three years, that strategy has allowed the Bengals to cut guys like Mike Pollack, A.J. Hawk and Robert Geathers to save millions of dollars and not have lots of dead cap. That extra money allows the Bengals to either re-sign their own that year, or carry it over into the next offseason.
According to the most recent salary cap report by the NFLPA, the Bengals are down to just $9,692,461 in cap space for the rest of this year. A big reason why the Bengals are so low on money for the 2016 season is due to the new deals that Bernard and Williams received this summer.
But it helps that the Bengals carried over $7,587,902 from last year, which is included in that nearly $10 million remaining.
And, it also helps that the Bengals have the majority of their starters signed to long-term deals. Andy Dalton, A.J. Green, Geno Atkins, Carlos Dunlap, Adam Jones, Rey Maualuga, Shawn Williams, George Iloka, Michael Johnson, Vontaze Burfict, Tyler Eifert, and Giovani Bernard are all under contract for at least two more years.
That's easily 12 of the team's 15-17 best players from last year's 12-4 squad, a good sign the playoff team we've seen for five-straight years should continue for at least two more seasons. This also means the Bengals still have almost $10 million to sign Kevin Zeitler and/or Dre Kirkpatrick to an extension now or next offseason, another pair of key players for this franchise's quest for a championship. Plus, if either of those two are extended, it could potentially lower their cap hit for 2016, as they're both set to play on expensive fifth year options in 2016.
All of this serves as one big reminder as to how good the Bengals are when it comes to the front office battles and getting players signed to the best deal possible for the team, while also ensuring said player gets what they deserve as long as they're earning it.