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The Bengals currently have six tight ends on their 90-man roster.
However, all of them are still on their rookie contracts, led by third-year man Tyler Eifert. He still has two years on his deal, plus a fifth-year option if Cincinnati opts to pick that up. That equates to little money being spent on this position.
Here's a salary breakdown in 2015 for the Bengals' tight ends:
POS. |
BASE SALARY |
SIGNING BONUS |
ROSTER BONUS |
WORKOUT BONUS |
DEAD CAP IF CUT |
CAP HIT |
|
Tyler Eifert |
TE |
$1,155,546 |
$1,096,091 |
- |
- |
$4,113,137 |
$2,251,637 |
Tyler Kroft |
TE |
$435,000 |
$161,944 |
- |
- |
$647,776 |
$596,944 |
C.J. Uzomah |
TE |
$435,000 |
$53,190 |
- |
- |
$212,762 |
$488,190 |
Matt Lengel |
TE |
$435,000 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
$435,000 |
Jake Murphy |
TE |
$435,000 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
$435,000 |
John Peters |
TE |
$435,000 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
$435,000 |
Other than Eifert, none of the other five tight ends have even played in a regular-season NFL game. Tyler Kroft and C.J. Uzomah are both draft picks embarking on the first year of their four-year rookie contracts. They'll become unrestricted free agents in 2018. Matt Lengel and John Peters are on the first year of their three-year deals, received as undrafted free agents.
Jake Murphy is actually on the first year of what's technically a two-year deal. He'll become an exclusive-rights free agent in 2017. An exclusive rights free agent is a player whose contract expired and has three or fewer accrued years in the league. If a tender were to be given to him after that, it would be a one-year, non-guaranteed contract at the minimum salary.
With no tight end having more than two years of NFL experience, this is one of the cheapest positions on the Bengals' roster. According to Spotrac, the Bengals have the 26th highest paid tight end roster with $2,901,771 attached to the position. That also accounts for just 1.91% of the Bengals' 2015 cap. It's also impossible to foresee all six of the current tight ends on the roster making the team, so that number will go further down.