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The Bengals defensive ends did little to live up to their hefty salary last year after notching just 11.5 total sacks.
Carlos Dunlap did have a good year with 8 sacks and an 8.3 Pro Football Focus rating. He earned his $8.6 million cap hit in 2014, and he'll likely do so again in 2015 with just a $4.9 million salary in 2015. However, Robert Geathers and Wallace Gilberry combined to make $4.5 million last year, despite combining for just 2.5 sacks. Now, Geathers is gone and Gilberry makes just $2 million this year.
Here's a salary breakdown in 2015 for the Bengals defensive ends:
|
BASE SALARY |
SIGNING BONUS |
ROSTER BONUS |
OPTION BONUS |
WORKOUT BONUS |
DEAD CAP |
CAP HIT |
|
|
Carlos Dunlap |
$3,000,000 |
$1,600,000 |
- |
- |
$300,000 |
($4,800,000) |
$4,900,000 |
|
Michael Johnson |
$1,300,000 |
$1,125,000 |
$175,000 |
- |
- |
($4,500,000) |
$2,600,000 |
|
Wallace Gilberry |
$1,850,000 |
$200,000 |
- |
- |
- |
($200,000) |
$2,050,000 |
|
Margus Hunt |
$738,737 |
$262,473 |
- |
- |
- |
($524,946) |
$1,001,210 |
|
Will Clarke |
$510,000 |
$136,345 |
- |
- |
$10,000 |
($409,035) |
$656,345 |
|
Marcus Hardison |
$435,000 |
$86,423 |
- |
- |
- |
($345,692) |
$521,423$86,423 |
|
Sam Montgomery |
$510,000 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
$510,000 |
The big addition at DE this offseason was Michael Johnson. After a one-year hiatus in Tampa Bay, he's back with a manageable $2.6 million cap hit this year. Margus Hunt is the only other player making at least $1 million this year if he's even on the 53-man roster. He counts for a little over $500k is released.
In all, this position accounts for just an $11.2 million cap hit in 2015. That's the sixth-lowest of any position on the roster and 19th in the NFL.
*Note: Spotrac included Marcus Hardison in the DEs, despite him being drafted as a DT where he's listed on the official Bengals roster.