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The Bengals' middle linebackers will once again be among the team's highest-paid positions in 2015.
A big reason why is Rey Maualuga. He'll lead they way at this position with a $7.1 million cap hit this year. That's almost four times more than any other Bengal middle backer will make in the 2015 season.
Here's a salary breakdown in 2015 for the Bengals middle linebackers:
|
BASE SALARY |
SIGNING BONUS |
ROSTER BONUS |
WORKOUT BONUS |
DEAD CAP |
CAP HIT |
|
|
Rey Maualuga |
$2,150,000 |
- |
$4,687,500 |
$300,000 |
($4,500,000) |
$7,137,500 |
|
A.J. Hawk |
$1,100,000 |
- |
$700,000 |
$50,000 |
($500,000) |
$1,850,000 |
|
Sean Porter |
$585,000 |
$107,325 |
- |
- |
($214,650) |
$692,325 |
|
Jayson Dimanche |
$585,000 |
$5,000 |
- |
- |
($5,000) |
$590,000 |
|
Nico Johnson |
$585,000 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
$585,000 |
|
Trevor Roach |
$435,000 |
$833 |
- |
- |
($2,500) |
$435,833$833 |
After Maualuga, the only other middle backer making over $1 million this year is A.J. Hawk. He was signed this offseason for added depth along the linebacking corps. However, Hawk carries just a $500k cap hit if he's cut before the regular-season opener.
Assuming he does make the roster, the Bengals are scheduled to have the fifth-highest salary committed to middle linebackers of any team in 2015 in addition to being the third -highestpaid position on their roster. Maualuga and Hawk alone would be enough to be the ninth highest-paid middle linebacker group in 2015.
Those two may actually be the only two middle backers to make the roster with Sean Porter, Jayson Dimanche, Nico Johnson and Trevor Roach all fighting for roster spots. There's no guarantee any of them make it, especially with weakside linebacker Vincent Rey being able to play in the middle. He played mostly at the WILL last year with Vontaze Burfict injured though. With Tez possibly opening 2015 on PUP, it's safe to think Vinny will spend a lot of time there again this year.