Evaluating Cedric Peerman’s contract with Bengals

The Bengals are keeping Cedric Peerman around for at least one more season.

The veteran running back signed a one-year deal last week that will pay him just over $1 million. Here is a look at Peerman’s contract, courtesy of Over The Cap:

Base Salary: $900,000

Prorated Bonus: $100,000

Roster Bonus: $100,000

Workout Bonus: $50,000

Cap Number: $1,087,500

Dead Money if Cut: $100,000

Cap Savings if Cut: $987,500

Peerman stands to make around $150,000 this offseason, and another $900,000 if he’s on the 53-man roster. The deal has very little guaranteed money, so it’s not as though he’s locked into a spot on the final roster.

Still, the Bengals are giving Peerman $100,000 in guarantees, and Mike Brown doesn’t like paying a penny to anyone not playing for the team. That’s why even such small amount of guaranteed money means Peerman will likely be on the 53-man roster come Week 1. His leadership and special teams ability are the main reasons why.

What helps Peerman’s chances even more is that Giovani Bernard could open the season on PUP while recovering from a torn ACL. That would make Bernard ineligible to play for the first six games while also preventing him from occupying a roster spot, which a guy like Peerman would fill. Though, from what we’ve heard, Bernard’s recovery is going very well.

The only scenario in which Peerman won’t make the final roster is if Bernard makes a speedy recovery and avoids PUP, while the Bengals spend one, if not two draft picks on running backs in this year’s NFL Draft. There’s a lot of talk they could spend an early pick on a running back, adding to the current unit of Jeremy Hill, Bernard and Peerman on the roster. But, Peerman isn’t really used as a running back, his role is on special teams, so the Bengals might not mind carrying him on the 53-man roster, regardless of the other running backs the team employs.

The Bengals may be wise to draft two backs with Peerman and Hill having their contracts expire in 2018, not to mention there’s no certainty that Bernard gets back to his old self after the ACL tear he suffered in Week 11 of the 2016 NFL season.

All said, expect Peerman to make the final roster this season and give the Bengals a great blocker and coverage man on special teams.