Trayveon Williams and Rodney Anderson contract breakdown with Bengals

The Bengals took not one but two running backs in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

With the 182nd pick, the Bengals landed Williams, who was a star for the Texas A&M Aggies. From a pure talent standpoint, Williams was one of the best backs in this. But his smaller frame (5-8, 206 pounds) make it hard to envision him being a bellcow back in the NFL.

Then with the 211th overall pick, Cincinnati selected Anderson, who showed a world of potential during his career with the Oklahoma Sooners. However, Anderson was far too injury-prone to warrant being selected higher in this draft.

And like Williams, it’s hard to see Anderson being a back you want getting 20+ touches per game in the NFL if he’s going to make it through the regular season.

As you can imagine, Anderson and Williams will have identical contracts that won’t pay them much for the duration of their rookie deals.

According to Over The Cap, Williams’ deal is for a total of $2,701,984 over four years, while Anderson’s is worth $2,647,840. In essence, the 29-spot draft pick difference between the two amounts to an extra $54,000 for Williams.

Here’s Williams’ deal:

And Anderson:

The Bengals will have Joe Mixon and Giovani Bernard locking down the top two spots at running back, while Anderson and Williams will compete for one of the final spots. The odds favor both of them making it since their competition is Darrin Hall, Quinton Flowers and Jordan Ellis.

However, Anderson is a candidate for the NFI list since he’s recovering from a torn ACL suffered early in the 2018 season. So it’s possible the Bengals keep him their to start the season and have Hall, Ellis or Flowers as the fourth running back behind Mixon, Bernard and Williams.