The Cincinnati Bengals have always deserved praise for their smart navigation of the salary cap that shies away from long-term problems.
That has been even more remarkable during the Zac Taylor era, too, while the team has opened up the checkbook to bring on outside free agents to fuel the rebuild.
Despite this, the team has droves of salary cap space. As noted by Touchdown Wire’s Mark Lane, Cincinnati ranks 30th leaguewide in dead-cap space at just $540,902.
That number usually stems from the trade or release of players, and in this case, is mostly due to signing bonuses. It’s an impressively low number — the Eagles, for instance, lead the league at $46 million in dead cap. The Saints are infamously still $28 million over the cap after endlessly pushing cap hits to future years.
This number will go up in future years for the Bengals, but their continued savvy contract structures and cap navigation should give fans hope when it comes time to juggle the extensions of Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and others.
