One offseason ago, the Cincinnati Bengals used the franchise tag on safety Jessie Bates.
And while this year’s potential Bengals free-agent class looks even more dramatic, it’s hard to imagine the team using the tag.
Still, it’s worth looking at a few names now that the window to tag players has opened.
- First up is Bates. A second tag would mean a 120 percent uptick of the salary from last season. That roughly $15.5 million would be far too expensive (just as the cost to extend him probably is). So this isn’t happening.
- Second is linebacker Germaine Pratt. The Bengals would probably love to employ this method if they can’t agree to an extension. But the LB tag number is dramatically over-inflated due to pass-rushers, costing $20.9 million, so it’s an extension or nothing with Pratt.
- Third is…the rest. They’re not going to tag Vonn Bell at $14.5 million and they won’t tag Hayden Hurst at $11.3 million.
So no, the Bengals aren’t likely to use a tag this year. The team has admitted the focus is on retaining their own players now and the one-year deal Hurst signed might be a blueprint for how they want to sign outside free agents.
But the focus is getting extensions done. First is Joe Burrow, then perhaps Tee Higgins and Logan Wilson. A franchise tag would eat too much cap when they can use a big number like that to likely retain multiple guys and/or add multiple guys from the market.
