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With
a huge salary cap in place, the 2013 edition of B
engals football may be the best in the
AFC North as a changing of the
guard looks to be in place. CNO photo by
bengals.com
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Cap Space Could Prompt Changing of the
Guard in AFC North
bleacherreport.com
CINCINNATI- The Cincinnati Bengals are currently enjoying $44.9 million
in cap space while heading deeper into the offseason. Re-signing core
players to long-term deals has been the mantra of head coach Marvin
Lewis since the end of the 2012 season.
The Bengals began re-signing key players this past week, starting with
placing the franchise tag on defensive end Michael Johnson. They then
inked punter Kevin Huber to a five-year deal and re-signed long snapper
Clark Harris.
The Bengals were also able to keep Jeromy Miles, Vincent Rey and Andrew
Hawkins in the fold with one-year tenders.
With free agency set to begin on March 12th, the Bengals still have a
good amount of work to do if they are to keep more of their own free
agents. They do, however, have the mentality and cap space available to
get it all done.
Once these key players are re-signed, the Bengals will still have
plenty of cap space available to extend contracts of key players such
as Geno Atkins, Carlos Dunlap, A.J. Green and Andy Dalton. This will
keep these talented young players in Cincinnati for a good portion of
their careers.
However, two AFC North powerhouse franchises are not quite as fortunate
as Cincinnati.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been in salary-cap turmoil since the
beginning of the offseason. Renegotiating contracts with Ben
Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Lawrence Timmons only brought the
Steelers back to even in cap room.
Pittsburgh also had to allow key players such as Mike Wallace and
Keenan Lewis to enter free agency due to cap restrictions. This led to
the release of five-time Pro-Bowler James Harrison early on Saturday.
After all of this, the Steelers are now only $7 million under the
salary cap. This is not a good sign for a team that did not make the
playoffs last season.
The defending Super Bowl champions, the Baltimore Ravens, are not in
any better shape due to other reasons.
The Ravens decided to make quarterback Joe Flacco the NFL's
highest-paid player with a six-year, $120.6 million contract. This
brought the Ravens down to only $12 million in cap space.
Due to this, Baltimore could not afford to keep several key players on
the roster. Ed Reed, Dannell Ellerbe, Paul Kruger and Cary Williams are
all set to hit the open market. The Ravens were also forced to cut
guard Bobbie Williams to allow for more cap space.
On Saturday, reports surfaced that wide receiver Anquan Boldin was
asked to renegotiate his contract. The Ravens reportedly would like to
lessen the $6 million base salary that Boldin is supposed to earn in
2013. Boldin rejected the Ravens' offer and is likely to be released by
the franchise.
For this story and more, click here
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