Bengals spend big for defensive upgrades, likely still in market
Cincinnati Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said last month the team would be active in free agency. They still surprised with some big moves during the legal tampering period, and they likely aren’t done yet.
Former Texans nose tackle D.J. Reader is headed to Cincinnati on a four-year, $53 million deal that makes him the highest paid player in the league at his position as of Tuesday, according to Houston Chronicle NFL writer Aaron Wilson. The Bengals also landed former Vikings cornerback Trae Waynes on a three-year, $42 million deal that pays out $20 million the first year, according to NFL. com’s Ian Rapoport.
On Wednesday, before the official start of free
agency at 4 p.m., Cincinnati opened more room in the budget (while taking on some dead money) and released cornerback B.W. Webb and guard John Miller, players acquired last offseason.
“It’s not a question of whether we’re going to spend,” Tobin said at the NFL Combine last month. “Over the course of this past CBA, we’re a top-half-of-theleague-spending team on players. So we’re going to spend on players. It’s just a question of do you spend on Tim versus Tom, our guy versus their guy? Do you try to extend your guy? And we’re going to balance all of that this year.”
The Bengals historically haven’t spent a lot on new acquisitions, though — usually investing in their own players. Perhaps it’s a “New Dey” under Zac Taylor after all, as this is his first full offseason and the organization already is backpedaling on moves made last year in free agency and making big splashes with new additions.
Miller’s three-year, $16.5 million deal last year was the third highest annual average salary in team history for an unrestricted free agent coming from outside the organization. He had a cap hit of $5.4 million this year, and according to OvertheCap. com, the Bengals will now eat $2.7 million in dead money from that deal. Miller started 13 games and was considered one of the more consistent linemen in a unit that didn’t show a lot of that.
Webb came on a threeyear, $10.5 million deal last year and would have had a cap hit of $3.6 million this season. The team now absorbs $1 million in dead money, according to OvertheCap.com, but that’s a savings of $5.3 million combined between Miller and Webb, plus the roster bonuses of $600,000 for Webb and $1 million for Miller that were set to kick in Friday.
The Bengals entered the legal tampering period Monday at noon with $25.4 million in cap space, according to OvertheCap.com, and they still have quarterback Andy Dalton accounting for $17.7 million in cap hit, although he is expected to get traded.
Tuesday’s acquisitions came at a great expense but address two levels of the defense badly in need of retooling.
Reader, listed at 6-foot-3, 347 pounds, was selected by the Texans in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL draft out of Clemson. After serving mostly as a rotational defensive lineman as a rookie, he emerged as a full-time starter in 2017 and has totaled 154 tackles and 6.5 sacks over the last four years. Last season, Reader had a career year with 52 tackles and 2.5 sacks.
Despite the low sack numbers, Reader is considered an elite interior player who is difficult to move around. Pairing him alongside Geno
Atkins should give the Bengals one of the better tackle duos in the league.
Waynes, a first-round pick by the Vikings in 2015, has played 74 games over five seasons in Minnesota and owns seven interceptions, including one last year. The Bengals are trading one former Michigan State defensive back for another as Rapoport also reported Tuesday that the Jaguars had landed former Bengals cornerback Darqueze Dennard in addition to picking up former Browns linebacker Joe Schobert — a player the Bengals apparently were going after.