The Bengals Have a Very Flexible Cap Situation

The Bengals have finally freed up a bunch of cap space. How much do they have and what all can they do with it before the season starts?

The Bengals have cleared a good amount of space in the last week by releasing George Iloka and Chris Baker. Their releases added over $8 million in space to the Bengals’ cap situation, which means they have a lot of flexibility this year with how they can use it. In total, the Bengals now have $22.3 million in space, which is plenty of room to make several moves before the season starts.

The biggest use for this space has to be to extend the stars. The Bengals know, after letting guys like Andrew Whitworth and Kevin Zeitler walk, that they have to retain Carlos Dunlap and Geno Atkins. While Atkins has been fairly quiet to this point, there are already discussions surrounding a possible extension for Dunlap. If both of these deals get done, they will eat into the cap space the Bengals have for this season.

The number that’s been thrown out for Dunlap is 3 years, $36 million. I’ve already noted that I believe this is a steal for a player as productive as Dunlap, but it would be great to see him come back on that deal. If the team indeed renegotiates with Dunlap, they will pay him an extra $4.7 million this season.

A renegotiation with Atkins would be even more expensive, but would start to pay him market value. Unlike Dunlap, there haven’t been any numbers thrown out for Atkins. However, Atkins is an undisputed top defensive tackle in the league, so he will get top dollar. I expect something in the 5 year, $90 million range. That would be an $8.5 million increase from his current number.

That would eat $13.2 million from the cap space, which would leave only $9 million. The Bengals also have some extra money tied up in incentives and the like. Still, there’s enough room to add a veteran cap casualty if needed. Players like Iloka can be signed for the veteran’s minimum ($790,000), which fits easily into their cap space. The Bengals will certainly look to pick up somebody like that before the season starts.

Having over $20 million in cap space is a great luxury to have. While it took paring some good veterans, the Bengals are in a great spot financially for the upcoming season.