Bengals Roster: 5 most expensive cap hits for 2022 season

The Cincinnati Bengals‘ cap situation, at least for the first several years of Zac Taylor’s tenure, was a relative mess.

Although there was room to sign some free agents, the Bengals’ top paid players were generally guys who were over-the-hill (Geno Atkins, Carlos Dunlap, to name a few) or free agent signees who got a fat deal and then failed to show up (looking at you, Trae Waynes!).

This year, though, things have finally started to balance out. Some of the team’s highest-paid players are also their best.

Let’s take a quick look at who the Bengals’ top earners will be this season.

All figures are approximated from the amounts posted at OverTheCap.com. 

5. Tyler Boyd ($10.1 million cap hit)

With the absolutely outrageous contracts that Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill have secured this offseason, it’s amazing that Tyler Boyd hasn’t held out for a new deal. His $8.25 million-dollar salary is an absolute bargain in this wide receiver market.  He can also earn an additional $250K in roster bonuses and $200K in workout bonuses. The prorated portion of his signing bonus is only $1.4M.

The best part about Boyd’s contract is that it stays relatively flat — His base salary was $8M last year, it will be $8.25M this year, and it will be $8.45M next season, the final year of the deal. He also only sees his cap hit go up by $200K next year.

It is a virtual lock that he will play out the entirety of his deal for the Bengals. In fact, he’s probably a decent candidate to be re-signed, because he and Tee Higgins will both be up for new contracts after the 2023 season, and he’ll be entering his age-30 campaign and should be considerably cheaper than Higgins to retain.

Enjoy this stellar wide receiver trio while you can, folks; it’s going to be hard to keep the band together after 2023.