Bengals 2026 salary cap outlook after keeping Joe Flacco isn't awesome

None of this is Joe Flacco's fault. The man made the most of his opportunity last season with the Cincinnati Bengals, and wanted to explore the chance to start elsewhere. That perfect landing spot didn't quite coalesce in free agency, leading Flacco to re-sign in Cincy on a one-year deal.

What's frustrating is, the Bengals must've known the price tag Flacco was commanding from the early stages of free agency. Maybe he could leverage an outside offer for starter's money against whatever Cincinnati initially put forward, but the ballpark financials had to have been known.

If not, that's utter negligence on the Bengals' part. But then I guess that's just how they roll, seemingly asleep at the wheel at every turn when it comes to logical roster and contract structures.

Joe Flacco's belated signing & front-loaded contracts thwart Bengals' bid to maximize 2026 roster

The one-year contract Flacco inked to back up Joe Burrow this year is worth $6 million, plus another $3 million in incentives.

Taking Other Joe's deal at face value, unless there's a void year kicked in, the Bengals are sitting at a projected $16.2 million in 2026 cap room remaining. However, they only have $9.5 million in effective cap space, per OverTheCap.com.

Not quite enough for the $9.75 million I recently advocated for them to spend on ex-Bengals nose tackle D.J. Reader, veteran linebacker Shaq Thompson, and strong boundary CB3 candidate Jack Jones. Bummer. That trio could really help a still-hurting Bengals defense.

Hand up for an accountability check, though: In a piece from a mere few days ago, where I criticized the Bengals' public-facing spin about their free agency activity, I missed a critical larger narrative.

In Bengals dot com's Geoff Hobson's original piece that I was riffing on, toward the end, he drops a true beauty of a nugget that's the most Bengalsian thing you'll ever read. It has to do with dead money, and Cincinnati's apparent lack of it, and why that's such a positive thing.

"They've also indicated they'll explore extending guys like [cornerback DJ] Turner, which would add even more to their current position of 14th in the league in cash committed for this season. The Bengals' ability to keep a roster free of dead money has given them the flexibility to extend into the future. They continue to believe it's a winning formula. Since Taylor became their head coach in 2019, the 10 teams with the least amount of 'dead money,' (money paid to players not on the roster) have a combined record of 646-517-3, with three Super Bowl titles and seven Super Bowl appearances. The 10 most dead teams in the same stretch are 508-659-3, with one Super Bowl title and four Super Bowl appearances."

Somebody forgot to tell Mike Brown, Blackburns, and Duke Tobin that the reigning No. 1 seed in the AFC, the Denver Broncos, ate the most dead money in NFL history at the time to move off Russell Wilson. They were in the playoffs the very next year, and yes, three points from a Super Bowl berth with their backup QB this past postseason.

What if I told you all of that happened more than full year since the Bengals last suited up for a playoff game? Hahahahaha.

And oh by the way, who were the other two teams before the Broncos' Wilson debacle to eat a bunch of dead money for a QB they shouldn't have paid?

Answer: The Philadelphia Eagles for Carson Wentz, and the Los Angeles Rams for Jared Goff. Guess what those teams have done since? Jalen Hurts led the Iggles to two Super Bowls, won MVP in one, and outplayed Patrick Mahomes in both.

You might recall too, Who Dey Heads, that Matthew Stafford and the Rams beat the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.

I don't think the Bengals could've put out a more tone-deaf case against dead money if they tried.

Also note the phrasing of DJ Turner's hopefully-imminent contract extension. It gives the appearance that Cincinnati is indeed fully committed to a Super Bowl this year — all the while, dumb things like this are happening:

I love how smart the Bengals' front office thinks they are, when in reality, they couldn't be more insulated from reality or the modern era of the NFL in general.

Thank goodness for Joe Burrow. He is dragging this clan of oddballs to the fringes of respectability when he's healthy enough to play.

Speaking of Burrow, Cincinnati could've restructured his contract to open up $19.2 million more in salary cap space, whilst not even coming close to putting future salary cap years under any serious peril. That could've made Flacco's somewhat untimely signing far less of a burden as the Bengals still have multiple glaring needs amid the later waves of free agency.

Another point of potential major savings blown: Look no further than the above example of Boye Mafe versus Jaelan Phillips. The latter's cap charge with Carolina for 2026 is 33% of his average annual value; Mafe's is at 85%.

If you even split the difference on that chasm between Mafe and Phillips at 59%, that would amount to $11.2 million and save Cincinnati another $5.8 million against the 2026 cap.

Proposed Burrow + Boye savings = $25 million extra in 2026 salary cap room.

And again, zero danger of any salary cap purgatory with those moves whatsoever.

Would that it were so simple.