3 biggest surprises of Bengals free agency in 2023

The Cincinnati Bengals got off to a slow start in free agency but once they made their move, they were on the map in a major way. There have been plenty of surprises in free agency to this point and that's what we'll be exploring in this post.

Let's start with the first move the Bengals made in free agency.

3. Re-signing Germaine Pratt

The Bengals' season came to an end in the AFC Championship Game and was aided by Joseph Ossai shoving Patrick Mahomes when he was already well out of bounds. Following the game, Germaine Pratt went off and it didn't feel like he'd back in the black and orange stripes when the 2023 season came around.

After seeing Pratt's projected contract by PFF, however, I started to have hope that the team could keep him around. When the legal tampering period began, the first move the team made was re-signing Pratt and keeping him in Cincinnati for the next three years.

Pratt signed a three-year deal worth $20.25 million and he'll make $10.1 million this year and then make significantly less in 2024 and 2025. The Bengals also have an out on his contract after this season and won't have any dead money if they cut him.

This was a surprising move because fans were expecting Pratt to sign elsewhere and also to make a lot more money when he did. The fact that he stayed in Cincinnati and took a front-loaded contract was also a nice surprise.