Can the Cincinnati Bengals make everyone happy?
USAT’s Mackenzie Salmon asks Lorenzo Reyes on the financial situation in Cincinnati.
Sports Seriously
The NFL never stops.
Free agency technically begins Monday. But before the clock strikes noon ET, starting the proverbial “legal tampering window,” the offseason has already featured a litany of consequential trades, demands, requests, signings and much more.
With this much movement and news already, it’s time to declare some pre-free agency winners and losers from the month-old offseason.
Hint: the guys who got paid and their respective teams are obvious winners. Teams who stood pat or neglected to pay their big names (looking at you, Cincinnati) are warranted losers. But it’s a bit deeper than that. Let’s dive into it.
WINNERS
Myles Garrett (and Micah Parsons and T.J. Watt)
The final game of the 2024 season hadn’t even been played when Garrett released a statement requesting a trade and said he wished to compete for a Super Bowl. But money is nice too. On Sunday, Garrett started a busy day of big-money news by agreeing to a four-year, $160 million extension with the Cleveland Browns. The contract includes $123.5 million in guaranteed money, making Garrett the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL.
Good for Browns general manager Andrew Berry, who stood firm at the combine while being peppered with questions about Garrett’s trade prospects. The executive maintained the Browns had no interest in moving the menace off the edge and that turned out to be true. Now he can focus on taking the team’s quarterback of the future at No. 2 overall in the upcoming draft.
Meanwhile, the edge rushers who will be seeking new deals salivated at Sunday’s news. That would be namely Micah Parsons of the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ T.J. Watt. A Parsons extension could come the pike at any time – although this current iteration of “America’s Team” is content to play out the string, much to their detriment – while Watt’s next payday figures to come next year. Parsons took to social media to declare his disbelief in the Garrett contract details. He and Watt will have Garrett to thank for their inflated bank accounts.
Wide receivers who wanted out from their former team
It was a good March for wideouts who sought greener pastures. First, the San Francisco 49ers honored Deebo Samuel’s trade request and sent him to the Washington Commanders last Saturday. DK Metcalf then requested the Seattle Seahawks trade him and they did Sunday to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who gave the two-time Pro Bowl receiver a four-year extension.
Davante Adams’ future with the New York Jets was essentially sealed the moment a reunion between “Gang Green” and quarterback Aaron Rodgers went south – as in, he too would not be back. The Jets released him Tuesday and he signed a two-year deal worth $46 million with the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday to team up with a different veteran quarterback who has a Super Bowl pedigree in Matthew Stafford.
Whether a more-verdant future awaits each is debatable for different reasons, but they all accomplished task No. 1 – getting out.
A Most Valuable Player trophy and a new contract that makes him the highest-paid player in the league currently. Not a bad offseason for Mr. Allen, who now has $250 million guaranteed to him over the next six years and the potential for $330 million, which if paid in full, would be a $55 million average annual salary. It’s the largest guarantee in NFL history.
The Bills clearly have received the memo that scared money don’t make money. Beyond their quarterback, they invested in four-year extensions for wide receiver Khalil Shakir ($32 million guaranteed), linebacker Terrel Bernard ($25.2 million guaranteed) and defensive end Gregory Rousseau ($54 million guaranteed).
Saquon Barkley
Barkley rushed for 2,000 yards in his first season with “The Birds” on their way to a Super Bowl 59 victory. Philadelphia rewarded him with a two-year extension worth $41.2 million in new money – $36 million guaranteed at signing – and $15 million more available in incentives. The deal makes him the highest-paid running back in NFL history and the first to make at least $20 million in a season.
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman (and the man cutting the checks, Jeffrey Lurie) know the value of staying ahead of the curve and rewarding players early in their deals to create future flexibility – and, say, keep a Super-Bowl window open that much wider and longer. Team brass also brought back All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun on a three-year, $51 million deal ($34 million guaranteed).
The Rams opted not to take a spin on quarterback roulette with somebody like Sam Darnold or Aaron Rodgers and instead hashed things out with Matthew Stafford, whom they ceded permission to seek a trade. Nothing materialized, and Stafford – with two years remaining on his current deal – returned to the fold on a restructured contract that will be hammered out once free agency opens, per reports.
Next they essentially replaced Cooper Kupp (who has yet to be traded but whose return seems unlikely) with Adams, who figures to fit nicely into Sean McVay’s scheme given his production from the slot over the years.
Stafford’s blind-side protector and Rams left tackle Alaric Jackson is also back on a three-year, $57 million deal, with $35 million guaranteed.
In one of the odder moves over the past month, the Raiders addressed their need at quarterback by reuniting new head coach Pete Carroll with former Seattle Seahawks signal-caller Geno Smith. The deal sent a 2025 third-round draft pick back to Seattle
Defensive end Maxx Crosby, not immune to trade speculation due to the team’s losing ways, became the richest non-quarterback (in terms of annual average salary) for a few days with a three-year extension worth $106.5 million ($91.5 million guaranteed) before Garrett unseated him atop the list.
Caleb Williams
Ryan Poles, a former offensive linemen, knew last year’s effort from the Chicago Bears‘ offensive line could not continue if quarterback Caleb Williams – last year’s No. 1 pick – were to take a step forward in Year 2 under new head coach Ben Johnson. Enter Jonah Jackson (acquired in a trade with the Rams) and Joe Thuney (acquired in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs). Poles parted with a sixth- and fourth-round pick, respectively, for the two veteran interior linemen. It’s a start.
The NFL
Kings stay kings. No subpar games to throw on midweek? No prospect showcase to completely blow out of the water? No problem. It doesn’t matter if it’s the holidays, daylight savings or a random week in July – the NFL captivates this nation’s attention unlike any other entity, for better or worse.
LOSERS
Cincinnati director of player personnel executive Duke Tobin (the organization’s de facto general manager) stood behind a podium at the combine in Indianapolis and declared the Bengals’ intention to make wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL. Then he watched another Ohio team make good on that goal with Garrett earning that distinction with the Browns. Trey Hendrickson has been arguably the most consistent pass rusher over the past two seasons with back-to-back 17.5-sack seasons. Yet Cincinnati granted him permission to seek a trade. Tobin said he wanted a long-term deal for another stud wideout, Tee Higgins, but placed the franchise tag on him for the second straight offseason. Quarterback Joe Burrow pressured the organization during the week of the Super Bowl by repeating his desire to whoever would hear it that he expected all of the team’s key contributors back and well-compensated. None of that has come to fruition. Awkward.
Not to fret: tight ends Mike Gesicki and Tanner Hudson are back in the fold.
The second year of head coach Mike Macdonald’s tenure will certainly have a rebuild feel to it, despite the team’s 10-7 record in his inaugural campaign.
Of course, this is all by design. Smith, 34, was not in the franchise’s long-term plans. A Macdonald-coached team will always prioritize the defensive side of the ball and controlling the football on the other, and Smith wasn’t an ideal fit for that philosophy. Without Smith, it didn’t necessarily make sense to hang onto Metcalf, either, especially if he desired to play elsewhere.
AFC North QBs
Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson – who has his left tackle Ronnie Stanley back on a three-year, $60 million deal – and the “Steelers starter to be named later” likely had high hopes they no longer had to see Garrett on the other side of the line of scrimmage twice a year. That’s the dangerous thing about hope.
AFC North cornerbacks
Having to deal with the whirling dervish that is George Pickens and now DK Metcalf? There is no safe side of the field for secondary players on the Steelers’ schedule, but that’s entirely from a physical standpoint rather than production-wise. Because, well, who exactly is going to be throwing these guys the football?
Tee Higgins
His one-word tweet summed it up best: “tag.” He wasn’t talking about the playground game. A $26.2 million payday – the Clemson product made $21.8 million on the franchise tag last season – is nothing to sneeze at, but as an elite wideout in his prime, Higgins would almost certainly do better on the open market.
Trey Hendrickson
The Bengals let Hendrickson, 30, know where he is in the pecking order of getting deals done by allowing him to seek a trade. His in the final year of his contract ($16 million in 2025) and is seeking security beyond next season.
Jerry Jones
Yeah, he’s got to pay Parsons sooner rather than later, because that price tag increases by the minute and this next week won’t do the Dallas Cowboys owner any favors. But the biggest issue is that Mr. Jones is still calling the shots in Dallas yet seems to have forgotten the core tenets of team building and free agency. Dallas did well to avoid the franchise tag on defensive lineman Osa Odighizuwa and sign him to a long-term deal, but the Cowboys have failed in that approach and allowed their stars to become more expensive, thereby handicapping themselves in the process. This offseason was no different.
Conversations at the Indianapolis JW Marriott Starbucks
Take it outside, fellas. Maybe this combine-week brouhaha (emphasis on the “brew”) felt anticlimactic because Stafford – whose movements were the source of this war of words between two reporters at the combine – wound up back with the Rams?
The NFL
Maybe the league should drop the whole façade of a “legal tampering window.” It’s gotten to the point where not even a casual fan knows that 12 p.m. ET means anything significant. The idea of the new league year and contractual formalities means it has to exist, but pretending it actually means anything is silly.
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