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The Cincinnati Bengals have three major names headed to free agency this offseason.
Bengals fans know them well: Reciever A.J. Green, edge defender Carl Lawson and cornerback William Jackson. All three figure to earn massive attention from other teams on the open market.
New market value projections from Spotrac show us what each might earn on that market:
- WR A.J. Green: 1 year, $6 million
- EDGE Carl Lawson: 4 years, $35 million ($8.8 million AAV)
- CB William Jackson: 3 years, $19 million ($6.3 million AAV)
Those are…interesting numbers, to say the least. On paper, Lawson is at worst the second-best pass rusher on the open market this offseason and interest from many teams likely pushes that number to $11-12 million AAV. Maybe the $8.8 AAV number is if the Bengals ink him to an extension soon — and if that’s the case, they should already have it done.
Similar story for Jackson as the arguable top corner in free agency. He’s looking at maybe double that listed AAV if bidding wars happen. If that’s the price for a Bengals extension, again, the Bengals should already have it done.
The reality is the Bengals have plenty of cap space to extend Lawson and Jackson — and that’s before accounting for several veterans the team could cut this offseason.
At the estimated numbers above, Cincinnati could easily bring back Lawson and Jackson and spend big on an outside free agent and still be comfortable. If the team can get either in this range before the market opens, it’s a no-brainer of a move.
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