The Cincinnati Bengals aren’t getting much from two star players.
[jwplayer BLUmNLiE]
The Cincinnati Bengals didn’t fully embrace a rebuild last offseason, opting to keep veteran carryovers with the idea the team could enter a sort of win-now mode in Zac Taylor’s second year.
That meant keeping three of the team’s highest-paid players — A.J. Green (franchise tag), Carlos Dunlap and Geno Atkins.
Fans know what happened with Dunlap, now a member of the playoff-bound Seattle Seahawks.
Green and Atkins are harder to figure out.
Atkins has appeared in just six games this season, never playing on more than 30 percent of the snaps. He had an injury in training camp and was out for personal reasons too. But when he’s been active he’s been invisible.
Part of this is scheme. Coaches made it well-known they wanted a reduced role for Atkins so he could be more effective. Instead, he’s generated zero sacks for a team in desperate need of pass-rush help. He had recorded nine or more in four of his past five seasons.
And then there’s Green. The giant injury question mark has been active in every game but has never looked right. He had that two-game stretch with 82 and 96 yards, but that took 24 total targets. He’s had more than 50 yards in a game once otherwise. He’s caught just six passes over his last four games and has been held without a catch three times.
This wouldn’t sting so bad for the Bengals if the players weren’t so costly. Green is the team’s highest cap hit at $18.171 million and Atkins is second at $14.2 million. That’s money that could have gone toward offensive linemen or other problem areas. Their trade values, presumably decent a year ago, have been ruined.
Green is a free agent after the season. Cutting Atkins before next season would get rid of his $14.8 million cap hit, but at a dead cap cost of $5.2 million.
Meaning, there are ways out of the contracts that frees up cap space. But if the team knew Atkins wasn’t a fit and wasn’t sure on Green, coaches probably shouldn’t have talked them up as a winning solution.
Letting go of franchise legends isn’t easy, of course. But it’s no fun to see it get messy like it did with Dunlap, either — and it’s nice to think he could compete for a championship this year.
Whatever the outcome, one thing is for certain — the Bengals need a more coherent plan, not a half-measure thing where droves of resources go to waste. It means not hanging on to talent that could fetch a good return. That could mean an entirely new coaching staff to top it all off, too. While it was always going to take time, the current approach to the rebuild has resulted in two of the team’s worst-ever seasons, so it’s time to step back and reevaluate.
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