The Cincinnati Bengals have used up the goodwill they bought with two consecutive conference championship games and a Super Bowl appearance from 2021 and 2022. After three seasons of missed opportunities and no playoff appearances, fans are angry, and rightfully so.
There is good news, however. The Bengals, despite paying Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, will be in the top 10 when it comes to teams with the most cap space this season.
For the first time in the history of the league, the salary cap will be over $300 million, falling somewhere between $301.2 million and $305.7 million, according to NFL Network reporter Tom Pelissero.
That would give the Bengals between $52 million and $57 million to work with.
Over The Cap, which projects the NFL salary cap to be $303.5 million, has the Bengals with $54.9 million in projected cap space this year. It’s the seventh-most cap space that any team is projected to have.
The Bengals have lost some key pieces to free agency over the last few years, and they haven’t done a very good job of drafting replacements. Both the plans to replace Jessie Bates III and DJ Reader backfired in their faces, and their poor defense has largely been to blame for missing the playoffs in ‘24 and ‘25.
Trey Hendrickson, as we all know, will be available, as will Khalil Mack (if they want to look even older). So are names like Trevon Diggs and Kenneth Murray.
The point is, the Bengals need help at all three positions on the defense, and they have the money to head into the draft without any glaring holes.
Who do you hope they spend their money on?
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