The NFL trade deadline isn't arriving for another three weeks, but deals are already happening faster than we can keep track.
Big-name wide receivers Davante Adams and Amari Cooper along with defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris have all been traded this week, and more deals are expected to surface as October quickly turns to November.
Anyone familiar with the Cincinnati Bengals and its front office knows midseason trades are likely happenings, but if they were to entice a deal, they'd need the salary cap space to make it work.
Bengals' available salary cap space at the NFL trade deadline
The Bengals are currently sitting on $9,021,048 in salary cap space, which ranks 20th in the NFL and third in the AFC North (the Baltimore Ravens have just $4,087,090 in space, ranking 26th in the league).
Should the Bengals conduct a trade in which they receive a player for an NFL Draft pick(s), they could take on a salary of $9 million before having to make a subsequent move to clear space. A player-for-player trade would also be in the cards so long as the player they acquire doesn't have a salary of $9 million more than the player they're trading away.
Trading Tee Higgins, for example, would allow the Bengals to acquire a player with an incoming salary cap hit of up to $30,837,048 since Higgins' cap hit is costing them $21,816,000 ($14,116,235 remains for this season).
The Bengals would only be responsible for taking on the player's base salary for the season and per game roster bonuses. The club that's trading away the player would still be on the hook for prorated bonuses and such.
Higgins would be a logical trade piece the Bengals could offer to get a quality player in return. Hypothetically, if the Bengals were to trade Higgins for Las Vegas Raiders edge defender Maxx Crosby and the remainder of his $25,382,000 incoming cap hit (approximately $16 million), it would be financially feasible because they will have offloaded a similar salary to make it work.
But standard operating procedure in Cincinnati will stand in the way of any such trade being entertained.
The Bengals decided to pay Higgins the franchise tag this season because they wanted him for the entire season, not half of it. Also, he's playing great and the Bengals are not giving up on this season.
Even if the Bengals were still winless, they've never been the club looking to offload their best players for the sake of building towards the future.
Ironically, they've also never been enticed with making aggressive moves to better the present. Sitting on their hands is all anyone can expect this team to do this time of year.
But in the extremely unlikely chance they decide to act, they must abide by their $9,021,048 in cap space.
Related: Zac Taylor affirms Bengals will focus on correcting a surprising new issue on offense
Local News
Comments / 0