Cincinnati Bengals Xtra: Setting the table for the Bengals in free agency

Bengals Xtra is a weekly column from beat writers Jim Owczarski and Paul Dehner Jr. looking behind the scenes of Bengals football.

The close of Super Bowl LII officially turned the NFL to 2018, even if the new league year doesn’t begin until 4 p.m. on March 14. The NFL Scouting Combine runs from Feb. 27 through March 5 in Indianapolis, but the first big part of the offseason is free agency.

While Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis indicated in his re-introductory press conference in January that the club needed to be more effective in unrestricted free agency, early indications are the Bengals may not be as active in that market as one would think.

And it’s not all about the money.

But let’s start there.

The salary cap is expected to grow again by about $11 million and the salary tracking website overthcap.com has projected the Bengals’ cap space at $35.3 million, which is 13th most in the league. Included in that is the carryover of $10.6 million from last year.

The bulk of that carryover money is – as of today – already spent, however.

According to overthecap.com, the Bengals will likely need about $9.5 million to sign their 12 draft picks in April.

That is the sixth highest rookie pool allotment projected in 2018, trailing only Cleveland ($19), Denver ($11), the New York Giants ($10.6), New York Jets ($9.6) and Oakland ($9.5).

Unlike salary-tracking sites, which only account for the top 51 contracts, the Bengals count a full 53-man roster – so include another $1.1 million for Tony McRae and Alex Redmond. Teams typically set aside about another $1.1 million for the practice squad and the Bengals tend to allot around $5 million for in-season injury protections.

All told, the club is likely going into free agency (or the summer extension season) with roughly $18 million to use.

So what will they do with it?

Well, this is where three Pro Bowlers and a largely brand-new coaching staff come in.

As of right now, there is a definite focus on signing All-Pro defensive tackle Geno Atkins and Pro Bowl defensive end Carlos Dunlap to lucrative extensions before the first week of the regular season.

Why does that matter in March?

Because with extensions, the Bengals like to add money on to the current year and therefore, use up current cap space. The club would like to get both done so the franchise tag in 2019 does not have come into play.

So, the team will have to get a handle on what those deals would cost them in additional guaranteed money this year.

Two new coaches (defensive coordinator Teryl Austin and offensive line coach Frank Pollack) and one with a clean slate (offensive coordinator Bill Lazor) will help shape the rest of the Bengals’ free agency outlook.

How?

The most pressing in-house free agent Lewis, Lazor, Pollack and the front office will make a decision on is center Russell Bodine. Lewis stepped out at the Senior Bowl to say how important it was for the club to re-sign the 25-year-old starter, and he isn’t the only one in the building who thinks Bodine might be the best option available moving forward.

BX expects the Bengals to also make a move to bring back tackle Andre Smith, but it won’t be to start – so that could open things up for him elsewhere in a thin tackle market.

Austin and linebackers coach Jim Haslett will dive into their linebacking group and determine if Nick Vigil and Jordan Evans are ready to be impact starters. Both dealt with injury and inconsistency in 2017. If it’s decided that the pair is on the verge of becoming solid starters – if not stars – the team may not toss around tens of millions on the unrestricted free agent market. Don't be surprised if that decision is made.

Kevin Huber, who was the sixth-highest paid punter in the league in 2017 at $3.1 million, is another former Pro Bowler in the mix to be retained. But he will have options in the free market should he reach it. The Cincinnati native will be 33 in July, so special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons and the front office will have to decide if bringing Huber back, and at what number, is appropriate.

What does it mean? (Deep breath, Bengals fans.)

More of the same – an emphasis on retention, drafting impact players and some dabbling in the free agent and trade markets.

Bearcats shutout

The NFL released the names of the 336 players invited to the combine in just over two weeks and not a single University of Cincinnati player received a call. Ohio State will have 11 players on hand. Louisville had five players invited. Toledo and Western Kentucky each had two players invited. Bowling Green and Murray St. had one invitee apiece.

Bullock misses out

The lack of Bengals offense in 2017 hit kicker Randy Bullock in the pocketbook. Signed to a two-year, $1.57 million deal at the start of last season, BX learned Bullock had a performance escalator based on field goal percentage that would have paid him $110,000 more this season. While the 28-year-old had his best season by making 90 percent of his field goals with two misses (one of which was blocked) – he needed to attempt 25 field goals for the escalator to kick in. Bullock lined it up just 20 times in 2017, thus rendering the escalator invalid.

Whitworth departure sticks Bengals again

Not only did the departure of All-Pro left tackle Andrew Whitworth last year create a void on the field and in the locker room for the 2017 Bengals – and help the Los Angeles Rams reach the playoffs for the first time since 2004 – it will hurt the Bengals again in April.

Despite the fact that Whitworth was again an All-Pro, made another Pro Bowl, played 88.7 percent of the Rams’ snaps while being the seventh highest paid tackle in the league – the Bengals only get a fifth-round compensatory pick for him.

For any other player, those markers would make the comp pick the Bengals received for losing him a third-rounder. But because Whitworth is over 30 years old and has accrued 10 years in the league, a rule prevents the team such a player departs from being rewarded for letting him go.

Coaching staff finalized

As the wheel of new coaches spun into overdrive this January, the Bengals saw more turnover on staff than any point since hiring Marvin Lewis in 2003. A few familiar faces stuck around to put finishing touches on the staff as it enjoys off time prior to the Combine.

Tight ends coach Jonathan Hayes, among the original group to join Lewis’ staff in ’03, will stay on as the tight ends coach.

If assessing the growth of those under his tutelage in recent years, Tyler Eifert played at a Pro Bowl level when healthy and Tyler Kroft progressed well when thrust in as the starter this past year in his absence.

Also, Brayden Coombs will stay for his seventh full staff season with the Bengals. He’ll stay in his same role as assistant special teams coach under Darrin Simmons. He will swap his previous role as a defensive quality control coach over to the offensive quality control side.

Coombs’ father, Kerry, formerly of Colerain High School, University of Cincinnati and Ohio State, took his first NFL job this offseason as a secondary coach with the Titans under first-year coach Mike Vrabel.

This means six of the 19 coaches on the full-time opening day staff of the Bengals last year are gone, including a new defensive coordinator. In Lewis’ first 10 years as head coach, he never had more than three new coaches added to the staff in any one year. Partially due to coordinator promotion, he’s topped that mark now three times in the last five seasons.

Four new coaches arrived in 2014, though, an extra position was added to the full-time staff that year. Then six new coaches came on board in 2016 (two quality control) and again six new faces this year. – Paul Dehner Jr.