For The Win
Wednesday afternoon gave us quite the bombshell regarding the NFL’s near future.
According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, the league’s 2025 salary cap is expected to rise by over $20 million. Minimum. Given that the NFL’s cap usually grows by about $10 million yearly (which is what estimates projected it to be this time around, too), this development is pretty shocking. It’s also fantastic news for Super Bowl contenders like the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, and Cincinnati Bengals.
Well, to be fair, it’s actually only fantastic news if you’re a diehard Bengals fan or a player on the active roster.
If you’re owner Mike Brown or general manager Duke Tobin, you’ve now been backed into a corner by the very same uber-successful league that gives you a purpose and lets you print money by putting any old product out there on the football field.
That’s right. You now have to begrudgingly keep your championship contender intact for the foreseeable future. Oh no! Heaven forbid!
Ugh. That sucks so much for a billionaire vulture such as Brown, who is perpetually deadset on pinching pennies wherever he can instead of investing as much as possible in a source of genuine civic pride for a major region of Ohio. Folks, per Sports Illustrated, this is the same gentleman who has had the Bengals, on average, spend 2.1 percent less cash than the unadjusted salary cap than most NFL teams in the last five years. You know, the same time frame where the Bengals were arguably the best they’ve ever been.
So, you gotta feel for Brown here. Wait, hold on. Before we proceed, let me find my tiny violin so I can play it … OK, I’m good. Please continue.
If you’re Brown especially, a salary cap increase of over $20 million in one offseason means you now have no also legitimate means of justifying breaking up your core, as you were clearly intent on doing beforehand.
Being compliant with the cap is a huge domino in this regard.
It can’t be used as an excuse in any way, shape, or form.
It means that star receiver Tee Higgins, fresh off another franchise tag, should get the bag he deserves. The same sentiment applies to his electric playmaking teammate Ja’Marr Chase and Trey Hendrickson, the NFL’s sack leader in 2024.
In the words of the immortal Rod Tidwell: show them the money.
In fairness to Brown, he has handed out some rich contracts in the recent past, particularly in the 21st century. According to Sporskeeda, the five-highest paid Bengals player deals have all come in the last approximately 20 years, including Joe Burrow’s.
And Higgins, Chase, and Hendrickson are all rightly poised to join (and dwarf) that exclusive club.
If you’re Brown, you can no longer cry poor. You can no longer pretend the NFL’s books are keeping you from putting all hands on deck for your football team. It’s time to start writing some blank checks and paying your bills. This massive...
