Bengals' latest internal free agent signing should have them using a savvy move to maximize their salary cap space
Amid all the uneasiness surrounding Trey Hendrickson gauging his trade market and contracts for Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase being in the works, the Cincinnati Bengals are also hearing back from some of their other players about accepting one-year deals to return. The latest example is tight end Tanner Hudson, who put pen-to-paper on his […]
Amid all the uneasiness surrounding Trey Hendrickson gauging his trade market and contracts for Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase being in the works, the Cincinnati Bengals are also hearing back from some of their other players about accepting one-year deals to return.
The latest example is tight end Tanner Hudson, who put pen-to-paper on his contract Friday morning.
Hudson is the fifth player the Bengals have officially signed to a new contract this offseason not including the franchise tag placed on Tee Higgins for the time being. The four leading up to this deal have all involved minimum values relative to the player's experience. Hudson should not be an exception to that.
He actually should be an exception from a positive sense.
Last year, as NFL salary cap expert Andre Perrotta pointed out on X/Twitter, Hudson signed what is known as a Veteran Salary Benefit deal with the Bengals. If a player has accrued enough years of experience to be a vested veteran, then a club can offer a select number of those players on their roster a minimum deal that pays them slightly more cash than what their cap hit.
There's very little reason for the Bengals to veer from this strategy now, especially since Hudson is one of the few vested veterans the team is expected to bring back, especially at the minimum level. Hudson has accrued five seasons of experience and is likely the oldest player on their team last year to sign a new contract.
It doesn't save much cap space (not even $200,000), but it is a savvy move nonetheless.
Hudson coming back gives the Bengals four healthy tight ends under contract with Erick All Jr. being the fifth and likely out until the 2026 season. Cincinnati will have interest in retaining Mike Gesicki as well, but it's more likely Gesicki will try his luck on the open market first.
Bengals trading Trey Hendrickson will be a failure to dispel a false narrative that surrounded Cincinnati’s offseason plan
Hendrickson is likely to be traded, and the rest of the NFL can feel validated about the Bengals when that happens.
