Bengals will need million dollar answers for DJ Reader's future
The oldest player on the Cincinnati Bengals roster is safety and special teams savant Michael Thomas at 33 years of age. Thomas is joined by newly-signed backup quarterback Trevor Siemian (31), and fearless center Ted Karras (30) as the lone current members of the 30 and over club in Cincinnati. It's a group that isn't expected […]
The oldest player on the Cincinnati Bengals roster is safety and special teams savant Michael Thomas at 33 years of age. Thomas is joined by newly-signed backup quarterback Trevor Siemian (31), and fearless center Ted Karras (30) as the lone current members of the 30 and over club in Cincinnati.
It's a group that isn't expected to get much larger in the near future, but it may have to eventually.
Of all the Bengals who are close to crossing that threshold, nose tackle DJ Reader is by far the best. He's proven to be one of the premier interior defenders in football since Cincinnati's official renaissance in 2021. He's also going to be 29 years old in the last year of his contract this season.
Beyond the trifecta of Joe Burrow, Tee Higgins, and Ja'Marr Chase, Reader is the most enticing player for the Bengals to hold on to for the long term. He's been a glaring Pro Bowl omission for the last two years and has emerged as a vocal leader in the locker room. He also plays a position of which the team has very little depth, or long-term answers.
The issue for him staying in Cincinnati is the same for everyone else in his contractual position. Third contracts outside of one-year deals have not been of any interest for the Bengals' front office.
As Jake Liscow of the Locked On Bengals podcast notes, Reader's recent injury history will factor in just as much as his age when a new deal gets discussed, and the market at his position surging doesn't make things easier.
"I think from the team perspective, knowing how they operate, they're probably going to make an argument about his health. They wouldn't be entirely wrong to do that. From a business perspective, from a negotiation perspective, this is how it works in the NFL. But defensive tackles get paid right now. Dexter Lawrence's $22.5 million dollar deal, we just saw Ed Oliver, who has not been as good as DJ Reader but is much younger, sign a $17 million deal. So, the number for Reader, if would I were to guess even for a third contract, even though he's a little bit older is probably $16 [million] on the low end." – Locked On Bengals' Jake Liscow
The $16 million projection is an interesting one considering it's almost exactly what the Bengals gave Geno Atkins for his third contract in 2018. The decline of the two-time All-Pro happened that same year, and the Bengals only held onto him for half of the life of the deal.
Atkins' deal, no matter how justifiable it felt like at the time, is one of the main reasons why the club doesn't shell out big money to players at that point in their career, especially when injury concerns are present. Reader has suffered two notable injuries in his three years with the Bengals. A season-ending calf injury took him out of the 2020 season after just five games, and a torn MCL from last year sidelined him for six games.
Though they dominated the game in different ways, the Bengals can undoubtedly notice similarities between the way Atkins' career ended, and how Reader's prime may be peaking.
What benefits Reader is that any lost step he may incur won't impact his game as much as it did Atkins, whose strength derived from explosion in his lower half. Reader is a stout nose tackle who can presumably fill that role for years to come.
If an outlier in the Bengals' eyes exist, it's likely Reader. We'll see if that holds true when the time comes to retain him.
Featured image via Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports
