Bengals safety Geno Stone says the quiet part out loud when speculating the outcome of his pay cut
Cincinnati Bengals safety Geno Stone understands why the club cut his pay by nearly $1.6 million. The 2024 season was one he would like to forget, and his new salary reflects the tape. What comes next? Not even he knows entirely, but he does have a guess. Following the team's first Phase 2 offseason workout voluntary […]
Cincinnati Bengals safety Geno Stone understands why the club cut his pay by nearly $1.6 million. The 2024 season was one he would like to forget, and his new salary reflects the tape.
What comes next? Not even he knows entirely, but he does have a guess.
Following the team's first Phase 2 offseason workout voluntary practice session, Stone revealed to reporters he considered declining the pay cut offering, but took it to honor the commitment he made to the team last year.
“At the end of the day, I’m here and I’m going to give it my all wherever I am at," Stone told reporters. "That is something I owe them. I signed here and I want to own what I want to do for them. Honestly, I was upset with my myself a lot last year. Just the way my play was early in the year. I got put in situations I really never had in my career, and that had nothing to do with anyone else. It was just me.”
Cincinnati could've released Stone altogether whether or not he wanted his 2025 salary cut in half. The decision to reduce his pay is a reflection of how the club views him as a player, but the outcome of the decision is a slight increase in salary cap space for the Bengals to use this offseason.
Stone speculated that the money saved is to help the front office reward defensive end Trey Hendrickson with a contract extension.
The Bengals and Hendrickson aren't on the best of terms right now. Hendrickson wants a sizable pay raise, or would like to be traded to a team that will give him the money and long-term security he desires. The 2025 NFL Draft was a point on the timeline when a trade would've made sense, and with the draft now in the rearview mirror, Hendrickson's chances of being dealt away have shrunk considerably.
Neither side wants to give away leverage, and perhaps the front office won't be too happy to hear Stone say his pay cut will help them work things out with the All-Pro pass rusher. That said, he does make a good point.
Cincinnati officially saved $1,575,000 in cap space by reworking Stone's contract. Another $1,698,236 was saved when running back Zack Moss took a similar pay cut back in April. The team is also still likely to release linebacker Germaine Pratt in the near future, which would clear up an additional $5,850,000.
That's $9,123,236 in total cap space. All of it could very well be taken up by whatever pay raise the Bengals and Hendrickson agree upon prior to the 2025 regular season, should that agreement materialize.
Additional cap space isn't necessarily needed for Cincinnati and Hendrickson to work out a new deal, but freeing ip nearly $10 million does provide the Bengals with the option to raise his 2025 pay via a roster bonus or a boost to his base salary. For reference, the club distributed hefty roster bonuses to both Ja'Marr Chase ($10 million) and Tee Higgins ($5 million) for this league year, both of which count entirely on this year's cap sheet.
A similar tactic could be used to meet Hendrickson's contract demands, and with more space now created, Cincinnati has added flexibility to do just that.
Stone was given a choice to stay with the Bengals for a smaller salary, or try his luck elsewhere on the open market. He made the decision to tough it out, and Cincinnati would be wise to make the most of that choice.