Cincinnati Bengals star wideout A.J. Green is a free agent after the 2019 season.
In theory, the Bengals will work with Green and get an extension done this offseason. He’s said he will let the deal run its course and he wants to stay with the team.
But the realities of the situation are more complex. This is especially in light of Melissa Whitworth recently writing about the harsh negotiations between Andrew Whitworth and the Bengals front office before the offensive tackle left for the Los Angeles Rams.
At one point, it was easy to see Whitworth staying with the Bengals for the duration of his career. But a variety of factors got in the way.
And some of these same factors could play a role in talks with Green.
Green is, after all, going to be 31 years old in July. The age of 30 isn’t some terrible number many often make it out to be, but a downswing does start to eventually occur.
Coinciding with this is the fact Green has had two of his last three seasons derailed by injury. He’s missed 13 games over the past three years, just squeezing past the 1,000-yard mark with eight touchdowns in the outlier, his 16-game showing in 2017. Since his big-money extension in September of 2015, Green has recorded two 1,000-yard seasons over four campaigns and had the injury setbacks.
This isn’t the end of the world by any means — but when looking at it from a business perspective, it figures to come up. The Bengals have $50ish million in cap space and already locked up Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap. Dunlap might be 30 too, but he hasn’t missed a game since 2012. Atkins is 30, but hasn’t missed a game since 2013.
Some of that cap space might go toward retaining Darqueze Dennard, if not Tyler Eifert and other free agents.
Then we get to a more complex problem — the position itself. Tyler Boyd had a massive breakout season last year, even when Green wasn’t on the field. He’s only 25 years old and also needs an extension because his deal runs out after 2019.
The offense obviously operates better when Green is on the field. But Boyd, John Ross, Josh Malone and Alex Erickson is an interesting core on its own. If the Bengals draft or sign another wideout this offseason, it could lend to a similar situation where the front office was content to roll with Cedric Ogbuehi and Jake Fisher as opposed to paying Whitworth.
This is all hypothetical, of course. The Bengals could easily turn around and come to an agreement with Green in a matter of days. But if it does take until next offseason to get something done, keep these factors in mind and consider how much can change in weeks during the season, let alone another entire year.
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