The Cincinnati Bengals have a tough call to make with modern franchise legend Geno Atkins.
Atkins, 32, battled a shoulder injury last year and is one of the team’s biggest cap hits in 2021. As such, he’s been an obvious trade or cut candidate unless the two sides can agree on some sort of restructure or pay cut.
According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, Atkins is one of those names who has come up in trade talks ahead of free agency:
“Bengals DT Geno Atkins: He has relatively reasonable numbers the next two years ($12.2 million, $13.45 million) but turns 33 in March, and a shoulder injury severely hampered his game last fall. He’s another one who will probably be cut if he’s not traded.”
Unless the Bengals can get Atkins to agree to some contractual change, he offers little in the way of trade value because he carries a $14.7 million cap hit in 2021.
As recently as Monday, Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin even seemed to hint that something could happen on the Atkins front if the team needs more room to make other moves.
For now, Cincinnati isn’t hurting for cap space. But it doesn’t make sense to handicap the available space on a veteran with a massive cap hit.
