When it comes to extension talks, all eyes for the Cincinanti Bengals center on A.J. Green and Tyler Boyd.
But don’t forget about William Jackson.
The Bengals didn’t hesitate to pick up Jackson’s fifth-year option — but it might be best if the franchise thought about extending their budding star corner early.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell made a good point:
The Bengals picked up Jackson’s fifth-year option after the season and could start negotiating a deal with him now. Fourth-year extensions aren’t common for first-round picks, but the Bengals might want to get Jackson’s deal done before the Jags lock up fellow 2016 first-rounder Jalen Ramsey.
Indeed, this could end up being an arms race of sorts. The Jacksonville Jaguars have two years left on Jalen Ramsey’s current deal and will have to likely massively reset the market to keep him in town.
The Bengals could get ahead of this though and perhaps save some money over the long term by getting a deal done with their star corner first.
Typically, the Bengals have been content to wait on say, Julio Jones and the Atlanta Falcons, then get something done with Green. That could happen again as soon as this summer.
But at corner, which also continues to balloon in price and importance, the Bengals might benefit from leading the pack instead of playing the market. At the least, extension talk for Ramsey down in Jacksonville is something to keep in mind over the course of the summer — he’s missing from OTAs and is an unknown for training camp as it is.
