Will Bengals eliminate AJ Green franchise tender?


fake pictures

Without a long-term deal between the Bengals and catcher AJ Green, the tenth-year veteran is still eligible to win $ 17.865 million under the one-year franchise tender in 2020. Because he has not yet signed the tender. You can retain camp and preseason training services (if there is one), showing up just before the start of the regular season and earning the full amount of your player franchise.

But there is a major wrinkle, one that has rarely been an issue since the franchise tag was launched 27 years ago. Unless and until Green accepts the offer, the Bengals can rescind it.

Rescission of the tender would save $ 17.865 million in cash and capitalization space for the Bengals. Given the anticipated loss of revenue resulting from fanless football games, Bengals owner Mike Brown has surely at least pondered the possibility of making a move that would result in Green not playing for the Bengals in 2020, especially Because an injury at training camp caused him to not play for the Bengals in 2019.

The cash savings would apply this year, and the limit space could carry over to 2021. If the limit drops dramatically due to lost revenue in 2020, that additional space could make the team’s operation much easier next season.

A franchise tender has been terminated only three times. Philly did it with linebacker Jeremiah Trotter in 2002, the Eagles did it three years later with defensive tackle Corey Simon, and the Panthers did it in 2016 with cornerback Josh Norman. It is a rare move, but this is a rare season. The money will be lost. The Bengals can save a big chunk of that lost money by simply saying goodbye to Green, seven months or so before they do.

They could also try to trade with Green. But which team is in a position to absorb so much cash and a limit obligation for a boy who turns 32 in 16 days and didn’t play at all last year due to injury, especially when he can’t sign a contract? ? long-term agreement until after the 2020 season ends?

That’s the best argument for Green to sign the tender as soon as possible. If the tender were terminated, would another team pay you $ 17.865 million this year? And if you were to get $ 17.865 million by 2020, how many more years would you have to commit to in the back?

Rescission of the tender would definitely be an unprecedented move. But in an unprecedented year, it is impossible to rule anything out. Given the amount of uncertainty currently trickling down into the soccer world and the country as a whole, the $ 17.865 million becomes a bird in the hand that Green may want to take to the bank, while he can.