The Cincinnati Bengals have a good problem most teams would take. They have two young corners worthy of re-signing for a second contract.
DJ Turner (a second-round pick in the 2023 draft) and Dax Hill (a first-round selection from the 2022 draft) are both quality starters. Especially Turner, who has received the underrated tag pretty frequently this offseason.
However, it is still a problem when you need to re-sign them. The Bengals have been spending quite a bit, and while they could re-sign both
players. The team would be left without the wiggle room it usually would like to have.
We’ve seen players like Trey Hendrickson, Jessie Bates, and Ja’Marr Chase all skip out on portions of training camp while entering the last years of their respective contracts. The Bengals aren’t expecting that this time around.
“When you draft guys like that that come in and find roles and elevate their game and elevate the people around them. Those are guys you want to be around,” Director of Player Personnel Duke Tobin said of the cornerback duo. “And I’m not going to make any predictions about future contracts. We have everyone signed up right now, which is really good. It’s a good feeling. I think everyone is locked in on the season, and we’ll see what the future holds. But right now, our focus is winning and winning now.”
“I’m not going to give any potential contract details or anything like that. Everyone’s under contract, and we want the good players to stay here long term. That’s always the way we’ve been.”
Tobin’s last line is certainly one most fans will scoff at considering the team’s track record. It also seems like this is mostly from the team’s perspective that they do not expect any hold-ins or hold-outs. They would probably have a good idea, though, given they are negotiating with these players’ agents, but hold-ins and trade requests remain the only leverage a player looking for a new deal has without sacrificing (potentially) tons of money in the process.
We did see Tee Higgins practice during training camp the year that he would eventually play on the franchise tag. However, that has been more of the exception than the rule around the NFL.
Ultimately, it is up to each player to do what they think is best for their situation. You could argue that playing out the contract and performing well would let you hit the market with some momentum. But you could just as easily suffer a major injury and then need to prove yourself all over again if you are even able to play at that level again.
We will see how Turner and Hill decide to handle their business.
