The Cincinnati Bengals are going to do whatever it takes to get back on football’s biggest stage after arriving just a game short of the Super Bowl this season. That should involve continuing to build around Joe Burrow, which could mean some reshuffling of an offensive line that suffered its fair share of injuries during the 2022 season. And because of that, there may be some cap casualties as a result.
Consider La’el Collins.
While the addition of the former Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman provided some excitement last offseason for a team in desperate need of offensive line help, the former LSU standout could be looking for his second home in as many offseasons. According to Paul Dehner Jr., who covers the Bengals for The Athletic, Collins is reportedly a “prime candidate” to be cut this offseason.
Collins was supposed to fix Cincinatti’s issues at right tackle, instead, the situation on the right side has become beleaguered. Now, the Bengals are again searching for answers as Collins didn’t even grade out as a league-average tackle, according to Pro Football Focus’ grading system.
As Dhener suggests, cutting Collins would likely come with a post-June 1 designation. While cutting him now would save $6.1 million against this year’s cap, it’d come with $3.3 million in dead money. A post-June 1 designation would save the Bengals $7.7 million and cost just $1.7 million in dead money.
We’ll have to see what the Bengals ultimately decide on Collins, who will be on the wrong side of 30 years old once camp rolls around. The options for Cincinnati are pretty clear-cut if it chooses to upgrade the right side of the offensive line.