The Cincinnati Bengals are the NFL’s Cheapest Franchise
Alex Dunlap, Rosterwatch.com

The Cincinnati Bengals are the NFL’s cheapest franchise.

This cannot be argued, and the organization really makes no attempt to squash the truest rumor in sports. Its facilities are notoriously shoddy. Players complain about cleanliness, and the team practices inside their own stadium. Players and staff must currently travel 25 miles to the University of Cincinnati if they want to practice indoors. Texans CB Jonathan Joseph, a former Bengal, says he was given limitations on the amount of Gatorade he could take home in Cincy.

Bengals owner GM/Owner Mike Brown is a cheapskate, plain and simple.

The Bengals are flying below the salary cap—as usual—but soon, things are going to have to change. Like actually really change.

Under the new collective bargaining agreement, the Bengals and Mike Brown will have their wallets wrestled out of their furiously-clutching fists. At $55 million dollars under the allotted $120 million salary cap coming into the 2013 season, they will have to pony up to the big boys’ table and play by some new rules.

Why? Because this is a new ball game. And here’s the first rule—you have to pay 88.8% of the cap. No more kiddie pool, no more garbage. The amount of $107.1 million in payroll (Or 88.8% of $120 million) per season must be spent by each team.

This means if/when Bengals owner Mike Brown skates by, paying the least he can for the product he sells the city of Cincinnati in 2013, he will be forced to spend an extra $33 million in doing so.

It’s the new “salary floor” and Cincy’s got $33 million burning a hole in its pocket.

How do you spend it?

The Bengals defense is a burgeoning juggernaut, anchored by players had on the cheap, just like Brown likes it. Rey Maualuga is headed for free agency, and the team will have to decide what a two-down player with horrible coverage skills against tight ends is worth when deciding whether or not to let him walk.

The predominant issue is the offense. Andy Dalton needs more playmakers to contend in an AFC North that features the defending Super Bowl Champions and a QB like Ben Roethlisberger.

Benjarvus Green-Ellis is Benjarvus Green-Ellis. A mediocre NFL running back.

Brian Leonard, Cedric Peerman and Bernard Scott are all free agents, and are nothing to write home about anyway. If you have cash to spend, why would you keep doing this to yourself as an owner? If you’re just skating by, why not enjoy some semblance of a running game from your creaky old owner’s box?

Dan “Boom” Herron remains as the only viable RB left behind Ellis, and the offense needs a splash like Reggie Bush or Ahmad Bradshaw. A player who can be had on a two-year deal for $6-9 million and be featured in a committee-fashion. Both runners mentioned here would likely play much better through the course of a season with a reduced workload, and provide opportunities for the explosive plays that Green-Ellis is incapable of. These players open things up in the screen and intermediate games that Mohammed Sanu can exploit.

In fact, these were the plays that he was noted as exploiting at Rutgers. In Sanu’s junior and senior seasons, he was a possession producer that killed these routes, sometimes tallying 14, 15 and 16-reception games. Still, never one reception was for over 32 yards.

That should tell you everything you need to know about the “extension of the run” that Sanu is capable of operating as.

A very good veteran complementary back for Green-Ellis just makes too much sense. The offensive line is young and physical, the team needs to take advantage.

RosterWatch overheard Mike Brown at the Senior Bowl talking to his scouts about how much he liked Florida RB Mike Gillislee, but one rookie won’t be enough.

The Bengals have some cash burning a hole in their pocket, and this is foreign territory for everyone in the organization. We at RosterWatch hope whoever does end up in Cincy comes with their own personal Gatorade sponsorship, or has plenty of extra quarters to take to work every day for beverages.