Levi Jones

[kentjett]

Does anybody know how long he is under contract for and how much he is owed. I'd also like to know how much money we would save towards the cap if we cut him this off season. The Bengals are going to get a top 3 pick and they are going to draft either Andre Smith or Michael Oher and move Collins over to right tackle. I heard that this year is a big year for Centers as well. If we can get a starting left tackle and center in the first 3 rounds, our line would be drastically improved. We need to save Carson before we ruin his career.

[Kazkal]

Well if we got Smith probably be better leave collins on the left and it does seem like a good year for centers hopefully we just don't ignore it

If i'm not mistaken though if we cut levi now still counts for next year.

[HoosierCat]

Jones signed a 6 year, $40 million extension in 2006. Typically extensions start the year they are signed so that means Levi is under contract through 2011. The deal had $16.3 million guaranteed money, how much of that was signing bonus I don't know. If you figure all of it was, then there's still about $8.6 million to be amortized over the last three years of the deal ('09-'11). Given that the Bngals prefer salaries to be fairly even over the life of a contract, with incremental hikes each year, not big jumps, an educated guess at Levi's cap hit in 2009 would be in the $6.6 million neighborhood (an average salary of $3.9 million + $2.7 million amortized bonus).

Thats obviously very rough guesstimate, but the bottom line is that the net hit if they release Levi should not be large. In this case, about $2 million.

Of course, as we saw from the Chadspin last season, the Bengals will ignore the net hit and instead claim that it's (again, under this scenario) an "$8.6 million cap hit" so they can't even think about trading him or letting him go...

[HAPPYJAQ]

Jones signed a 6 year, $40 million extension in 2006. Typically extensions start the year they are signed so that means Levi is under contract through 2011. The deal had $16.3 million guaranteed money, how much of that was signing bonus I don't know. If you figure all of it was, then there's still about $8.6 million to be amortized over the last three years of the deal ('09-'11). Given that the Bngals prefer salaries to be fairly even over the life of a contract, with incremental hikes each year, not big jumps, an educated guess at Levi's cap hit in 2009 would be in the $6.6 million neighborhood (an average salary of $3.9 million + $2.7 million amortized bonus).

Thats obviously very rough guesstimate, but the bottom line is that the net hit if they release Levi should not be large. In this case, about $2 million.

Of course, as we saw from the Chadspin last season, the Bengals will ignore the net hit and instead claim that it's (again, under this scenario) an "$8.6 million cap hit" so they can't even think about trading him or letting him go...

It sucks because they are calling both Oher and Smith "once in a decade" T's. Some have even said that Smith is the best T prospect since Orlando Pace and Oher is very, very dominant. Think a much more athletic Leanard Davis, who was also top 4 out of Texas. I can't really seeing the Bengals taking a RB that early or even a LB in this class. If a DE shoots up the board, it is really the only other possibility. All said, it would still be cheaper than retaining Andrews, with Bengals property in the fold for at least 5 years. Another possibilty would be the Bengals using Collins as a starting G (Williams to C) and backup for Levi or the rookie at either tackle, otherwise Levi comes off the bench aS one of the highest-paid Bengals. The Bengals will not cut him this year. I would hope the Bengals could drop a few positions, pick up Eugene Monroe and pick up an extra 3rd (or 2nd) in the process. That pick could be used at BPA, depending on what happens with our 2nd, which I hope is a C. We also need to address RB, CB, S and LB early in the draft. 4 picks out of the first 70 (including a blue-chip OT prospect in Monroe) would be sweet in a deep class.