Shawn Williams Extended

[HoosierCat]

Per Hobs:

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Williams-extension-solidifies-safety-spot/0e1cee66-4c6c-4d65-8af6-d07d42e5ac13

Four-year extension through 2020. No details yet.

[Scottishbengal]

Good to have him and Iloka signed ....happy days :) 

[volcom69]

They have a lot of faith in a guy that doesn't have many starts. Hopefully he turns out to be next big thing. I wanna see how the communication is without Nelson back there this year is. Excited to see him play though. 

[ArmyBengal]

I'll be rooting for him.
Nothing would please me more than for the coaches to be right about him.

[HoosierCat]

Waiting to see the numbers. Williams would have been a FA after this season so they must have offered him a decent chunk of change to get him to forego that potential payout. I like the proactive approach to keeping him around but just hope it didn't cost them a lot.

ETA ah and just like that, Rapaport says it's 4 years, $19.5 million, $4 million guaranteed. Hmmmm. The guaranteed coin being low is the most important thing. If Williams backslides they can cut ties with little cap disruption. That said, $5 million/year for a guy who played 39 snaps in his first two years and just over 50% of snaps in his third (2015) is a bit pricey.

[AMPHAR]

Good extension.   The guy can play.   It's now only a question of him or Iloka making enough noise to be considered elite players.

 

 

[AMPHAR]

believed to be in the 20 mil range.   So expect a cap hit around averaging 5 a year without considering any front or back loading.

 

[HoosierCat]

Not that I'm complaining, but it's worth considering whether this was really a priority. Looking at next March, here's the FA list:

Kevin Zeitler

Andrew Whitworth

Dre Kirkpatrick

Domata Peko

Brandon LaFell

Giovani Bernard

Mike Nugent

Cedric Peerman

Margus Hunt

Eric Winston

Brandon Tate

(Shawn Williams)

Rex Burkhead

Taylor Mays

Brandon Thompson

Chykie Brown

I think you can make a reasonable case for Williams being third behind Zeitler and Bernard. Speaking of Bernard, it'll be interesting to see if Burkhead makes a dent as a receiver this season. Most of the list doesn't worry me, but then again, most of the 2016 FAs seemed pretty meh before the 2015 campaign,so who knows.

[Walrus]

In terms of depth at the position, you could argue Williams is the most critical of those (starters coming off their rookie contracts, if you include Dre Kirk too). Good move - if they're confident he's a starter. 

[AMPHAR]

Offensive line transition into the post-Whit era is going to be interesting.   I don't think Fisher is a long term tackle but who knows?   He probably could play high quality RG in a pinch.   They just got the draft steal Guard.  Does Bodine become respectable? 

Z has played at level that's had the Bengals proclaiming "all-pro" but then it seems he gets dinged and that talk disappears. 

Anyhoo- the league has it's eye's set on a 200 mil cap sooner rather than later so the normal is going to change quickly when it comes to cap hits for players.

 

[ArmyBengal]

I agree with the thought of there being others that I would have preferred getting done first, but I also don't know what has or hasn't been discussed.
Again, I'll be rooting for the guy, but just because they didn't bring Nelson back and didn't address the position until the 7th round doesn't make Williams special.
It makes him the starter by default.  I am willing to come back and say the coaches were right, but I have my concerns.
Those concerns aren't from the fact I didn't like the pick from the start either.  I just think they are putting all their eggs into one basket.
If the contract allow for them to cut him loose, that's great, but this team rarely does that to players.
Probably part of the reason he was willing to sign the deal.  He's going to get the majority of the money if not all of it.

[membengal]

The Seahawks re-upped Earl Thomas for 4 years and $40 million. The Bengals re-upped Iloka and Williams for a combined 9 years and $49 million.

[AMPHAR]

For those keeping score or Hob bashers.   Hobson completely misstates the team's cap position after the deal.    Sure if you count all contracts they don't have cap room but if you use the rules (top 51) they'll probably have about 7 mil in cap space after Williams deal and rookies.

 

[TJJackson]

You may already know this, Amphar, but since you're new-ish, just in case: one of the ongoing sources of amusement on this forum over the years is how Hobson consistently and predictably says the Bengals basically can't afford to buy a pack of gum when the rest of the world knows they have double digits millions available

we call it the "hobsonization" of the cap

every year he writes *at least* 1 article of this sort, usually during the FA and/or draft perio

 

 

[GapControl]

Does anyone remember the Bengals re-upping a player who has as few starts as Williams for as much money as he is getting? 5 mill~ a year?  I can't think of one example in Marvin's tenure....

[GapControl]

Should add that I can't think of any example really....

[AMPHAR]

1 hour ago, GapControl said:

Does anyone remember the Bengals re-upping a player who has as few starts as Williams for as much money as he is getting? 5 mill~ a year?  I can't think of one example in Marvin's tenure....

Bengals have rarely been this deep in the unrestricted free agency era of the NFL. 

Draft picks don't walk in as starters anymore.  

I can't think of a player off hand either. 

[GapControl]

It may be a first in the UFA period of the NFL for the Bengals.  The Family have paid a starter's salary to a player who has only a few emergency starts and typical first guy off the bench snaps (400~) ... Let's say about 24 snaps including the WC loss a game, if averaged out.

Usually, we find the Family getting old washed-up dude or fancy high draft pick rookie instead.  

Could it be the result of the rookie wage scale and cap spending requirements ?   

[AMPHAR]

9 hours ago, GapControl said:

It may be a first in the UFA period of the NFL for the Bengals.  The Family have paid a starter's salary to a player who has only a few emergency starts and typical first guy off the bench snaps (400~) ... Let's say about 24 snaps including the WC loss a game, if averaged out.

Usually, we find the Family getting old washed-up dude or fancy high draft pick rookie instead.  

Could it be the result of the rookie wage scale and cap spending requirements ?   

Good observations. 

I think it's a combination.    Spending requirements definitely a factor.   For the past several post draft off seasons they've had a chunk of cap room and they start looking for extensions for current players.    If they don't get extensions or all the extensions they have to carry it over.    If you aren't drastically shopping for guys you didn't draft then it has to go to the ones that you did.

Rookie scale certainly because the top priorities mentioned above (if we agree those are the top priorities) Eifert, Zeitler, and Dre all have the 1-year options.   That adds a layer to overcome when trying to get extensions.   They've got big payments and the Bengals have the extra year.  

I do believe a big factor is that the Bengals have stock piled depth to a point that every draft class we don't expect the top picks to immediately produce.  With Reggie Nelson and Iloka playing they did since Shawn was drafted.   Were should he have played? 

 

 

[ArmyBengal]

I use to take great issue with the drafting of Williams, but I have since gotten over that.
Being a person who enjoys the draft, there were about 3-4 other players I really liked and would have preferred at that point in time.
I've gone back and looked at the careers of those guys I liked and none are doing anything notable, if at all.
Good thing I'm not a scout huh ??

That being said, Williams has been given the opportunity to really show the scouts and coaches were right about him.
I would love to say that I'm not concerned, but that would be a lie.  Again, I'm really rooting for the kid !!!

I'll be happy as hell to be as wrong as can be when he has a monster year !!!

[HoosierCat]

21 hours ago, AMPHAR said:

For those keeping score or Hob bashers.   Hobson completely misstates the team's cap position after the deal.    Sure if you count all contracts they don't have cap room but if you use the rules (top 51) they'll probably have about 7 mil in cap space after Williams deal and rookies.

 

Oh lord is Geoff at it again? (Looks at the .com...oh for the love of pete...) Hey Hobs, if you're gonna cite spotrac.com, you might want to cite them accurately since you aren't the only person in the world with a freaking web browser. Here:

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cincinnati-bengals/cap/

Even counting the rookie pool the Bengals have $11 million + by their estimate.So yah, knock out Williams'new deal and they're still around $7 million in the black.

And let's not even get into the $15.5 million in cap space they are wasting on one-year deals for Zeitler and Kirkpatrick. They could chop that number in half with extensions.

[COB]

21 hours ago, ArmyBengal said:

That being said, Williams has been given the opportunity to really show the scouts and coaches were right about him.
I would love to say that I'm not concerned, but that would be a lie. 

Me exactly.  They threw money and a starting job at this kid.  Usually you work your way into the lineup and then get those two things, ala Iloka.  Hopefully Williams can handle starting.  One thing that I think works greatly in his favor, ironically, is Iloka.  He can cover and Williams can cheat a little to support the run.  We'll see.