John Sheeran discusses the Cincinnati Bengals' draft plans in light of Zack Moss's contract restructure.
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00:00The Bengals made an unexpected move that has a really good chance of impacting their plans for
00:04the NFL draft, and in this video, I'll explain whether or not it was the smart move to make.
00:11Hi again, Bengals fans. John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here, and once again,
00:16the Bengals have reworked a contract for a running back. If you'll recall back in 2023,
00:20Joe Mixon had two years remaining on a four-year, $48 million contract extension that he signed all
00:25the way back in 2020, and the thought was if the Bengals didn't restructure his deal, then they
00:30would probably cut him. But restructuring his deal is essentially what the Bengals did, and they turned
00:34his final two years into a more affordable two years and essentially made 2024 a team option,
00:38and they would decide on his future then. And of course, as we all remember, Mixon got traded in
00:422024 minutes after the team signed Zach Moss to a two-year deal of his own. And just like Mixon before
00:49him, Moss entered this offseason as a cap casualty of his own for completely different reasons, right?
00:54Moss suffered a season-ending neck injury in the middle of the 2024 season. He was due about $3.5
00:59million of salary this season. He would count for almost $5 million against the salary cap.
01:04It didn't seem likely that the Bengals would bring back Zach Moss, and in turn,
01:08they would draft someone to replace him on the death chart. So when the Bengals made the conscious
01:12decision this week to rework Moss' deal, just like they did with Mixon a couple years ago,
01:16this is very notable in terms of the draft. We don't know the numbers yet, but we do know,
01:20according to NFL Media's Mike Garofalo and WLWT's Charlie Clifford, that the Bengals agreed
01:24on a reworked contract for Zach Moss. It would give Zach Moss guaranteed money for this season,
01:29and they did so after learning that he had a positive scan on his neck last month.
01:33Essentially, they're confident that he's going to pass his physical and be ready to play for
01:36the 2025 season. And this decision means that they're counting on having him during the 2025 season.
01:42So what does this all mean for the draft? Well, when Moss' future was very much up in the air,
01:46and it was assumed that they were going to cut him after passing the physical so they wouldn't
01:49have to owe him money, the Bengals would probably draft a running back with one of their six picks
01:52to essentially replace him on the death chart and be the number two behind Chase Brown. This is an
01:56incredibly talented and deep running back class, so it seemed likely that the Bengals would spend
02:00one of their final picks on the position. But now that you have Brown, Samajay Pirine,
02:04and Zach Moss all accounted for and expected to be on the 2025 roster, is there room for a fourth
02:09running back? And is it justifiable to use one of your six draft picks on that fourth back? And I think
02:14it's a really good question, because logically, you want to use your draft picks for where the
02:17draft is at its strongest. And running back is one of the deepest and most talented position groups
02:21in this entire draft. It's obviously led by a blue chip talent in Ashton Gente, but there's going to
02:26be several more that are selected on day two and trickle into day three, which makes me wonder why
02:31the Bengals decided to do this with Zach Moss and essentially commit themselves to having him on the
02:34team in 2025. And yes, they could still cut Moss later this offseason if they so desired, but why give
02:40him any guaranteed money at all if that was even a possibility? You didn't give any guaranteed money to bring
02:43back Pirine last month, so why give any to Moss when you weren't scheduled to do so in the first
02:47place? Bringing back Moss does eliminate running back as like a clear need for the Bengals in this
02:51draft, but that was a need that I think it would have been fine for the Bengals to address with a
02:55draft pick, because again, it's a really strong class to do so. And I'm not completely eliminating
02:59running back as a possibility for the Bengals to draft, because they could always still trade down
03:02sometime in this draft, gather extra picks, and use one of those extra picks on a running back.
03:06That would make a lot of sense. But until that happens, while the Bengals still only has six picks,
03:10I don't think anyone should expect one of those six picks to be a running back. But what do you guys
03:14think? What are your thoughts on Moss potentially coming back for the 2025 season and the Bengals
03:18rolling with the running back group that they have now? Let me know in the comments below.