Long Gone Awaiting Anticipated Key Stars Hits Back At Bengals For The 2024 Season…

2 pending free agents the Bengals has been surprisingly re-signed for 2024…

It didn’t feel like the Bengals would bring these guys back a few months ago.

Nineteen players on the Cincinnati Bengals are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents (UFAs) after they reach free agency. It’s safe to say that most fans anticipated the two players I’m going to talk about here would be offseason departures when the 2023 season started.

After 13 weeks of play, however, could that have changed for the Bengals? Have these two guys done enough that the Bengals would consider bringing them back in 2024 and potentially beyond? Would either of these players be interested in coming back to Cincinnati?

Let’s discuss who these two players in question are and why a new contract might not be the craziest thing in the world.

Jonah Williams

If you had told Bengals fans a year ago that the team might want to re-sign Williams when his rookie deal expired, a lot of people probably would have laughed and said “Yeah right”. Well, after a move to the right tackle spot on the o-line, Williams has played better.

Williams has a PFF grade of 62.8 and his run-blocking grade is much better than it was a year ago (58.6 this year vs. 49.9 last year). He has allowed seven sacks (tied for the fourth-most in the league), which was his biggest problem a season ago.

Williams, however, has performed admirably at right tackle and might finally provide the Bengals with a long-term option at the position. But the issue with re-signing him is that he won’t be inexpensive. According to Spotrac, Williams will make $74.6 million over the course of five years, with an annual salary of $14.9 million. Most likely, the Bengals aren’t paying him a lot of money.

Another reason why re-signing Williams never really seemed to be in the cards was the way his move to right tackle was handled. As we all know, the Bengals signed Orlando Brown Jr. to be their new left tackle and that meant Williams was now left without a position. He had asked the front office to trade him but that obviously didn’t happen.

Williams spoke about the drama before the season began and said that he was upset that no one had told him the team was planning to sign Brown. Would he want to re-sign with a team that left him in the dark about something so important?

All of this being said, Williams has performed well this season and if the Bengals value their right tackle position, perhaps they’ll make a deal for their former first-round pick happen.

Drew Sample

When Sample hit free agency last year, not many people were clamoring for the Bengals to re-sign him. After all, he was selected in the second round of the 2019 draft and never lived up to the hype of a second-round pick. Sample worked out with the Cardinals last offseason before the Bengals swooped in and brought him back to the Queen City.

Although Sample isn’t a particularly impressive pass-catching tight end, he is a great blocker. It’s not a bad idea to pair him with Tanner Hudson going forward because he’s also stepped up and caught some crucial passes for the Bengals this season. After 12 games this season, Sample has 12 catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns.

Since Sample is unlikely to fetch a high price on the free-agent market, why can’t the Bengals sign him to a contract that allows him to return? Bengals supporters probably weren’t prepared for this a short while ago, but Sample is valuable to the team even if his blocking skills are the only thing keeping him on the field.