The Cincinnati Bengals lost little time in making one of the most predictable moves of their off-season before the agency opened free by cutting off linebacker BJ Finney.
For strangers, Finney came from Seattle to trade Carlos Dunlap and saw no notable moment on the field.
A low-risk addition to a dumpoff of a transaction, the Finney discount frees up $ 3.5 million in ceiling space. It didn’t make sense to keep him at that figure, as the team is preparing to rebuild the offensive line under new (and returning) linebacker Frank Pollack.
While the Bengals have plenty of room for cover, Finney is certainly just the first domino to fall on the cutting edge. Letting Geno Atkins leave, for example, would release $ 9.5 million. Bobby Hart’s cut, another $ 5.8 million.
Finney’s move was by far the easiest to see coming, probably the first, but certainly not the last, as the team prepares to go through another off-season major revision of the list.