Bengals Among Bottom-Half of Teams in Salary Cap Space Ahead of 2026 NFL Draft

The Bengals may be largely wrapped with free agency deals outside of some signings on the margins here and there for the rest of the offseason. They have the rookie pool to sign and still can make a couple of extensions happen for worthy candidates, DJ Turner II and Dax Hill.

The team clearly wants to keep its current 2027 third-round compensatory pick, which is on the books after Trey Hendrickson exited in free agency. The only notable deal they've done in recent weeks was signing swing/backup safety Kyle Dugger to a one-year agreement.

The cap space tightened up on Cincinnati fast after going for Bryan Cook (three years, $42 million), Boye Mafe (three years, $60 million), and Jonathan Allen (two years, $25 million).

All in all, Cincinnati ranks 18th in available cap space ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft ($20.36 million). That could grow in a big way if they restructured contracts for names like Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase, but the star names to make that financial room for are largely signed away to other teams at this point.

Almost all of the top players left that make sense for Cincinnati are projected to sign one-year contracts.

Available Cap Space

Oct 12, 2025; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; General view of Cincinnati Bengals helmets on the sidelines prior to the game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Get a good gauge below for the full league-wide cap space for each team via Over The Cap in descending order from most to least:

Tennessee Titans - $63,203,086

Washington Commanders - $49,635,067

Los Angeles Chargers - $48,679,074

Arizona Cardinals - $40,835,523

New York Jets - $39,551,357

New England Patriots - $35,274,938

Philadelphia Eagles - $34,830,735

Seattle Seahawks - $32,947,183

San Francisco 49ers - $30,539,247

Baltimore Ravens - $29,539,010

Pittsburgh Steelers - $27,051,445

Indianapolis Colts - $26,627,200

Los Angeles Rams - $26,014,238

Detroit Lions - $23,688,750

Las Vegas Raiders - $23,472,186

Green Bay Packers - $22,015,250

Cleveland Browns - $21,069,505

Cincinnati Bengals - $20,368,396

Denver Broncos - $18,782,088

Houston Texans - $15,356,292

Dallas Cowboys - $14,424,454

Tampa Bay Buccaneers - $14,314,627

Atlanta Falcons - $14,013,085

New Orleans Saints - $13,897,399

Buffalo Bills - $12,291,157

Kansas City Chiefs - $6,717,066

New York Giants - $6,490,862

Jacksonville Jaguars - $5,989,907

Minnesota Vikings - $4,826,234

Carolina Panthers - $2,210,496

Miami Dolphins - $1,933,064

Chicago Bears - $243,070

For more on the Bengals, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and be sure to check us out on your favorite audio platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Amazon. Make sure you bookmark BengalsTalk.com for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more! We're a one-stop shop for all things Cincinnati Bengals! Join the 63,000+ Bengals fans who subscribe to us on YouTube.