Bengals Rank Among Bottom of NFL in Cap Space as 2026 Roster Maximization Crystallizes

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor and director of player personnel Duke Tobin talk during practice at the Paycor Stadium practice field in downtown Cincinnati on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Bengals Rank Among Bottom of NFL in Cap Space as 2026 Roster Maximization Crystallizes

Originally posted on Cincinnati Bengals on SI
By Russell Heltman | Last updated Apr 21, 2026 4:31 PM ET

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The Bengals have done it, folks.

They have maximized their roster (to an extent) entering the NFL Draft and can now let the board fall however it pleases for the seven selections across Friday-Sunday. Spotrac updated the salary cap space rankings for all 32 teams this week, and Cincinnati ranks 30th in space, right where fans want them to be in late-April of a prime Joe Burrow year.

The trade for Dexter Lawrence (and one-year extension), plus the signings of Ja'Sir Taylor and Kyle Dugger, have all been finalized on the financial side of things, and it's left Cincinnati with just $2 million in cap space as of this writing.

Salary Cap expert Andre Perrota has them slotted with $4,720,433 in cap space using offseason cap accounting rules.

Maxing The Roster

Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The only major hole left on the team is linebacker depth behind Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr., two players who defensive coordinator Al Golden is very confident in.

"I'm excited about those two guys," Golden said on Monday. "Your job is to be critical, and sometimes to be critical means criticism. And so sometimes we focus on that, the things that they didn't do well, right? The missed tackle that everybody can see. But far too often, we overlook imagining what Year 2 is going to look like, and here we've fortified the front for them.

"We won't have to learn it this year, and we're going to try to continue to press them to get better and be more vocal and be audible and take command, and all those different things ... And I feel the same way about Barrett and Oren Burks. It's going to be Year 2 for him in the system. So I'm excited about that group."

Bengals Executive Duke Tobin and the rest of the team have exhausted their resources for the 2026 roster (outside of restructuring Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase's contracts). Now, the pressure lies with Zac Taylor, Golden, Burrow, and the rest of the on-field influences that ultimately control the wins and losses once things kick off.

They didn't allocate guaranteed money in the best way for the Boye Mafe deal, but they have slowly gotten more comfortable with big financial swings as the Burrow era's progressed.

Check out the full 1-32 ranking from Spotrac and Perrota's assessment below:

1. TEN, $64 Million

2. WAS, $50M

3. LAC, $48M

4. NYJ, $47M

5. ARI, $41M

6. NE, $36M

7. SEA, $33M

8. PHI, $33M

9. BAL, $28M

10. PIT, $28M

11. SF, $28M

12. LAR, $28M

13. IND, $27M

14. GB, $25M

15. LV, $23M

16. DET, $23M

17. CLE, $22M

18. ATL, $21M

19. DEN, $19M

20. NYG, $18M

21. DAL, $16M

22. HOU, $15M

23. TB, $13M

24. NO, $13M

25. BUF, $12M

26. JAX, $12M

27. KC, $7M

28. MIN, $5M

29. CAR, $3M

30. CIN, $2M

31. MIA, $1M

32. CHI, $1M

With Dexter Lawrence on the books, and Ja'Sir Taylor and Kyle Dugger finally accounted for, the Bengals currently have 71 players under contract.

Using offseason Cap accounting rules (Top51/53), the Bengals currently have $4,720,433 in Cap Room.

Bengals with seven draft… https://t.co/46rNKBkeUS pic.twitter.com/FN7XmkMDgo
— Andre Perrotta (@andreperrotta13) April 21, 2026