Bengals' salary cap space gets an update with contract details finalized for Trey Hendrickson, Dalton Risner, and Ted Karras

Giving Trey Hendrickson a raise, signing Dalton Risner, and extending Ted Karras were the last three major moves the Cincinnati Bengals made before the regular season began, and the combined moves cost the team a good amount of cap space.

Hendrickson's salary cap hit rose from $18,666,668 to $25,166,668 thanks to the $13 million in new cash he was given in his revised one-year, $29 million deal. Risner signed a one-year, $1,337,500 deal, but his cap hit will be just $1,197,500 as his contract qualified for the Veteran Salary Benefit. Karras' $5 million extension puts his current cap hit at $6.8 million.

Now that all three transactions are officially logged, Cincinnati's cap space has achieved clarity.

Bengals' regular season cap space finalized

The Bengals officially have $12,672,273 in cap space entering Week 2 of the season. This falls in line to their usual in-season amount in which they save for emergency purposes, but the vast majority, if not all of it, will be rolled over into the following league year.

It was originally reported that Hendrickson's cap hit would only increase by $3 million, which would've given Cincinnati even more space entering the season. The jump of $6.5 million instead better maximizes the space the front office set aside this offseason to pay Hendrickson, and it also has implications on what can happen to him next year.

Trey Hendrickson's potential franchise tag amount revealed

Contained in Hendrickson's revised deal is a void year, which takes half of the new $13 million in signing bonus money he was given and puts it on next year's books. That is cap space the Bengals have to account for, but it's not cash they have to pay as they're already paying it this year.

By inserting the void year, Cincinnati has lowered Hendrickson's cap hit from what it could've been by $6.5 million, which means placing the franchise tag on him in 2026 can also be a more affordable endeavor.

Per CBS Sports' Joel Corry, a former sports agent, the cost of tagging Hendrickson next year will be 120% of his current salary, which puts that figure at $30.2 million.