Which Cincinnati Bengals are scheduled to become free agents?
Now that the Cincinnati Bengals' 2023 season is complete and team won't be competing in the playoffs, the focus turns to the offseason.
Several key players are set to become free agents and the Bengals' front office will spend the next month making difficult decisions as far as who they want to keep and who they want to bring in from elsewhere.
The unofficial negotiation process for free agents begin on March 13 with the new league year officially begining on March 15 at 4 p.m. ET. Cincinnati is expected to have $68 million unofficially in cap space this year, according to OverTheCap.com. This is the sixth-most amount of cap space available for an NFL team.
Here's a look at the Bengals who are scheduled to become free agents:
Unrestricted free agents
Any player with four or more accrued seasons and an expired contract; free to negotiate and sign with any teams.
DJ Reader
Tyler Boyd
Chidobe Awuzie
Jonah Williams
Tee Higgins
Irv Smith
Josh Tupou
Max Scharping
Drew Sample
Trayveon Williams
A.J. McCarron
Joe Bachie
Cody Ford
Akeem Davis-Gaither
Exclusive rights free agents
Any player with fewer than three accrued seasons and an expired contract. If his original team offers him a one-year contract at the league minimum (based on his credited seasons), the player cannot negotiate with other teams.
Jake Browning
Cal Adomitis
Devin Cochran
Restricted free agents
A player with three accrued seasons and an expired contract. RFAs are free to negotiate and sign with any team, but their original team can offer them one of various qualifying offers ("tenders") that come with the right of first refusal and/or draft-pick compensation.
Tanner Hudson
Trenton Irwin
Mitchell Wilcox
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd top Cincinnati Bengals NFL free agency list