Jan. 16, 2026, 5:31 a.m. ET
The Cincinnati Bengals don’t have many major cut candidates this offseason.
That’s a byproduct of the current roster makeup more than anything. Many of the guys with actual cap space worth saving via a cut, such as left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., simply won’t be let go for a variety of reasons.
But there’s one interesting exception worth a closer look than most: Defensive lineman T.J. Slaton.
Slaton came over on a two-year deal worth roughly $14 million last offseason. Cutting him this offseason would save the Bengals roughly $6.4 million.
The Cincinnati defense was terrible for most of the year until the games stopped mattering. But the run defense was better with Slaton on the field.
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But as The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. recently wrote, there’s this really big thing to consider when talking about Slaton: “This won’t be an easy decision, as the math aligns with traditional Bengals dead-money cap cuts.”
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Bingo.
Finding a good run-stuffing nose isn’t the hardest thing to do. And a guy named DJ Reader will be out there on the market, if they’re interested. Reader certainly brought the locker room leadership they’ve lacked ever since he left.
Perhaps more importantly, the Bengals might want more pass-rush from the interior. If that’s coming from extra edge players and rotational guys, they might look at that $6.4 million in savings and happily apply it elsewhere. Or, they could (perhaps rightfully) think that Slaton will be even better if the entire unit takes a leap in Year 2 of Al Golden.
Tough call. And it’s a fence-sitting position, but either direction wouldn’t be a shocker. If the Bengals heavily address the interior early in the offseason, it would certainly imply Slaton could be on the way out.
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