{"id":736547,"date":"2026-02-07T21:42:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T21:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/736547\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T21:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T21:42:17","slug":"former-bengals-leader-gets-notable-free-agency-contract-projection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/736547\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Bengals leader gets notable free-agency contract projection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 7, 2026, 3:02 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Roughly a month ago, Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> fans started the campaign to bring back defensive lineman DJ Reader in free agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reader played a key role in deep playoff runs for the Bengals<\/a> and was one of the best free-agent signings in franchise history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, what does the market look like for Reader right now?<\/p>\n

Let Pro Football Focus<\/a> tell it, Reader is the 20th-best player headed to free agency on a list of 250 before the market opens:<\/p>\n

\u201cReader is now 31 years old and has not quite matched his peak form fro`m his time in Cincinnati since arriving in Detroit, but he remains an above-average starter at the NFL level. His 68.4 PFF grade ranked 36th among interior defensive linemen this season, and he has never recorded a PFF pass-rush or run-defense grade below 60.0 in any season of his career.\u201d<\/p>\n

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RELATED:Bengals sound ready to leave comfort zone, do contract extension early<\/a><\/p>\n

Even better? Reader\u2019s contract projection at this stage of his career is an affordable one-year deal worth $4.5 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an obvious thing the Bengals should do, provided Reader is interested.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The interior of the defensive line is one of the biggest areas of need for the Bengals this offseason. B.J. Hill figures to return, while TJ Slaton is a cut candidate. The development of Kris Jenkins Jr. has been steady, but not fast enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reader would be a great stopgap solution for the Bengals. He\u2019s familiar with the organization, was a very respected locker room leader and could join the rotation with something to offer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Bengals reuniting with Reader wouldn\u2019t prevent them from attacking the area of need as early as 10th overall in the first round, either. In fact, a budget-based move like this might just give them enough wiggle room to make a much bigger splash at another problem area like safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So no, it\u2019s not hard to see why Bengals fans have Reader on the mind with free agency on approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED:Bengals cap space outlook changes with NFL salary cap update<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 7, 2026, 3:02 p.m. ET Roughly a month ago, Cincinnati Bengals fans started the campaign to bring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[95878,228,227,256,2296,7,6,13078,95905,95882,95913,95896,95888,95895,95906,95883,100320,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-736547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-bengals","10":"tag-cincinnati","11":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","12":"tag-cincinnatibengals","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflbengals","16":"tag-sstsnbengals","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagcincinnati-bengals","19":"tag-tagnational-sports","20":"tag-tagnfl","21":"tag-tagnfl-hub","22":"tag-tagoverall-positive","23":"tag-tagsports-news","24":"tag-tagtedarrell-slaton","25":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116031530506820051","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}