According to Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Bengals are “highly unlikely” to use their franchise tag on DE Michael Johnson for the second straight season.
Even with the Bengals expected to have over $26 million in available cap space this offseason, Reedy doesn’t see them allocating $13 million to tag Johnson, which includes a 20 percent increase from the previous year.
Johnson figures to be in high demand during free agency, even after he produced a disappointing 3.5 sacks for the Bengals defense this season.
Regardless, Johnson graded as the No. 4 overall 4-3 defensive end in 2013, according to Pro Football Focus. Furthermore, Johnson has stayed in the top-15 of 4-3 DE’s for the past two seasons based on PFF’s rating.
It’s worth noting that the number of available defensive ends could work against Johnson this offseason as guys like: Greg Hardy, Lamarr Houston, Michael Bennett, Arthur Jones,, Justin Tuck, Tyson Jackson, Anthony Spencer and Antonio Smith are all set to become unrestricted free agents.
We have Johnson currently listed our No. 3 player in our list of Top 50 Free Agent’s.
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