How Solomon Wilcots Feels About Players Potentially Taking Pay Cuts To Help Bengals' Cap

Take a wild guess.

The Cincinnati Bengals had a season to forget in 2023. Following a season-ending surgery to address a torn Scapholunate ligament in Pro Bowl quarterback Joe Burrow's right during a Week 11 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the club saw its postseason hopes effectively dashed, finishing with a 9-8 record on the year and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

During a new episode of his podcast Bleav In Bengals, former Cincinnati safety Solomon Wilcots explained how he believes Bengals players should address free agency this summer.

"I think we need to begin to educate maybe a little bit more, because for whatever reason, there's this myth blowing around that Joe Burrow should take less or that a player, any player should take less in order for the team to do business. It's just not a thing," Wilcots said. "It's just not... And when we talk about where [Tee] Higgins is or [Ja'Marr] Chase is about to be where Burrow is, you spend your whole life working to get to where you either can hit the free market or where your team is going to go to pay."

"And I don't care what industry we're in, we work our whole lives to get to that optimal point in the marketplace where we're looking to be used as a coupon, right, to to get below market value. I do think it's important that the fan base know that the [Bengals' ownership group] can afford a good team," Wilcots continued. "When you have a salary cap and you have free agency, if you're looking to form the perfect roster, I think can you ask a quarterback to give back to take less so that the team can do its business?"

He raises a salient point. Great players deserve to compensated, especially in a game as dangerous, violent, and altogether risky as pro football, where careers frequently don't last beyond second contracts.