Giovani Bernard‘s time in Cincinnati is done, as the pass-catching back signed with the defending champion Buccaneers a couple weeks ago.
His old team apparently wasn’t set on seeing him walk out the door, but they wanted him to stay on their own terms. Bengals exec Duke Tobin said this week the team had wanted Bernard back at a lower salary, per Ben Baby of ESPN (Twitter link). Bernard declined to take a pay cut, which is what led to his somewhat surprising release.
Bernard had been a staple of the franchise for most of the past decade after they drafted him in the second-round back in 2013. He had been set to earn a $3.7MM base salary with a $4.76MM cap hit in 2021 before getting cut. Bernard elected to chase a ring with Tampa despite interest from the 49ers and Seahawks.
Meanwhile, we also now have the details on Bernard’s contract with the Bucs, which we didn’t have when he first signed. Bernard signed for the vet minimum salary of $1.075MM along with a modest signing bonus of $137.5K, Greg Auman of The Athletic tweets.
It’s quite possible Bernard signed for significantly less money to team up with Tom Brady, considering the interest from San Francisco and Seattle. Either way, it’s a great value signing for the Super Bowl champs, as Bernard remained productive while reeling in 47 catches last year.
None of this was the least bit surprising. I understand that not everyone follows each team intently but the team let every aging veteran go the last 2 seasons, Bernard was the only one remaining and his contract was outsized compared to his contributions. He’s a great 3rd down back because he can pick up a blitz and catch but a rookie can do that for 500k
Good luck finding a rookie to trust your golden ticket QB to on third down. Third down backs who can consistently be trusted to find and block a 250lb man blitzing like a missile are valuable commodities. One miss and the team’s season could be in disarray. If you think Gio is overpaid, that’s fine. But don’t think you’re just going to be able to pluck one in the fourth or fifth round and stick them back there on third down and everything’s will be fine.
Keep the TE in the backfield as an H back then. I love Gio and he will be missed but there are better uses for the money- like extended the best safety in the league, Jessie Bates
One reason why Ameer Abdullah was re-signed by the Vikings.
So HOW BIG a contract reduction were the Bengals looking for?
Bernard went from $3.75 MM (not including any bonus’ or incentives) down to $1.075MM PLUS a $137.5K signing bonus. That’s ($3.75MM LESS $1.2125MM) which equals a pay cut of $2.5375MM As a result, Bernard has to uproot his family, leave a city to which he has become accustomed to, sell his residence, leave behind – friends, neighbors, teammates, find a new place to live, and learn a new offensive system, adapt to a new set of coaches, teammates, front office staff.
HOWEVER, on the plus side, he leaves the going nowhere Bengals for the Tom Brady led, defending Super Bowl Champs. He also has the gratification of, in essence, telling the Bengals to “STICK IT” !!
Dude stuff like this happens all the time with every team in the league. Not like the Bengals did him wrong or anything, he got a 3rd contract from the team that drafted him as a RB. Not many starting backs get that, much less 3rd down backs