Bengals Cut Ford's Salary, Save $1.6M

0:00On April 23rd, the Bengals just made a quiet move on reserve offensive Lyman Cody Ford's contract, slashing his 2026 base salary from $2.9 million down to the league minimum of $1.3 million that saves them $1.6 million in both cap space and cash, spotted first by salary cap expert Andrew Prelata on over the cap. It's a straight-up pay cut, not one of those restructures where they shift money around. Ford's been with Cincinnati since 2023, starting 10 games, but his pro-football focus grades never topped 55.8 cents. He entered the league back in 2019. Fans are loving this aggressive edge from the front office, especially with the team sitting on $7.49 million in cap space, which ranks 28th league-wide. It's all about squeezing every bit of talent around Joe Burrow in his prime, even if they didn't optimize some big free agent deals perfectly. Meanwhile, head coach Zach Taylor and director of Player Personnel, Duped Tobin, are loading

1:01up, headlined by that massive Dexter Lawrence edition on, defense. These margin tweaks show they're all in for 2026 without cutting anyone to sign their draft class. Smart play to keep the momentum rolling, that's your update from NFL News Today, powered by AI.