The Bengals of Cincinnati wasted little time to make one of the most predictable moves of their off-season before the opening of the free agency by cutting offensive linebacker BJ Finney.
For those unfamiliar, Finney comes from Seattle in the Carlos Dunlap trade and sees no significant time on the field.
A low-risk addition to the shutdown of a deal, which cuts Finney down, saves $ 3.5 million in cap space. It did not make sense to keep him on the number as the team prepares to recreate the attacking line under new (and returning) coach Frank Pollack.
While the Bengals have plenty of headroom, Finney is surely just the first domino to fall on the cutting front. For example, releasing Geno Atkins would release $ 9.5 million. Cutting Bobby Hart, another $ 5.8 million.
The Finney move was by far the easiest to see coming, probably the first, but certainly not the last, as the team is poised to undergo another off-season of a major revision plan.