By May 3, the Bengals inevitably will exercise the fifth-year option on receiver A.J. Green’s contract. The bigger question is whether the Bengals will be extending Green’s contract by more than a year.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, talks on an extension for Green have not yet begun. The fourth overall pick in 2011, Green has a strong argument that he deserves the contract now that he didn’t get three years ago under a rookie wage scale aimed at preventing busts from sucking millions out of the system.
But the Bengals hold his rights for two more years, giving them no reason to break the bank prematurely. Even in 2016, they can use the franchise tag to hold him in place while working out a long-term deal.
Before that happens, Green could boycott offseason workouts or hold out from training camp. The former isn’t very expensive; the latter would cost $30,000 per day. For that reason, Bengals coach Marvin Lewis is confident Green will be there.
Lewis said so during an interview at the recent league meetings in Orlando. The clip that was televised Thursday on NBCSN’s Pro Football Talk appears below.
Still, a holdout hasn’t been ruled out. The source tells PFT that it’s too early to tell whether that will happen, and that the topic hasn’t been discussed yet.