Quick thoughts on the Cincinnati Bengals awarding Vontaze Burfict a three-year, $38.68 million contract extension.
Cincinnati Bengals’ star linebacker Vontaze Burfict has seemingly been in the headlines nonstop for the past few weeks. One day, he’s making game-changing plays in the “dress rehearsal” preseason game for the season. Almost immediately after, he’s the subject of a possible five-game suspension because of an illegal hit in the preseason game prior to that. Then, following a quick appeal, the suspension was reduced to three games.
Each time, I thought that was the end of the major Burfict news, at least before he would eventually return to the field after serving his suspension (with the tone of my writings on each update in the saga, you probably could tell that as well).
Turns out there was one more twist, one I definitely didn’t anticipate: Cincinnati has not only decided to keep Burfict on beyond this season, but they’ve given him a market-setting extension to do so.
Prior to this extension, Burfict was set to become a free agent after the 2017 season. Based on his on-field play, he clearly warrants being kept around for the long term, and should be a building block.
On Cincinnati’s defense, only Geno Atkins unquestionably outranks him in importance and impact right now — and even that’s much closer than you’d expect. League-wide, he’s a top 4-3 linebacker, and at age 26 he’s just entering his prime and could conceivably get even better.
Still, the baggage which comes with Burfict appeared to be drastic enough to put his future with the team beyond this season in jeopardy despite all his positives. His style allows him to bring the sort of crunching force on his tackles that made people football fans in the first place. Unfortunately, the recklessness which fuels his play often puts him at odds with the way the game has continued to evolve away from those visceral hits.
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This not only limits his positive impact for his team, but actually can turn it into a double-edged sword that deals more damage to his side than his opponents. It’s led to numerous personal foul penalties, fines, and suspensions muddying every one of his professional seasons to date, and there’s little reason to think that he’ll ever manage to remove that recklessness without also removing his effectiveness.
The reality of the player Burfict is means that he’ll be at constant threat of being flagged/fined/suspended, because his past transgressions make him as prime a target as there is for the increasingly strict rules against illegal and reckless hits.
Every little collision could mean another chunk of a season being missed, and with every subsequent flag/fine/suspension, the penalty he faces becomes exponentially worse. He’s already being handed five-game suspensions as the starting point for questionable hits. Next could be half a season, then not long after a full year away. It doesn’t matter how good a player is if that can’t get out on the field.
These points scream that investing heavily in Burfict is a mistake. The likelihood of him missing major chunks of time don’t give you a building block; it gives you a fleeting wish that never comes true. His play is good enough that somebody would take the risk on him, but spending anywhere close to top linebacker money on him appeared like a bad joke.
Apparently, bad jokes are the new normal, and the Bengals are more than willing to be the bannermen for them.
With all the leverage in the world on their side, Cincinnati not only has offered an extension to a player they can’t rely on to line up every week going forward because of his play, but they’ve done so immediately after he got himself suspended for three weeks and set the market for his position with their offer.
To be clear: take away the penalties and suspensions, and that is around what Burfict should receive. Again, he’s as impactful as any 4-3 linebacker when he plays. Those penalties and suspensions do play a role in his impact however, and it should have kept his price somewhat depressed. Instead, he’s going to make an average of nearly $13 million per season until 2021 — an average which surpasses every other 4-3 linebacker contract (inside or outside) in the league today.
Cincinnati may like him as a man and highly value the positives he provides them, but it’s naive of them to expect his particular issues won’t continue to be a problem in the future. He’s not a bad guy, but he is now inherently detrimental to their overall success, specifically because he’s now being paid like a superstar, but won’t be on the field enough to truly earn what that sort of price tag entails.
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For the sake of both sides, I hope this doesn’t end up looking like the sort of short-sighted, foolish decision that far too many teams find themselves reaching to make as they struggle to retain relevance. Based on the player Burfict has consistently proven to be, I won’t be holding my breath.