NFL free agency: Predicting where top 25 projected players land in 2022
By Peter Panacy
Marshon Lattimore. 9. player. 56. . Cornerback. Cincinnati Bengals
2022 NFL free agency: Marshon Lattimore to Cincinnati Bengals
*Updated Oct 1st – Lattimore isn’t going anywhere after signing a 5 year contract extension with the Saints worth $97.6 million*
There’s going to be quite the arms race within the AFC North over the next few years, and the Cincinnati Bengals will want to stay pace as much as possible.
With a young quarterback, Joe Burrow, on the roster and on the cheap for the foreseeable future, the Bengals shouldn’t be afraid to spend big in the upcoming couple of years. And while they could use more powerful defenders within the front seven, finding a lockdown defender on the back end would be one of the stronger ways to ensure they’re able to get back into playoff contention.
Cornerback Marshon Lattimore of the Saints is likely to become the league’s highest-paid cornerback when he hits free agency. This, if for no other reason than his unequaled ability to get between the football and its intended target:
- 2017: 18 pass breakups
- 2018: 12 pass breakups
- 2019: 14 pass breakups
- 2020: 11 pass breakups
New Orleans wisely applied the fifth-year option to Lattimore. But with the Saints being one of those teams in salary cap hell regardless of Drew Brees’ offboarding, it’s going to be awfully tough to re-sign Lattimore.
Especially, against the kind of money he’d receive in Cincy.