As a Cincinnati native who’s expected to have a big role for the Bengals this year, Preston Brown was expected to do his working out at the Bengals facility.
But they practically guaranteed his presence via the structure of his contract, and built in a little insurance for themselves.
According to Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Bengals negotiated a $2 million workout bonus into the one-year, $5 million deal for the former Bills linebacker.
That’s partly as a reward to land the productive inside linebacker, who will need to play a big role to start the season with Vontaze Burfict suspended (again). But it’s also a bit of a dodge to the compensatory pick formula, since workout bonuses aren’t factored in to the equation (while roster and signing bonuses and base salary are).
So for the purposes of calculating their net gains and losses in free agency, he’s on the books as a smaller deal than he’s actually getting, making the workout bonus a de facto guarantee without being counted as a guarantee.
And it means Brown will continue to be around the stadium all spring.