A.J. Green, Cincinnati Bengals. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Does A.J. Green have four more years left in the tank at wide receiver?
The Cincinnati Bengals and longtime wide receiver A.J. Green were unable to come to a long-term agreement by the July 15 deadline.
qThis means the former No. 4 overall pick by the Bengals and the seven-time Pro Bowler will play his age-32 NFL season on the franchise tag. Green says he wants to play four more years and retire as a career Bengal. What are the chances that happens?
The Fantasy Footballers are lukewarm on the idea of Green playing through his age-35 season in 2023. When healthy, Green is the Tim Brown of his generation for the Bengals. However, he hasn’t been healthy the last two seasons. He played in nine games in 2018 and missed the entire 2019 campaign. Besides pushing for Canton, playing with Joe Burrow is another reason to stick around.
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Through eight NFL seasons over nine years, Green has 602 catches for 8,907 yards and 63 touchdowns. At his rate of games played per season, Green should be able to surpass the 10,000-yard mark in his career fairly easily, possibly after a bounce-back 2020 campaign with Burrow throwing him the football. However, he won’t get to 1,000 receptions or 100 career touchdowns.
Will four more years put A.J. Green into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
The four years Green mentioned is significant because that will coincided with Burrow’s rookie contract out of LSU. Burrow may get extended the fifth-year option after his third year in the league, but there are no guarantees if he’ll live up to lofty expectations as the savior of this moribund Cincinnati franchise. There are many advantages for Green to stick around.
He’ll have an opportunity to build a rapport with another excellent quarterback like he did with Andy Dalton during his first eight years in the league. Because Burrow won the Heisman Trophy last season, more people will be paying to the Bengals than they had in years. Think of it like Carson Palmer bringing light to Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh’s relative greatness.
Overall, playing through his age-35 season with only one franchise, that just might be enough to get Green to the wide receiver equivalent of The Ken Anderson Line for Canton enshrinement. Eventually, there will be more than just left tackle extraordinaire Anthony Muñoz representing the men in stripes in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Green could be one of the lucky ones.