Cincinnati Bengals on Friday released point guard BJ Finney, ending a year of confusion, fear and physical limitations for the former $ 8 million player.
Finney struggled to train properly at the end of last season for fear of losing a $ 2 million signing bonus from the Seattle Seahawks due to COVID-19’s physical exam restrictions, sources told ESPN. Finney signed a two-year, $ 8 million contract with Seattle last March, but never played an offensive fall for the team, appearing out of shape at camp.
Seattle dispatched him to Cincinnati as part of the deal with Carlos Dunlap in October, and he didn’t play there either. The central issue: with teams unable to supervise physical examinations in the last off-season due to the coronavirus outbreak, they placed clauses in the contracts that failed medical examinations would result in the loss of subscription bonus money.
Finney couldn’t do his physical exam until the training camp – the Seattle building temporarily closed and the team did not allow physical exams for third parties, which some, but not all NFL teams did. Then Finney cut back on his training to avoid getting hurt and appeared at camp above his normal game weight of 315 pounds.
The absence of activities organized in team and minicamp in June did not help the ex-hired non-hired agent, who depends on intelligence and anticipation above gross athletics. He was finally beaten by Ethan Pocic in downtown Seattle.
Another free agent signed by Seattle last year confirmed that the contractual issue with physical examinations was an obstacle.
“It put a player like him in a bad situation – he literally couldn’t work to get in shape and was in funk all year because of that,” said a source close to Finney with direct knowledge of the situation. ESPN. “This is the only time you can prepare for the rest of your life and if you adjust your back or do anything, you risk losing your contract.”
Finney ended up winning $ 3.03 million in Seattle – where he played 29 special teams, none in the attack – and $ 1.47 million in Cincinnati.
Finney, 29, spent the first four seasons of his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
ESPN’s Brady Henderson contributed to this report.