The New York Jets have signed former Bengals TE CJ Uzomah to a 3 year/$24M contract.
Uzomah had been one of the longest tenured players on the Bengals, sitting behind only Kevin Huber and Clark Harris, who are both free agents as well. He was one of the only bright spots of the team’s infamous 2015 draft class.
Uzomah started off behind guys like Tyler Eifert and Tyler Kroft on the depth chart. He finally made his way to the top, once Eifert departed in the 2020 offseason. However, his first season as a starter ended before it really began, as he tore his achilles in week 2.
He bounced back nicely in 2021, breaking out for a career best season. He wasn’t high in the pecking order when it came to ball distribution, which is not at all surprising with guys like Chase, Higgins, and Boyd in the fold. But he still managed to turn 49 catches into 493 yards and 5 TD’s, all career highs.
With the Jets, Uzomah will get a nice pay raise, with his $8M AAV being a step up from the roughly $6M he was making in his previous contract.
While it would have been nice to keep him, both as an on field producer and a leader in the locker room, you can understand the Bengals decision to let him walk. Spending that kind of money on a 29 year old non-elite TE didn’t make enough sense financially.
Uzomah becomes the second notable loss for the Bengals in free agency, after Larry Ogunjobi signed with the Bears earlier on.
Modified Homescreen Image Via: Jeffrey Beall (CC)
