(Photo by Nick Wosika / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Trae Waynes
Trae Waynes made money with the Minnesota Vikings, but has yet to see a dime from his new contract with the Bengals due to a catch-22 situation.
After spending five seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, Trae Waynes was allowed to strike free will with purple and gold. He landed with the Cincinnati Bengals on a three-year contract worth $ 42 million.
It’s great to see Waynes get a good pay after being a solid defender during his time in Minnesota, but the question of when he will actually become a member of the Bengals must be asked because he has not yet received a single cent of his signing bonus of $ 5 million due to complications from COVID-19 according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.
Although both parties still seem to agree on the terms of the contract, Waynes apparently cannot sign his contract until he has passed a physical exam. Since Cincinnati does not allow third-party doctors to perform physical exams, the former Michigan exhibition player will have to wait for the Bengals to open before signing his contract.
Even though he has moved his family to Ohio and is physically available to train, Breer states that NFL guidelines advise against meeting doctors outside the facility and betting on injury during training puts the defense back in a situation where it can really do nothing.
Of course, Waynes does not hurt for the money. He earned almost $ 13 million from his rookie contract and an additional $ 9 million from the Minnesota Vikings who exercised their fifth-year option over the former first-round pick.
It is crazy to think that the Bengals and Waynes agreed on March 17 and have not yet finalized their agreement. However, this is a situation faced by many players who need a physique to sign their contracts around the league.
Signing a player will be difficult until a physical exam is completed, which means that there could be situations where recruits will have to wait even further in the off-season to get to work with their teams. With player cuts to narrow the list to come, some may never even set foot on the training ground.
5 best shots of the Vikings’ off season
Read now >>
The stories of players struggling to progress due to COVID-19 will be interesting to watch as the training camp continues to get closer. Hopefully players like Trae Waynes who suffer from strange catch-22 situations will be ready when it’s time to play meaningful games this season.
