The future of the Bengals will largely be determined by how they handle the next 10 months.
Between now and then, several of their most prominent players will become free agents. Andre Smith, Andrew Whitworth, Reggie Nelson, George Iloka, Leon Hall, and Marvin Jones are easily among the 10-12 best Bengals players heading into the 2015 season, but all remain unsigned for 2016.
That's one of the NFL's best starting-tackle tandems, both Bengals starting safeties, the team's No. 1 corner, and No. 2 and 3 receivers.