Report: D.J. Reader, Bengals Agree to $53M Contract; Highest-Paid NT in NFL

D.J. Reader is reportedly heading to Cincinnati, as the Bengals will make him the NFL's highest-paid nose tackle. 

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, the 25-year-old has agreed to a four-year, $53 million deal to join the team with the league's worst record in 2019 (2-14). 

In four seasons with the Texans, Reader compiled 154 tackles, 6.5 sacks and one pass deflection. 

The Bengals were a disaster last season. On offense, the turnaround is likely to begin when the team selects quarterback Joe Burrow No. 1 overall in next month's draft. On defense, it begins with Reader. 

Cincinnati ranked 29th with 393.7 yards allowed per game and 24th with 26.2 points per contest. It gets worse when you look at their rushing defense, which allowed a league-worst 148.9 yards per game along with 17 touchdowns (27th). 

Reader can't solve all of that on his own, but at 6'3", 347 pounds, he can clog quite a few running lanes.

The Bengals had $51.9 million in cap space heading into free agency and a much higher portion of its cap dollars committed to its offense, per Spotrac. Andy Dalton carries a $17.7 million cap hit, but the team can relief some or all of that by dealing him.

It's clear Cincinnati is going into full rebuild mode, and Reader is only one piece of that. Still, he's a cornerstone acquisition that the success of the team can be measured against. 

The fifth-round pick out of Clemson in 2016 helped the Texans make the playoffs in three out of his four seasons there. That challenge will be more daunting in Cincinnati, but it's one Reader couldn't turn down.