It’s perfectly understandable to think Joe Mixon will remain with the Cincinnati Bengals for the upcoming season despite speculation that his contract is too expensive and the cap hit could be better allocated to other things.
The Bengals, after all, didn’t sign a big name on the market or draft one either, instead opting to draft Chase Brown in the middle rounds as more of a complement.
But Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic made a good point recently, suggesting the paycut-or-cut ultimatum could be one of the dominoes to fall after the Bengals extend Joe Burrow, Tee Higgins and Logan Wilson.
The notable point:
The endgame will be about whether or not he’s willing to realign his $12.8 million cap hit and $10 million in cash to the current state of the running back market. If he’s not, the Bengals will probably tap into the veteran backwaters that are currently overflowing with victims of the philosophical shift away from paying the position.
Despite everything looking business as usual for Mixon at practices last week, it’s certainly worth wondering if the business side of his situation is something they wait to sort out until other bigger things have been sorted.
Again, the Bengals cutting Mixon would save roughly $10 million against the cap at a time when most free agents at the position made dramatically less than that on new deals. If this drags out long enough while the front office focuses on bigger items, he might not have much of a choice when asked.
Mixon’s off-field incident and legal situation from earlier this year could potentially see the league step in with discipline too, which might swing things. But otherwise, until the Bengals actually approach that discussion — if they even do — he remains a fixture of the offense.
