The Cincinnati Bengals have come to terms with running back Joe Mixon on a restructured deal which will keep him with the team late on Friday.
Mixon had a down year in 2022, totaling just 814 yards on the ground, after registering 1,205 yards the season prior. The 27 year old did however set career highs in targets (75), receptions (60) and receiving yards (441) as Cincinnati’s offense moved to a pass first system last season.
The former Oklahoma Sooner standout was a 2nd round pick (48th overall) of the Bengals in 2017. To date he’s accumulated 5,378 rushing yards and 40 TDs on the ground. His lone Pro Bowl appearance (2021) coincided with the Bengals reaching the Super Bowl.
However, with a pending case for misdemeanour menacing stemming from a previous incident, and a large cap hit ($12.8M), it wasn’t a guarantee that Mixon would be back in the Queen City this fall.
But following the departure of Samaje Perine via free agency, the Bengals lacked depth at the running back position heading into training camp. This ultimately led the two sides to come together to begin negotiating a new deal.
While terms of the contract have yet to be publicly released, Mixon’s $9.4M non-guaranteed base salary for 2023 will essentially be voided in favour of the new deal.
The announcement comes as the running back market continues to dry up. Veterans such as Dalvin Cook and Ezekiel Elliott remain free agents, while Saquon Barkley continues his holdout with the Giants. The Bengals commitment to Mixon could potentially be viewed as a turning point for the position which has fallen out of favour of front offices around the league in recent years.
The Cincinnati Bengals open their training camp on July 26th, and it’s expected that Mixon will be a full participant under his reworked deal.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.