The Bengals and Joe Mixon have agreed on a restructured contract that will keep the running back at Cincinnati for the 2023 season, a team source confirmed to The Athletic. Here’s what you need to know:
- According to Spotrac, Mixon had a base salary of $9.4 million with a 2023 cap of $12.8 million.
- In 14 games last season, Mixon rushed for 814 yards and seven touchdowns.
- He also recorded 60 receptions with two receiving TDs last season.
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
What does this mean for Mixon?
That means he’s staying in Cincinnati. That was doubtful. The running back found himself in two legal ties, including an open case of an aggravated threat related to the day the Bengals traveled to Buffalo for the divisional playoff round. Mixon, with an exorbitant $12.8 million cap hit in a collapsing running back market, has always had two choices: take a pay cut or take a walk. The fact that he took the pay cut keeps him grounded in the Bengals backfield while mitigating the $10 million cash loss for the 26-year-old, whose ability to perform has faltered in 2022. – stretcher
Was that to be expected?
Yes. The plan for the entire offseason was to turn his cap hit of $12.8 million and $10 million in cash into a more manageable number on par with the market. However, there were doubts because it was the Bengals. Cincinnati has never entered into a restructured contract. That may be normal in the NFL, but not in Cincinnati, which has offered restructurings and pay cuts in the past but never agreed to them. Most players chose to walk. Mixon decides to stay. It’s another example of Cincinnati’s changing times, both in how they operate and what players are willing to tolerate in order to win. – stretcher
What you say
Mixon’s agent Peter Schaffer issued a statement to multiple media outlets on Friday, saying: “Joe has just agreed to a restructuring of his deal. His goal is to win a Super Bowl and play his career in Cincinnati, and that’s the best way to achieve those goals.”
backstory
Mixon was drafted by Cincinnati in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft. In 2020, he signed a four-year, $48 million contract extension with the Bengals.
In April, Mixon pled not guilty to an aggravated assault charge filed against him earlier in the month, according to online court filings in Hamilton County, Ohio. The charges stemmed from an alleged Jan. 21 incident in Cincinnati, in which the February affidavit claimed Mixon pointed a gun at a woman and said, “You should be shot in the face, I should shoot you.” “
A Hamilton County (Ohio) judge in February dismissed a charge of aggravated threats against Mixon at the request of the Cincinnati Attorney’s Office. At the time, the Bureau told the court that it had requested the dismissal because further investigations were needed. But in April, the Cincinnati Police Department issued a new count of aggravated threats against Mixon “after new evidence was uncovered during the investigation.”
In 2014, while on the University of Oklahoma football team, Mixon was charged with assault and suspended for the 2014 season for punching a woman. Mixon struck a deal and received a year’s probation.
He was also banned for a game in 2016 for violating Oklahoma team rules after an incident was reported between Mixon and a parking lot attendant, in which he allegedly tore up a subpoena and threw it in the parkman’s face and then at the officers intimidated by a vehicle.
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(Photo: Joseph Maiorana / USA Today)