The 26-year-old running back had two years left on his contract but a $9.4 million non-guaranteed base salary for 2023, and Cincinnati could have saved $10 million in cap space by cutting him. Mixon signed a four-year extension with the Bengals in September 2020 and is entering his seventh season.
“He just wants to win a Super Bowl and finish what he started with the best and most talented players in the league and also win a Lombardi (trophy) for Mike Brown,” Schaffer said via text message.
Terms of the deal were not available.
Mixon enjoyed his third 1,000-yard rushing season in 2021 to help the Bengals to their first Super Bowl since the 1988 season, but they came up short against the L.A. Rams and bowed out in the AFC Championship last season.
The former second-round draft pick had a bit of a down year carrying the ball in 2022, finishing with 814 yards and seven touchdowns on 210 carries, but he was more productive in the passing game and Bengals coach Zac Taylor has shared his continued support of Mixon this offseason even with uncertainty surrounding an aggravated menacing charge to which he pled not guilty in April.
“I think we’ve got a great relationship with Joe,” Taylor said on May 30. “I’ve appreciated how he’s come into the building every single day and just worked hard. That’s a big reason why we gave him the contract we gave him, his presence with the team. He’s a guy I enjoy being around and we’re counting on him.”
Cincinnati drafted Chase Brown in the fifth round but Mixon’s presence will be key to the running back room, especially after the departure of Samaje Perine in free agency. Trayveon Williams and Chris Evans both return, and the Bengals have expressed confidence in their development but they have just 64 carries between them.
The Bengals are working to keep as much of their two-time defending AFC North champion offense together as a big contract for Joe Burrow looms. They head into training camp July 26 now with assurance for one of his big weapons.
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