Bengals Have Started Extension Talks With RB Joe Mixon

Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin confirmed the team has started discussing a contract extension with RB Joe Mixon.

“Joe’s obviously a guy that’s shown a lot of ability,” Tobin said to Lance McAlister of 700 WLW. “He’s in a year that he can be extended, and he is a guy that we visited with. We’ll go through those discussions and see if there is a fit or a match for a long-term contract with him, obviously a guy we value quite a bit.”

Mixon is entering the final year of his rookie contract in 2020 and is the latest running back to face off against the challenging dynamics of getting a major second deal. 

The Panthers just signed RB Christian McCaffrey to a market-setting $16 million-per-year deal, so it will be interesting to see how close Cincinnati is willing to get to that number. 

A holdout is also an option that’s very much on the table for Mixon if he’s not satisfied with what the Bengals offer. However, it appears both sides would like to avoid that if possible. 

The great thing about Joe is he goes about it the right way . . .” Tobin said. “He’s the type of guy you want to lock up to a long-term deal. We’ll see if we can find the commonality to get that done over time here.”

Mixon, 23, is a former second-round pick of the Bengals back in 2017. He’s currently entering the final year of his four-year, $5.45-million contract and set to make a base salary of $960,470 in 2020.

In 2019, Mixon appeared in all 16 games for the Bengals and rushed for 1,137 yards on 278 carries (4.1 YPC) and five touchdowns to go along with 35 receptions for 287 yards receiving and three additional touchdowns. Pro Football Focus rated him as the No. 16 running back out of 55 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding Mixon as the news is available.