The Bengals started 2026 on a bright note, beating the Bucs 33-27. A large part of that victory came on the back of an offensive line that kept quarterback Joe Burrow clean throughout most of the game. The Bucs were hopeful they could rattle Burrow's cage with an upgraded defensive front that featured rookie first round pick Rueben Bain Jr.
All reports out of Bucs training camp have been extremely flattering of Bain. And his lone preseason action came with tons of fanfare. Bain was supposed to come out of the gates firing. Someone forgot to tell Bengals right tackle Amarius Mims.
Mims held the Bucs rookie to a goose egg on the day. Zero sacks. Zero quarterback hits. Zero hurries. Zero pressures.
Amarius Mims had a fantastic season debut
Per Pro Football Focus, this was just the fourth time in Mims' career that he allowed zero pressures in a game in his career. The last time he had a clean sheet was Week 8 of 2025 against the New York Jets. Overall, his pass protection has been trending in the right direction.
Mims' pressure rate allowed has been declining at a steady rate since week 11 of last year. That bodes well for Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense.
Amarius Mims Career Rolling Career 4-game Pressure Rate Allowed. Data via @PFF. Chart built in Excel. pic.twitter.com/isxGX4h3Yy
— Josh Queipo (@JoshQueipo_NFL) September 14, 2026
Mims is extension-eligible in 2027
Mims was drafted in the first round of the 2024 draft. He is still under contract through at least 2027 with the Bengals holding a team option on 2028. But he is also eligible for an extension as early as next year.
A growing trend in the NFL is extending talented players early. Teams have found that packaging their new money and years with the depressed figures of their rookie contracts, make second deals more palatable on both their salary cap sheets as well as their actual cash outlays.
The Bengals have largely eschewed this philosophy. They neglected to extend Ja'Marr Chase or Tee Higgins after three years. Chase Brown is currently playing on the final year of his rookie contract. They have also taken Dax Hill to his fifth-year option. The only two players they have gone early on in recent memory is Burrow and kicker Evan McPherson.
That could change with Mims. After all, the Bengals have started to act out of character recently, as evidenced by their slight uptick in free agent spending this year.
Mims' current market and valuation
Since entering the NFL in 2024, Mims has just under 1,800 snaps over 30 games. He's allowed a pressure rate of 5.48% while earning Pro Football Focus grades of 52.6 (run block) and 60.8 (pass block) in 2024 and 64.8 (run block) and 66.6 (pass block) in 2025. And as you saw above, his pressure rate allowed has been trending in the right direction since last year.
Mims' current market is somewhere between the cap-adjusted deals of Tytus Howard (2023) and Jonah Williams (2024). Those two have the closest two-year profiles to the start of his career.
Player (Seasons) | Age | Draft Rnd | Snaps | Pressure Rate Allowed | Wtd Pass Block Grade | Wtd Run Block Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amarius Mims (2024-2025) | 23.9 | 1 | 1,796 | 5.48% | 64.28 | 59.92 |
Tytus Howard (2021-2022) | 27.3 | 1 | 1,947 | 5.31% | 70.16 | 55.70 |
Jonah Williams (2022-2023) | 26.8 | 1 | 2,183 | 5.72% | 59.86 | 52.80 |
Mims has graded out as the best run blocker of the group while his pass blocking grade is just about dead in the middle. The three have extremely similar pressure rates allowed. But Mims also has youth on his side. He will be 24 for the majority of this season, making him 25 next year when he's extension eligible. That's two years younger than the other two when they signed their deals.
Williams' APY, adjusted for today's salary cap, would be $17.65 million. Howard's is $25 million. That's a large gap. But given his age advantage and trend, Mims' value is closer to the top end of that scale.
But market forces are already driving that number up. His fifth-year option is currently projected at just over $21 million. The 2027 franchise tag for offensive linemen is currently at $30 million. 2028 is only going to be higher (likely in the neighborhood of $32 million). The longer the Bengals wait the more it will cost them.
If he can continue his upward trajectory by building off of his strong Week 1 performance, the Bengals should be interested in offering him a four-year, $120 million extension. That deal would lock him in through 2032 at a total cost of $143.9 million. The effective APY, which is what teams really care about, would be just a hair under $24 million per year. That number is extremely palatable in this current market increase.
Another core piece of the Bengals roster locked up for the foreseeable future. A good deal all around.
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