In the midst of a difficult situation for running back rights, Joe Mixon's new contract has become official, altering the Cincinnati Bengals' cap space situation for 2023.
A week prior to Saquon Barkley's situation hitting the FAN (WFAN is a New York sports radio station, that's clever actually), Mixon quietly agreed to restructure his deal, shredding his old contract and inking a two-year contract to keep him in Cincinnati through 2023.
What about next year? That's still anyone's guess; Mixon's 2024 cap hit would be a seemingly untenable $8.5 million, especially based on what the rest of the league is guaranteeing their running backs. Still, thanks to some cleverly-placed roster bonuses ($3 million next March) and incentives (up to $2 million this season), Mixon will be on a mission to both prove himself and help the Bengals acquire more talent as the season progresses.
Thanks to Mixon's reduced cap hit (~$13 million to $8.6 million), the Bengals are now working with about $19.2 million under the cap. That type of ingenuity is how they've been able to add free agents like Orlando Brown, who ranked among the league's beasts in this week's OL strength Madden Rankings.
The world's strongest men 🌎 #Madden24 pic.twitter.com/R50O3c1RcT
— Madden NFL 24 (@EAMaddenNFL) July 19, 2023
That's not somebody anybody wants to push around.
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