Bengals Roster: Realistic expectations for Joe Mixon in 2023

With their second-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals selected Joe Mixon out of Oklahoma. By the second year of his career, he was the RB1 in the Bengals' offense, tallying 1,168 yards and eight rushing touchdowns.

Aside from this past year, whenever Mixon started double-digit games for Cincinnati, he had at least 1,000 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns. His best year was in 2021, the fifth of his career, when he dashed for 1,205 yards and a whopping 13 touchdowns while also racking up 314 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns.

This past season, however, was not as kind to Mixon. He finished the year with 814 rushing yards, seven rushing touchdowns, and averaged 3.9 yards per carry, Mixon did put together his best year as a pass-catcher, though, notching over 400 yards receiving.

What should Bengals fans expect from Joe Mixon in 2023?

It's surprising that Mixon is even still on the roster considering he's a $12.7 million cap hit this year and had legal issues this offseason. We've already seen other former top running backs such as Dalvin Cook and Ezekiel Elliott be released by the teams that drafted them this year but the Bengals opted to stick with Mixon.

Heck, Cincinnati didn't even draft a running back until the fifth round. They clearly see Mixon as the RB1 still this year despite his down season in 2022 and expensive contract.

Bengals fans can expect Mixon to be the starter when the season gets underway but if he gets injured or underperforms, don't be shocked if Chase Brown passes him on the depth chart. Running backs are considered past their prime at a much earlier age than the rest of the positions in the league and as unfair as that is, Mixon is approaching that age. This will be his age-27 season.

Mixon has been a good player during his time with Cincinnati but the writing is on the wall. This very well could be his final year with the Bengals.