The Cincinnati Bengals remain quiet on the decision with running back Joe Mixon this offseason.
Fans saw that much with the comments from director of player personnel Duke Tobin at the combine. Now they can see it again with comments from executive vice president Katie Blackburn at the league’s spring meetings.
“He’s done a lot of great things for the team. I think he’s still got a lot of great production in him,” Blackburn said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “There is a whole myriad of things that can happen. And I don’t want to imply that anything is going to happen or not going to happen because it all can depend on so many other things. It’s a big jigsaw puzzle and you put one piece in and maybe that changes the way you see another piece. So we just have to wait and see how things play out a little bit.”
Before free agency, the idea the Bengals could use the post-June 1 designation to save roughly $10 million against the cap by cutting Mixon seemed like a viable option. That’s a huge chunk of money to pay any running back, let alone one who comes off the field in critical situations because coaches don’t trust his pass-blocking.
But the team lost Samaje Perine to free agency and the market has dried up dramatically, making that move seem not as likely.
The team could still ask Mixon to take a pay cut or restructure to save cap space, but any move on that front might now come after the draft depending on what the team does there.
