Now is prime time to get those Joe Burrow extension projections in before the Cincinnati Bengals make the deal happen.
Cincinnati hasn’t been shy about wanting to get the deal done early in order to better afford other names on the roster such as Tee Higgins. Bengals brass have also confirmed those talks are underway.
Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus is one of the most prominent to project this contract recently and sees a Burrow extension coming in at four years and $214 million with $185 million total guaranteed:
Because of Cincinnati’s resistance to guaranteeing money beyond the first year of a contract, Burrow should also push to get a larger signing bonus than Dak Prescott’s record $66 million figure. With Burrow’s fifth-year option valued at $29.5 million, he’s scheduled to earn $35.045 million over the next two years before the extension years kick in.
Bengals fans would probably love to see Burrow ink a deal similar to Patrick Mahomes’ 10-year, $450 million extension. So would the team, as president Mike Brown has referenced it — and the rolling-guarantees structure of it — multiple times.
But Spielberger’s proposal tacks on four years to Burrow’s current affordable deal, locking him in Cincinnati for at least six years.
There’s a reality where Burrow and his camp want a shorter-term deal to maximize earnings as the cap keeps increasing in future years. But that doesn’t have to come at the cost of harming the team’s ability to keep weapons around him — just look at Mahomes’ rolling guarantees.
Most likely, Burrow and the Bengals settle on something similar structure-wise while the team has no qualms about a massive signing bonus and a deal worth north of $50 million annually.
No matter what it ends up looking like, there’s little reason for concern that the Bengals won’t again do whatever it takes to keep a franchise quarterback, including leaving their comfort zone. They’ve been prepping for this with new revenue streams and already got out of that comfort zone with some of these free agency deals.
