Earlier this month, running back Joe Mixon agreed to take a pay cut to stay with the Bengals.
Mixon had been due more than $9 million in 2023. But now that’s been reduced to $6 million with incentives that could bring him back up to $8 million.
On Monday, Cincinnati director of player personnel Duke Tobin said the deal was “something we thought was best for the football team going forward.”
“Unfortunately, sometimes you have to make some hard decisions,” Tobin said, via James Rapien of SI.com. “And we felt like this was one of them. But we came to a solution that we all felt good about.”
Tobin added that Mixon “handled it very professionally, understood.”
“He’s motivated. He wants to win. He’s always been highly competitive,” Tobin said. “And we tried to find something that worked for everybody and we think we did. And proud of Joe for going through it and handling it. Sometimes we have to do what we feel is best for the entire football team. And I was proud of the way he did that. He’s the guy we think he is. He’s a motivated player that wants to win.”
Running backs are getting squeezed all around the league, with Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs notably not reaching long-term deals with their respective teams. Tobin was asked about the state of the market for RBs, but said he didn’t have many thoughts on that.
“I think locally, I think with us, and what works with us, and what works going forward with us, what’s happening around the league with the other teams, I think, will be 100 different reasons,” Tobin said. “But for us, this was something that we felt we needed to do.”
A second-round pick in 2017, Mixon has spent his entire career with the Bengals. In 14 games last year, he accounted for 1,255 yards from scrimmage — 814 rushing, 441 receiving on 60 catches — with nine total touchdowns.
