Some NFL Personnel Question Bengals' Willingness to Guarantee Large Portion of Joe Burrow's Next Contract

The 25-year-old is eligible for an extension next offseason.

Author:
James Rapien
Publish date:
Apr 14, 2022 9:26 AM EDT

CINCINNATI — Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is going to get paid.

The 25-year-old led Cincinnati to the Super Bowl in just his second season and has quickly become one of the best signal-callers in the NFL.

Burrow is eligible for a contract extension after the 2023 season. With Deshaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers and even Kirk Cousins getting new contracts that include large guarantees, some around the NFL wonder if Bengals owner Mike Brown will be willing to guarantee big time money to his star quarterback.

"Cincinnati's Joe Burrow will undoubtedly be a candidate for a mega-extension after his third NFL season. The quarterback market could be well above $250 million by then," ESPN's Jeremy Fowler wrote earlier this week. "Bengals owner Mike Brown is considered among the most conservative owners in the NFL. Will he want to write a check for a large portion of that deal up front to the league? Perhaps, but it's a question some people in the league are asking."

The Bengals aren't accustomed to giving players a high percentage of guarantees in their contracts, but they've always found a way to pay their starting quarterbacks.

They signed Carson Palmer to a contract extension in Dec. 2005. He still had three years left on his deal. They signed Andy Dalton to a new deal in 2014 after he helped the team make the playoffs in each of his first three seasons.

The difference between those deals and the one Burrow is going to command is the guaranteed money that comes along with it.

In a perfect world, he would be willing to sign a 10-year extension worth $500+ million with the Bengals, much like Patrick Mahomes did with the Chiefs.

That would give Cincinnati flexibility in how they structure the deal so they can give themselves as much cap room as possible, especially over the next few years while the cap continues to rise.

There's no reason to think that the Bengals won't pay Burrow. The chances are good that they'll get a long-term deal done. They did with Palmer, they did with Dalton and they will with Burrow.

How will the contract be structured? That's a question that we won't have the answer to until next offseason.

Read Fowler's entire article here. For thoughts on the Bengals' draft plans, watch the video below and subscribe to our YouTube Channel.

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