DJ Turner II Ready To Start Extension Talks With Bengals After Career-Best 2025 Season

Cincinnati may want to extend his contract sooner rather than later.

Oct 16, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals cornerback DJ Turner II (20) gestures toward his bench as he walks off the field with an apparent injury against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the third quarter at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images | Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Bengals didn't have many contract extension candidates entering this season, and then DJ Turner II entered the chat. The third-year cornerback posted his best campaign yet over the last few months.

Turner notched 40 tackles, his first two career forced fumbles, 18 pass breakups (third in the NFL), and two interceptions. It amounted to a strong 73.3 Pro Football Focus grade across a career-high 974 snaps.

The Michigan product has a strong case to be first in line for a new deal from the Bengals this offseason, and as always, if the 25-year-old is going to keep playing like this, then it historically makes sense to extend him as soon as possible. The price will just keep going up.

"Oh, yeah, for sure," Turner said about his desire to stay in Cincinnati long term. "My agent and I are about to get talking a little bit, but for sure, that's definitely a conversation I would love having."

Turner is convinced he would've broken out last year if he hadn't suffered a broken collarbone that limited him to 11 games.

He played a full snap diet in 2025.

"Just me tapping into my mental really is what took off," Turner said about why he found success. "It started after my rookie year, finding out my routine, what I do in the offseason. We were just talking I'm about to travel anywhere and everywhere around the world, just that sort of stuff, just figuring out my routine. I feel like I would have had the season I had last year if I hadn't broken my collarbone. My season got cut short that year. And so this year, I just stayed healthy, and I just put it all together."

Cincinnati can extend Turner and Dax Hill this offseason to lock down the outside of the defense for basically the rest of the decade.

The Michigan brethren are used to rising together.

"We both reported in the summer. We got to Michigan the same day," Turner said about his longtime friend. 

They've cemented their starting status on this roster, and now we'll see if the front office wants to firm up their importance even more with new deals.

Check out the full media session with Turner from FOX19 here.

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