Bengals' Duke Tobin Addresses Possibility of Restructuring Joe Burrow's Contract

With the 2026 NFL Draft behind them, the Cincinnati Bengals turn their focus to a couple of important decisions this week.

One is whether to pick up the fifth-year option on 2023 first-round pick Myles Murphy, a decision that to be made by 4 p.m. Friday.

The other is whether to approach Joe Burrow about restructuring his contract.

There is no deadline for that, but director of player personnel Duke Tobin mentioned multiple times how the Bengals have created some financial challenges by putting themselves near the top of the league in spending.

Asking Burrow to restructure would help alleviate some of those challenges.

“Those are things that we're working through after the draft,” Tobin said. “We've layered in challenges, but we're up to them.”

Earlier this offseason, during the Combine in February, Tobin addressed the issue of approaching Burrow about restructuring his contract to give the Bengals more money available in free agency.

“Cap dollars have to be counted, so if we can accomplish what we want to accomplish without pushing things into future problems, we'll do that,” he said. “If we need that, we'll consider that as well. We're open to doing anything we need to do to improve our team to where we're satisfied we're gonna win a championship.

“But we have resources right now, and we'll see what we can get done,” Tobin added.

The resources dwindled when the team made the trade for Dexter Lawrence and signed him to a one-year extension.

In addition to the decision on using the fifth-year option on Murphy, a move that would come with a 2027 salary of $24.4 million, the Bengals have big decisions to make on starting cornerbacks Dax Hill and DJ Turner II, both of whom will be free agents at the end of the season.

“The desire will always be to keep guys,” Tobin said. “It's how to fit it together. And that's something that we'll be going through, the drafts over now. We've got some time to look at the forecast on where we are. We know where we are.

“We've layered in a lot of cost, and there are restrictions on what you can do there,” he continued. “And when you're sitting at the top of the league in spending, it's pretty restrictive. But we'll see what can be done.”

Reworking Burrow’s contract is the most obvious thing that can be done.

By restructuring Burrow's contract, the Bengals could convert his base salary into a signing bonus, freeing up cap space to make it more possible to re-sign both Turner and Hill.

"We (created financial challenges) because we've got to add the right people and the right players," Tobin said, with an obvious nod to Lawrence. "Those are challenges that locker room isn't interested in. They're interested in having the best team possible. And that's what we're trying to give them is the best team possible."

A Burrow restructure also could help the team more immediately, allowing for the signing of a veteran linebacker or addition at another position before training camp.

And given how Burrow has been so open about paying the team’s current stars as well as acquiring better players to fix the defense, it’s hard to imagine he would balk at the idea of a restructuring, especially if he knows exactly how the cleared money would be used.

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