Cincinnati Bengals Make a Splash — and Statement — With Size and Timing of Joe Burrow Deal

The Joe Burrow contract extension always was a matter of when, not if, for the Cincinnati Bengals. And that “when” screams almost as loud as the figures — $275 million over five years with $219 million in guaranteed money, a contract first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Joe Burrow Signs Record Contract Extension With Bengals

This was not just a deal consummated on a random Thursday before the start of the regular season. This was taking a pause behind Burrow’s good friend Nick Bosa, who also is represented by Brian Ayrault, to let his richest contract in NFL history for a defensive player — $170 million over five years — breathe in the NFL news cycle for 24 hours.

But more than that, this was an announcement deliberately delayed to stomp on the celebration of the Bengals’ biggest current rival, the Kansas City Chiefs, shortly after they unfurled their Super Bowl LVII banner and kicked off the NFL season against the Detroit Lions.

In baseball, there is an unwritten rule that no one announces any major, thunder-stealing news during the World Series.

The NFL Kickoff Game obviously isn’t the equivalent of that. The Super Bowl would be. But the first game of the NFL season is a huge event, and it’s laughable to think the decision to hold off on announcing the Burrow deal — which reportedly was finished before the Bengals began practice Thursday afternoon — until a few minutes after kickoff was a coincidence.

The Bengals have been stewing at the league for months since the ridiculous notion that the AFC North Division could possibly be decided by a coin flip in the wake of the chaos created by the canceled game against the Bills after Damar Hamlin’s unfortunate medical emergency.

And that the AFC Championship Game could possibly be played at a neutral site if the Bills were in it, but not the Bengals.

That’s the short-term satisfaction for the Bengals. The sugar high.

How we all feel right about now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/CheIKvxVqu

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) September 8, 2023

The sustainable, long-term ramifications are locking up a generational talent who completely flipped the fortunes of a forlorn franchise and turned the Bengals into one of the league’s elite Super Bowl favorites, a perch they should perennially occupy for the duration of Burrow’s deal, which runs through the year 2029.

Burrow already was under contract for 2023 as part of his rookie deal and 2024 via the fifth-year option the team exercised. He landed in Cincinnati because the Bengals faceplanted to 2-14 in Zac Taylor’s first season as head coach in 2019, extending their run of seasons without a playoff victory to 30.

The 2020 season showed Burrow’s promise. Then 2021 showed his prowess, as he overcame a subpar offensive line to lead the Bengals to a division title, that elusive first playoff victory since 1990, the first road playoff win in team history, followed by the second and the third, and a berth in the Super Bowl.

Burrow is going to have to play catch-up to Mahomes, obviously, but it’s not farfetched to think he could be the most decorated active quarterback by the time the deal expires after the 2029 season. He’s already reached two AFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl in just his first two full seasons in the league.

Burrow will be 33 years old when this contract expires. Tom Brady won four Super Bowls at age 33. No one is rubber-stamping Burrow for that success, but a template exists in today’s NFL for sharp-thinking, sharp-throwing quarterbacks protected by suits in the league office and officials on the field to play deep into their 30s and well into their 40s.

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As much as the contract always felt like a matter of when, not if, there were doubts. The Bengals have a history of screwing things up. The closer things got to the season opener, the antsier the fanbase grew.

Burrow said he wanted to be here his entire career, and it would be preposterous for the front office to want anything else.

This contract doesn’t ensure the horizon of Burrow’s career, but it’s the first step in making that happen. Both sides got what they wanted. And, not coincidentally, when they wanted it.