Bengals make Joe Burrow highest-paid player in NFL history

Simply because the 2023 NFL season kicked off in Kansas Metropolis on Thursday night time, the Cincinnati Bengals had been finalizing a take care of quarterback Joe Burrow to make him the best paid participant in NFL historical past.

Based on ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Burrow and the Bengals reached an settlement on a brand new five-year contract price $275 million that features greater than $219 million in ensures.

This deal has been within the works for some time and it appeared inevitable that Burrow was set to get a large extension. He has fully reworked the Bengals since his arrival in the beginning of the 2020 season and helped flip them into top-of-the-line groups within the NFL. They’ve already been to 1 Tremendous Bowl and one other AFC Championship Recreation with him as their beginning quarterback.

In his three years he has accomplished 68 % of his passes for 82 touchdowns and solely 31 interceptions.

He suffered a calf damage early in coaching camp that pressured him to overlook the whole preseason and has left his Week 1 availability in query. Even when he isn’t capable of go, it’s not an damage that’s anticipated to be long-term. 

Burrow and the Bengals have actually set a excessive bar for themselves over the primary three years of his profession, however the brand new contract goes to deliver an entire new set of expectations and complications for the staff. One of many huge benefits the Bengals had within the first three years of Burrow’s profession is that he was enjoying like a franchise quarterback on a rookie contract. That created vital wage cap flexibility and allowed them to construct an exceptionally sturdy staff round him.

However that benefit goes to go away with this new deal and drive the Bengals into making some powerful selections, particularly as they must additionally take care of contracts for extensive receivers Ja’Marr Chase, Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins. It will be practically not possible for them to maintain all people and add to the roster. 

That places strain and expectation on all people concerned to get the Bengals their first championship earlier than they’ve to start out making these selections. Nearly as good as Burrow is and as younger as he nonetheless is, the clock is perhaps ticking on their window with that extension in place.