Bengals Roster Breakdown: Ted Karras champions Cincinnati on and off the field

Throughout the summer leading up to the regular season, we will go through the entire 2024 Cincinnati Bengals roster. Every single day until the season opener against the New England Patriots, we will break down a player on the roster including his background, contract status, and path towards making the team.Today, we give the spotlight […]

John Sheeran — Cincinnati Bengals News Writer
Add as preferred source on Google
Ted Karras
© Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

Throughout the summer leading up to the regular season, we will go through the entire 2024 Cincinnati Bengals roster. Every single day until the season opener against the New England Patriots, we will break down a player on the roster including his background, contract status, and path towards making the team.

Today, we give the spotlight to Mr. Cincinnati himself, Bengals center Ted Karras. It's not too common an offensive lineman becomes one of the most popular and recognizable faces on a team, but Karras' embracement of the Queen City may make him the mayor one day. 

Ted Karras

  • Age: 31
  • Year: 9th
  • Position: Center
  • College: Illinois 
  • Previous Teams: New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins
  • Jersey Number: 64

Karras was drafted by the Patriots with the 221st overall pick in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He spent five years at Illinois and played in four of them following a redshirt season in 2011. He earned the starting right guard spot in 2012 and didn't give it up for the rest of his college career. He was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection (2012, 2014, 2015) and earned team captain and Third Team All-Big Ten honors as a senior in 2015. 

Karras not only made the Patriots' roster as a rookie sixth-round pick, he started Week 1 at right guard. He played nearly 100 snaps in the first two weeks before taking on a reserve role behind all three interior offensive line positions. He did play every game, including the historic "28-3" Super Bowl victory, as a part of the field goal kicking unit. He maintained a reserve/special teams role for the following two seasons before finally becoming New England's starting center in 2019. The Dolphins signed Karras to a one-year in 2020 for him to start a year at center, but the Pats brought him back in 2021 for almost the exact same contract. After coming off the bench in Week 4, he started the rest of the regular season, mostly at left guard. 

Needing a starting center after releasing Trey Hopkins, the Bengals gave the two-time Super Bowl champion Karras a three-year, $18 million deal in 2022 free agency, his first multi-year contract as a veteran. He was voted a team captain and missed just six snaps in 19 games played. He followed that up with a similar 2023 campaign in which he missed just 12 snaps in 17 starts.

Karras gets the job done on the field, but he's become a community superstar when he's wearing street clothes starting with his headwear. He's built a charitable organization around The Cincy Hat, which has now made a monumental difference in the lives of adults with disabilities from his hometown of Indianapolis all the way down I-74 to Cincinnati. He was the Bengals' 2023 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award nominee and even won the award's fan-voted charity challenge. 

Contract details

Karras signed a one-year, $6 million extension with the Bengals this offseason that will keep him under contract through the 2025 season. He will earn a base salary of $4 million for the 2024 season. He's already earned $3 million via a roster bonus and another $100,000 from a workout bonus. He can also earn up to $500,000 in per game roster bonuses. His cap number for the season will be $7.1 million.

Roster outlook

A vocal leader on the field and in the locker room, Karras quickly became a foundational piece for the Bengals. He'll be viewed as one of the franchise's best free agent signings in team history for his collective impact on the team and the city. 

It's great when the eldest player on the roster is a guy like Karras. No one's easier to look up to on the roster than the guy who touches the ball on every single play.

Projected role: Starting center

Previous player breakdowns

Related Articles