Joe Burrow finds himself in the center of another first-time Bengals decision, and it’s a total win-win
Joe Burrow’s contract was the first in franchise history that contained future guaranteed salaries for a veteran player. The 29-year old QB is now the subject of another first-time action for Cincinnati’s front office.
The Cincinnati Bengals have restructured quarterback Joe Burrow‘s contract.
Per NFL insiders Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter, the Bengals are creating $10 million in salary cap space with the restrcuture.
Burrow’s five-year, $275 million contract extension he signed in 2023 was the first in franchise history that contained future guaranteed salaries for a veteran player. The 29-year old QB is now the subject of another first-time action for Cincinnati’s front office.
This is the first time the Bengals have ever restructured a contract
Contract restructures are common practice in the NFL, and the biggest deals are typically the ones that end up becoming altered. Burrow’s deal is the first contract the club has ever officially restructured.
Cincinnati has had players take pay cuts before. Joe Mixon, Geno Stone, and Cordell Volson all played for the team following their salaries being slashed for the sake of saving cap space.
A restructure is not the same thing.
Burrow’s pay is staying the same. The Bengals are simply turning a portion of his salary into a prorated bonus. The goal is to spread out the cap hits of said bonus throughout the remaining years of the deal. Burrow is signed through the 2029 season. There are an additional three void years on to prorate his option bonus for his last season.
What did the Bengals do to Burrow’s deal?
If Cincinnati is creating $10 million in cap space with this move, then only part of Burrow’s base salary has been converted into a bonus.
Burrow was scheduled to earn a $25.25 million salary this year. By converting half of that into a bonus, about $12.5 million, the Bengals can now prorate that amount over the remaining life of the deal.
$12.5 million first gets taken off the books. In order to get the final number of $10 million, $2.5 million must go back on the cap. This likely means the $12.5 million was spread out over the next five years, including this year, which implies another $2.5 million will go on the books the year after Burrow’s deal expires.
Cap space update
The Bengals should have approximately $17 million in cap space thanks to this move. Burrow’s cap figure for this year should go down to just under $38 million.
What Cincy does with this added cap space remains to be seen. Extensions for DJ Turner II, Dax Hill, Myles Murphy, or Chase Brown are all on the table. They are much more likely now that extra cap space has been created.