Bengals could be playing their cards perfectly with Joe Burrow’s contract despite pressure to act immediately
The Cincinnati Bengals haven’t discussed restructuring Joe Burrow’s contract this offseason. That’s actually a good thing at this point in the year.
It doesn’t sound like the Cincinnati Bengals are going to restructure quarterback Joe Burrow‘s contract this offseason.
Per WLWT’s Charlie Clifford, “no discussions” between the Bengals and Burrow have taken place about restructuring the 29-year old’s deal.
Restructuring Joe Burrow’s contract has been a hot topic
Burrow signed his five-year, $275 million extension back in 2023. Cincinnati restructuring the contract has been a topic of discussion over the past two years as the Bengals have needed to make significant financial decisions. Extending Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins last year, and signing the free agents they added this offseason have cost the front office significant money.
More decisions have to be made this offseason. Extensions for Dax Hill, Myles Murphy, and DJ Turner II are all on the table. The Cincy, and the club has $7,173,064 in salary cap space according to OverTheCap.com.
Restructuring Burrow’s deal would create additional cap space to help fit those deals on the books for this year. Director of player personnel Duke Tobin was asked if it was being considered following the 2026 NFL Draft.
“Those are things that we’re working through after the draft,” Tobin said during his post-draft presser. “Again, we’re layered in challenges, but we’re up to them. And we do it because we have the opportunity to add the right people and the right players. Those are challenges that the locker room isn’t interested in. They’re interested in having the best team possible. That’s what we’re trying to give them.”
As of now, it doesn’t seem like Tobin and Co. are interested in touching Burrow’s deal. There’s a logical explanation as to why.
Restructuring Joe Burrow’s contract creates current salary cap space while removing it from the future
The misconception when it comes to restructuring NFL contracts is that money gets taken away from the player and given back to the club. That is not what happens. The money is just moved around from an accounting perspective, and all of it still finds the player’s bank account.
Burrow signed his five-year, $275 million extension back in 2023. His cap hit for the 2026 season is $47,999,784, a $2 million increase from the $45,999,784 cap hit he had last year under a smaller NFL-wide cap. His current cap hit takes up 15.1% of the 2026 salary cap, whereas last year’s cap hit accounted for 16%.
If the Bengals were to restructure Burrow’s deal right now, it would create about $19 million in cap space. Almost half of the money he’s earning this year would become prorated and appear in equal increments over the remaining years of the contract.
That means Cincinnati would save cap space now, but its future cap space would be negatively affected. That’s usually a no-no when it comes to this team, and especially now given what’s coming.
Bengals should wait to restructure Burrow’s deal for next year to create 2027 cap space
The Bengals have 45 players under contract for the 2027 season right now. With a projected salary cap of $327 million, they would have an effective cap space of $34,222,043 after adding eight minimum contracts to reach 53 rostered players.
That number likely needs to go up in order for Cincy to pay Hill, Murphy, Turner, and others over the next 16 months.
By restructuring Burrow’s deal now, the Bengals would be making it harder to fit upcoming extensions on the books for the next few years despite the cap going up each and every year aside from 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The largest cap hits of deals will come in 2027, 2028, and 2029. They can be structured so that 2026 cap space is hardly impacted.
Waiting until next year at the earliest can give Cincinnati more space to fit those cap hits, and fill out the rest of the roster without getting too frugal. It may not look aggressive on paper, but holding off until 2027 may be the best way to make everything work.