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Given how things work in the NFL, Cincinnati Bengals fans are still a long way removed from finding out if the team extends one of A.J. Green or Joe Mixon — if not both.
The Bengals hit Green with the franchise tag and got wildly active in free agency before turning around and putting together a well-reviewed draft.
Green’s situation has fallen to the backburner in the public mindshare a bit as a result. But we know the Bengals want to nail down a long-term extension. It’s also safe to presume they’d like to get Mixon extended at a fair price.
But Mixon might have to wait.
A simple line from The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. recently summed it up well: “His deadline comes first. Then they make the call on Mixon.”
The running back was always going to come second behind the star wideout. Granted, that star wideout hasn’t shown he can stay healthy and is over the age of 30. But given the fluctuating impact of the running back position lately, a healthy A.J. Green was always going to register as more important to Joe Burrow’s development.
Granted, as Dehner agrees in his writeup, it’s hard to imagine a long-term agreement with Green happens before the deadline on July 15. He couldn’t get on the field last year and potential summer delays could mean they don’t see him prove he can get back to work and stay healthy before that deadline.
Which leaves Mixon twisting in the wind a bit. A prior report said the Bengals are ready for a holdout if it comes to that. Another said the team was closer with Green than Mixon.
Maybe this all ends up being moot. Green gets an agreeable offer and commits. Mixon settles for a reasonable $8-10 million AAV offer and locks down long-term, too.
But these two items, in particular, are tricker than pretty much anything else the Bengals have done this offseason. Spending big on need in free agency was simple, once committed to. Drafting Burrow was easy.
The only thing easy about the Green and Mixon extensions is knowing Green’s ordeal comes first.
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