The Cincinnati Bengals have big contractual question marks to tackle this offseason in the form of A.J. Green and Joe Mixon.
Green heads to the open market in March when free agency opens, while Mixon now enters potential holdout territory as he gets ready to seek an extension.
But given the vibes from Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com — who remains in the known better than most — these issues won’t be much of a concern:
MAAN: Great to hear from you again and hope all is well down there. I’m not sure about nose tackle Andrew Billings, but I know they’ll be all-out trying to get long-term deals with A.J. Green and Joe Mixon this offseason. I hear the concern about distractions and it’s a valid one, but from what I can tell the club doesn’t want them either and they know what both Green and Mixon mean to a rookie QB.
It’s a nice optimistic slant right now and perhaps a peak into what the team has planned. It wouldn’t make sense for the Bengals to fret too much over these monetary issues because it would be silly to derail the building process around Joe Burrow.
Which isn’t to say any of it will be easy. Green has the injury and age factors to consider and Mixon plays a brutal position with an ever-changing market.
But as of this writing, it sure sounds like the expectation is to nail down two important members of the team.
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