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Odd as it sounds, the Cincinnati Bengals would love to pay out a contract checking in around the half-billion mark.
If that player is a Patrick Mahomes-caliber talent, the Bengals would undoubtedly love to open up the vault.
Mahomes, the superstar Kansas City Chiefs passer, just broke the bank with a 10-year deal worth up to roughly $503 million in guarantees. The rolling cash is incredible: He’ll get $63 million guaranteed at signing and more than $100 million by next March.
There are a ton of “ifs” from a Bengals perspective, of course, starting right with the 2017 draft — where the team passed on Mahomes, who went one pick after John Ross.
It’s almost unfair to bring up Ross — he’s a promising young wideout with a ton of potential to be a deadly weapon if he can stay on the field. But he’s always going to be the guy drafted one spot ahead of Mahomes, the $500 million quarterback.
Maybe next time with Joe Burrow, right? If the Bengals are paying out a Mahomes-level contract in the near future, it means they’ve found an elite passer. It means they’ve easily surpassed the Andy Dalton years under center and breezed past the playoff struggles of the Marvin Lewis era — and maybe even returned to Lombardi Trophy-contention in Ken Anderson style.
And maybe — just maybe — this conversation is closer than most imagine. Burrow just had one of the best college seasons by a passer ever, is one of the best passers to enter the draft in modern history and has an unusually strong cast of supporting weapons for a No. 1 pick. Mahomes just reset the market for what a top-tier passer gets.
In the end, there’s no asking price too high for the Bengals if it means ending the playoff drought and competing for a Super Bowl. Rather than balking at that Mahomes contract, maybe cross the fingers Burrow’s worthy of it in a few years.
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