Bengals: Joe Mixon explains his goal with taking a pay cut for 2023

The defending AFC North champions figure to be in the Super Bowl hunt again. Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon is doing his part.

It’s a franchise not known for being overly active in free agency and being pretty financially conservative. That has changed a bit in recent seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals.

In 2021, the team signed Saints’ defensive end Trey Hendrickson to a four-year, $60 million deal (via Spotrac) and he recently inked a $21 million dollar extension.

One year earlier, the club signed running back Joe Mixon to a four-year, $48 million extension. A second-round draft choice in 2017, he’s been highly productive for the club. He also bounced back the past two seasons after missing the final 10 games in 2020. In six seasons, the 2021 Pro Bowler has totaled 7,141 yards from scrimmage and 50 touchdowns.

Joe Mixon took pay cut to help give Bengals a better chance at Super Bowl

Recently, Mixon signed another contract extension. It was a restructuring of his 2020 deal and it was designed to help a team that has won back-to-back division titles for the first time in team history.

“All I’m trying to do is be the best investment for (owner Mike Brown) in return and do whatever I can to be there and get his first Super Bowl,” explained Mixon (via the team’s website). “I see the bigger picture. I see the task at hand and what we’re trying to build and in order to keep other players here and pieces here, sometimes you have to sacrifice. I felt like this year was the year to sacrifice on the Super Bowl team we can potentially be.”

“That was my stance on it,” Mixon said. “We agreed on a number with great compensation this year with the incentives. Off my last deal, I feel like they allowed me to work to be able to make that money back. That’s cool. I’ll go work for it.”

Zac Taylor’s squad owns a combined 22-11 regular-season record and 5-2 playoff mark since 2021. There is also the looming new contract for quarterback Joe Burrow, who enters his fourth season.

Mixon has remained focus when it comes to his NFL employer in an offseason in which the six-year pro has been dealing with some off-the-field issues (via Ben Baby of ESPN.com).