The Cincinnati Bengals’ aggressive offseason signals a commitment to Joe Burrow. GM Duke Tobin now eyes contract adjustments that could bolster the roster further.
The Cincinnati Bengals spent the 2026 offseason building what may be the most aggressively constructed roster in recent memory. And the driving force behind every decision was keeping Joe Burrow from running out of patience.
Cincinnati finished the 2025 season 6-11, missing the playoffs for the third consecutive year. Burrow missed nine games with a Grade 3 turf toe injury suffered in Week 2, and the Bengals went 1-8 without him, effectively burying their season before October was over.
By December, Burrow wasn’t hiding his frustration. “We don’t want to be in the spot we are in now, so something’s got to change,” he told reporters. His comments about needing to have fun to continue “doing this” sent shockwaves through the fan base, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that league observers had begun questioning whether continued struggles could lead Burrow to reassess his long-term situation in Cincinnati.
Bengals responded by revamping their roster
The front office responded with urgency. The Bengals signed Jonathan Allen to a two-year, $25 million deal, Boye Mafe on a three-year, $60 million contract, and Bryan Cook for three years at $40.25 million.
They traded their first-round pick for Dexter Lawrence. They also drafted Cashius Howell, Tacario Davis, and five others. With roughly $7.5 million remaining in cap space, Cincinnati is now sitting near the top of the NFL in total spending.
Now the financial bill is coming due, and general manager Duke Tobin is already looking at Burrow’s contract as a potential solution.
Tobin was asked directly after the draft whether the team had approached Burrow about restructuring his deal.
“Those are things that we’re working through after the draft,” Tobin said. “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: The best team possible.”
Burrow is currently playing under a five-year, $275 million extension, with a base salary of $25.25 million and a $10 million signing bonus in 2026, carrying a cap hit of just under $48 million. A restructure could save the Bengals approximately $19.2 million by converting salary into a signing bonus, which would give the front office enough room to re-sign both Dax Hill and DJ Turner II, two cornerbacks entering free agency after 2026.
It’s worth noting that Burrow has shown willingness about adjusting his contract before. “You could convert some of the money to a signing bonus, which will lower the cap hit,” Burrow said during the 2025 offseason. “You can push some of the money to the back end of the contract. That lowers the cap hit. And then when you get to the back end of the contract, you can restructure it and convert it to a signing bonus. You can also just take less money” (via ESPN’s Ben Baby).