Willie Gay Jr. Interview

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(04-19-2020, 09:31 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: From The Athletic:


The Athletic's Paul Dehner writes contract-year RB Joe Mixon is "prepared for a holdout" if he and the Bengals can't agree to a long-term deal.

Mixon is headed into the final year of his rookie deal, which is set to pay him just over $1.2 million. He's obviously insanely underpaid, and Mixon knows the deal with running backs -- their shelf life is short, so he needs to capitalize when able. 24 in July, Mixon is coming off yet another 1,000-yard season after piling up a huge second half following the Week 9 bye. Mixon had 100 yards and/or one touchdown in 6-of-8 games down the stretch in 2019. However, we've seen how holdouts go with running backs. It could be a risky line to walk for Mixon. It is notable the Bengals have been willing to spend money this offseason.

Guys, we can throw water on this whole thing:  He is not going to hold out.  He might miss some voluntary workouts to extend his time away from the team but that is the extent of his leverage.  If he holds out to a certain point, he doesn't get to accrue this year as a year toward FA.  So, he would STILL not be able to test the market next year.  He would never reach free agency under the current set of rules.

With that being said, I understand where Mixon is coming from.  Not only is he seeing huge dollars spent by him employer on good, but not elite talent (except maybe Reader), but he is seeing the RB position become more and more of a "rent-a-mule" business where they are undervalued in the draft, and their second contracts are always iffy because of the pounding they take.  There is no position in the NFL that has a worse circumstance.  Now I hear rumblings that the RBs are trying to create their OWN union separate of the players union.  Groan.  I get it, but more pissing in the wind.

For Mixon, it boils down to amount...He is not used like CMC as a receiver and doesn't essentially play two positions.  CMC earned his deal, but you can see what happened to the likes of Gurley when they signed big deals.  The guaranteed money has to be solid for him.  His ego is going to want to see him paid as one of the top 5 RBs in the league, but the contracts of guys like Bell are jokes and have horribly hamstrung their teams.  If the Bengals are going to extend Joe, I would imagine for it to work the dollars would have to be around $8.5 million per year.  If he wants over $10 million, he will have to get that elsewhere.  It would prevent the money for Green next year among others.

I really want Mixon on this team.  Dude hates losing and I actually really love his energy.  When Green caught that game-winning TD against Atlanta in what seems like ages ago, Mixon was flying down the sidelines to be the first to jump on him.  Love it.  He would probably have the opportunity to really begin to reach his potential as a receiver here as well, with Burrow and more empty sets.  But he isn't going to get what Gurley, Bell, Elliott, or CMC were paid.