The Bengals are not expected to fire Zac Taylor or de facto GM Duke Tobin. A second Taylor extension (in 2023) is believed to have taken place, moving his contract through the 2027 season. That offers the former Super Bowl coach some protection, as does the Bengals’ conservative way of doing business. But the team may have a Joe Burrow problem on its hands.
Cincinnati is set to miss the playoffs for the third straight season. That occurring in Burrow’s prime is an indictment of the team’s roster, though Burrow injuries in 2023 and ’25 have contributed heavily to the team’s struggles since the 2022 AFC championship game. Still, the 2024 season showed the burden Burrow has needed to carry. With defensive improvement not exactly coming this season, the Bengals did not reenter the AFC North race when their superstar quarterback came off IR last month.
[RELATED: Bengals Rejected Dolphins’ Four-First-Rounder Offer In 2020]
The sixth-year quarterback’s comments about his happiness (or lack thereof) playing football drew leaguewide attention, and while Burrow stopped short of saying he expected to be elsewhere in 2026, he did not do the same regarding a post-Cincinnati career chapter when asked that specific question. In Burrow’s mind, the Bengals have to “play perfect” to win, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport offers, noting the passer’s comments this week look to be aimed at applying some pressure on the organization.
Burrow went to this well last year, launching a campaign for the team to keep Tee Higgins despite previous rumors pointing the high-end No. 2 wide receiver out of town. Burrow also campaigned for Trey Hendrickson to be paid, but the All-Pro defensive end — after an injury-marred season — is likely to walk in free agency.
Powerful players applying pressure on teams is not new, of course. Cavaliers and Lakers fans have seen LeBron James operate this way over the past decade, but Burrow does not have a contract set to expire now or in the near future to use as leverage. He signed a five-year, $275MM Bengals extension that runs through the 2029 season. Cincinnati can hold this over its franchise centerpiece, though the team does have a history with a player effectively forcing his way out despite being contracted long term.
Carson Palmer chose the nuclear option in 2011, staging a quasi-retirement as a way to have the Bengals trade him. An eight-year Bengal, Palmer became frustrated with the franchise’s thriftiness and eventually got his way when the Raiders — who lost then-starter Jason Campbell to injury before the 2011 trade deadline — gave up first- and second-round picks for the disgruntled QB. Palmer did not pan out with the Raiders, finding his form later with the Cardinals, but the Bengals landed starters Dre Kirkpatrick and Giovani Bernard with the picks while Andy Dalton performed well enough for several seasons. This reality playing out again, however, would be damning for the franchise; that would stand to make Burrow’s tactics worth monitoring closely.
The Bengals are known to play hardball with irritated players, as trade requests — like those from Higgins and Jonah Williams, to name two recent examples — are routinely batted down. Cincinnati brass can also point to listening to Burrow on Higgins, who joined Ja’Marr Chase in signing a lucrative extension this past offseason, and being active in free agency — far more so compared to their spending during Palmer and Dalton’s tenures — with Burrow in town.
Burrow, 29, can also point to shortcomings. The Bengals saw the 2020 No. 1 pick put up MVP-caliber numbers last season, returning from a major wrist injury, only to see the team go 9-8 and miss the playoffs. Taylor’s teams, this season’s 2-0 start notwithstanding, also started 0-2 in 2022, ’23 and ’24 with Burrow at the helm. Cincy has not fielded an above-average defense since 2022, with Al Golden not turning that unit around post-Lou Anarumo this year, and its offensive lines have not been confused with upper-crust units during Burrow’s career.
Burrow disillusionment comes as Josh Allen is set to lead the Bills to their seventh straight playoff field. Lamar Jackson may reach his seventh career postseason as well. Patrick Mahomes played in seven straight AFC championship games before the Chiefs’ disappointing 2025 season. Meanwhile, the Broncos and Patriots have rebuilt their operations behind younger quarterbacks. Those teams join the Chargers as status quo challengers to have emerged during the Bengals’ downturn.
How Burrow proceeds will be a defining 2026 offseason storyline, as numerous clubs would line up monster offers if he seriously pursued a Palmer-like path. We are still a ways away from that, it appears, but Burrow putting pressure on the Bengals does represent another stage in this relationship; the extension years have not gone well. A franchise not known to cave on player demands did appear to do so after Burrow pushed for Higgins to stay; will there be more specific Burrow passion projects in this coming offseason?
ICYMI: Bengals fans have bought a billboard that can be easily seen by commuters traveling southbound on I-75. The billboard made the local news and has a simple message … “Fire Zac. Fire Duke. Save Burrow.”
Joe Burrow needs what Justin Herbert needed
A run first approach and someone to fix the defense. It’s not impossible but it will take the right guy.
My choice. Jeff Stoutland if he’s interested. Brings a wealth of knowledge for an oline coach to fix Cindy’s oline and run game.
If I were going to pick one QB who doesn’t need a run-first approach, it would be Burrow.
Jets should give Cincy a call
Jets should give every first round pick they get for Burrow’s lifetime in exchange for him.
Wow… so will he be returning the money he didn’t earn when he was on the bench for 7 games? Dude might want to stop running his mouth and learn how to stay on the field.
Well, he works ofr a trash team that’s wasting his career and not protecting him, so what do you expect? He’s been pretty patient…
Joe wasn’t forced to sign his 2nd contract.
They were a playoff team then. They’re nowhere close to one now. They haven’t had enough talent on the defensive side for several seasons and are showing no signs of getting there anytime soon. That team’s a mess and he’s understandably frustrated.
I’m 52, when wasn’t that team a mess? Same for Jets, Browns, Cards & plenty other teams.
Joe has apparently gained possession of Aaron Rodgers playbook on how to be an egotistical prima donna and a-hole. Good luck trying to intimidate an owner when you haven’t even won a ring.
Cincinnati has the two worst owners in pro sports – Brown and Castellini.
He bout to pull a Carson Palmer on their asses
I can guarantee you nobody would have bailed Palmer out of the Cincinnati jail if the cost to them was going to be $275MM. I think he was earning $10MM per year compared to the $55MM Burrow is earning.
Not nearly that much salary commitment would be going to the acquiring team in a trade. Only the guaranteed salary would be going, not any of the signing bonus money. Also, a lot of NFL teams would be happy to pay Burrow exactly the contract he’s on.
The guaranteed money represents a good chunk but his becoming more injury prone with each passing season is probably what concerns most GMs. Will he become the next Andrew Luck?
The funny part of the article is the expression” Put pressure on Bengals” Which is the same as saying Brown. You can only put pressure on someone who is smart enough to understand what’s going on. Brown has no clue. Having the QB and WR’s without having an OL is like having a PB&J without Jelly. Poles saw that last year so he went out and got one. 11-4. It’s really not hard.
Brown is probably more of a PB & crackers guy…with the emphasis on crackers…lol.
Inflation, plus Burrow is 5x the QB of Palmer. He would undoubtedly have more suitors and cost the acquiring team more capital.
I wouldn’t worry about Joe being injury-prone given that his OL would automatically improve wherever he lands.
He applied pressure which got him paid, 2 wrs paid, and no defense.
Call me crazy. CJ doesn’t seem happy in Houston. Trade CJ to Raiders for 2026/2027 1 st round picks conditional on CJ signing a new contract. Texans trade 26 1st round pick and Raiders 26/27 #1 (total 3 #1s, prob 1st overall 26) to Bengals for Burrow. Everyone is happy and talent timelines match up.Raiders get CJ, Texans get Burrow, Bengals get Mendoza and 2 #1s.
Why would the Texans trade Stroud’s cap hit (11.5MM) for Burrow’s (48MM)? Houston currently only has 14.7MM in cap space for 2026.
Why would Las Vegas do this?
Las Vegas has a lot of needs, including QB. However, trading away two first round draft selections for a QB that is going to start going up in cost doesn’t help you build a roster. This is more of the type of deal a team makes if they’re just a QB away.
Everyone isn’t happy. Far from it.
I’m not high on Mendoza, but I’d sooner see the Raiders just draft Mendoza and keep that ’27 #1 that you’re trading away.
If the Raiders were going to trade two first round selections, they would probably have a good start to a strong enough package to acquire Burrow themselves. Burrow to Las Vegas for those pair of firsts probably would be a strong start to talks, if Cincy was going to move Joe.
Joe applied pressure last year for his WR’s to get paid. Where did that get them (besides another stint on the IR). I’d trade him for a bunch of picks.
Not that the Bengals have run their franchise to their best advantage, but the downside of this is that works less and less the more that you do it..
wonder how long it would take howie roseman to fix this mess ?
Ive heard – not sure its true – is the reason the Bengals are cheap is because they don’t actually have money to put in escrow to sign players compared to most other teams.
When you sign a contract you need to put contract guarantees in escrow.
Maybe they are just cheap, but that explanation makes sense too. Everytime they sign someone it may require financially moving around funds.
IDK.
The counter point to that is that if they legitimately can’t afford to field a team, they should sell it. I don’t remember the specifics, but I’m pretty sure there was a similar situation with Frank McCourt and the Dodgers.
Im in agreement – not sure it’s a counterpoint.
As contracts continue to grow, it’s only going to escalate.
I like Burrow and agree that Bengals are a trash franchise, but…you know…maybe stay healthy once or twice.
Mr. Ming Vase doesn’t like what he sees in Cincy.
Bonus Math Lesson: When you max out your contract, the team around you gets worse.
$125m of their cap goes to him and his 2 WR’s. Wonder why they can’t pay anyone else.
Poorly built rosters happens when franchises let the QB play GM. Aaron & Joe for example. I bet GM’s, in all pro sports, spend around a minimum of 12-15 years in different franchise positions prior to becoming a GM. This isn’t Madden (less for the Jets grandchildren).