Joe Mixon has been out of Bengals practice for the last few days with migraines, as Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets. Meanwhile, Mixon is in talks with the Bengals, who are probably hoping that Mixon isn’t looking to cause headaches for the front office. 
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The Bengals have been adamant about wanting to extend Mixon, but talks have been slow to progress. For now, Mixon is set to play out the final year of his rookie deal with a salary of just $1.2MM. The 24-year-old is clearly in line for a pay bump, however, and Bengals player personnel director Duke Tobin recently pointed out the team’s history of extending players during training camp.
As camp draws to a close, Mixon is said to be seeking Top 8 RB money. That would mean an average annual value of at least $8MM – a substantial, but not unreasonable, raise.
The Bengals currently have upwards of $20MM in available cap room. If they’re not aiming for another major addition, it might behoove them to frontload Mixon’s deal and ease the burden in 2021, when the cap is expected to shrink.
Mixon managed a respectable 4.1 yards per carry average last year, despite the Bengals’ sagging offense. This year, he’ll look to reprise his 2018 performance which included a 4.9 ypc mark.
