Brown, who sits down with local media every year at this time, was willing to talk about player contracts, Joe Burrow’s injuries, the job Zac Taylor has done since arriving in 2019 and just about anything except how stadium lease negotiations are going and what improvements might be needed at Paycor Stadium.
“I am not going to talk about lease negotiations,” Brown said. “This is a happy moment for me. I want to keep it that way.”
Perhaps that is telling of how negotiations are going. The team’s stadium lease is set to expire in 2026. Here are five notable things Brown did discuss.
1. Chase’s contract a top priority
Two years ago, Brown said he saw “the train coming” with big contracts needing to be negotiated with top draft picks like Joe Burrow, Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase. The Bengals got Burrow’s five-year, $275 million extension done last year just before the start of the season, making him the highest-paid player in the league.
Negotiations never got anywhere with Higgins, so the Bengals used the franchise tag to keep him in 2024, but the hope is something can get done with Chase, whose fifth-year option for 2025 was exercised in April. It won’t be cheap, though. Justin Jefferson’s four-year, $140 million deal reset the market, and Chase will want a similar contract.
“We’re going to try hard,” Brown said of Chase’s contract. “If you were listing our guys, one-two, you just did it (with Burrow and Chase), and he knows that, we know it, but it has to get done. We have both this year and next year where we have rights to Ja’Marr, so maybe it’ll take longer than we wish. I wish it were done, but I understand why it isn’t, and it’s part of the NFL of today.”
Asked if the timing matters, Brown said “the earlier the better.”
“There are all kinds of issues that play into this,” Brown said. “It’s not easy to resolve, but our intention is to keep Ja’Marr Chase.”
2. The ‘pie’ wasn’t big enough for a long-term deal with Higgins
The Bengals are glad to have Higgins back in 2024 — and coach Zac Taylor was appreciative he signed the franchise tag already so he could factor into the start of training camp — but a long-term contract just wasn’t in the cards.
Brown said Burrow’s contract impacted the ability to get something done with Higgins, and that makes sense given the acknowledgment that Chase was the next priority after Burrow.
“We are saddled with the cap,” Brown said. “... The pie is not going to grow. It’s only going to be a certain size, but when you reach a point with your quarterback that you have to pay him a big contract, that takes a disproportionate piece out of the pie, which means you have less left to pay the others. Sometimes that impacts whether you can get the others signed. You can’t just pay people willy nilly. You’re restricted on how much you can pay, and we really like Tee Higgins. We would wish to sign him, but it has to be at a certain level to fit within the cap or it can’t be done.”
On another contract note, Brown said he hopes something can get done with kicker Evan McPherson, whose extension could come any day now, because he’s “a clutch player” who has played well “when it matters.”
3. Burrow ‘has to stay healthy’
The Bengals don’t regret paying Burrow, but Brown said they need him to stay healthy in order to achieve their goals.
Cincinnati guaranteed $219 million of Burrow’s extension, though he already had been through one major surgery on his knee in 2020 and was still overcoming a calf strain suffered in camp last summer. That calf injury impacted the team’s start in 2023, and then just when he was getting things going on a good track, he tore a ligament in his wrist.
Asked if the injuries are a concern given how much the Bengals are paying Burrow, Brown said the quarterback is doing “everything he knows how to do to be ready and able to play,” and that’s all the team can ask.
“There have been a couple injuries, some of them, the calf injury, hard to expect,” Brown said. “…I had sympathy for him, but we have to protect him as well as we can. We’re trying, as best we know how to accumulate people who can do that. It’s been some time, some years, trying to get this right. We’re still working at it, but we think we’re getting closer with it. He’s the heart of the team. He’s got to stay healthy for us to get there. I think that’s a given. We can try hard if he goes down, and we did last year and we had a winning season. … So, I expect Joe will be out there, and until something happens differently, that’s how I think it’s going to go.”
4. Mixon’s departure was tough
Brown had a good relationship with running back Joe Mixon, who the Bengals traded to Houston during the offseason, so it’s no surprise that move was difficult for the 88-year-old owner. However, it was time for a change.
“I like Joe Mixon,” Brown said. “I liked him here as a player, I liked him as a person. He had a buoyant, upbeat spirit to him, and it showed in practices. He liked to run the ball way down the field, and if anybody wanted to race with him, he’d take them on and see if he could beat them. He just was a positive player in practices, and he played well for us in games. There were things that came along and happened that are difficult to deal with. I honestly think for Joe, he’s gone to a good team. He’ll do well down there. I think that’s what should have happened.”
Mixon was a second-round draft pick in 2017 after dropping down boards due to an incident caught on video of him striking a woman in 2016. He was involved in two incidents in 2023, the first being a case where he was ruled not guilty of an aggravated menacing charge that occurred the weekend of a playoff game at Buffalo. The second was a shooting incident at his home that resulted in a civil lawsuit and charges against his sister and her boyfriend.
Though neither incident impacted his performance on the field, Cincinnati was looking to move on for the evolution of the offense.
5. ‘Future is bright’ with Taylor
As Taylor enters his sixth season with the Bengals, coming off three straight winning seasons, Brown was complimentary of the coach’s time in Cincinnati so far. The Bengals signed him to an extension through 2026 after the Super Bowl appearance to end the 2021 season, and this will be his first season with a new coordinator after Dan Pitcher was promoted to replace departed, new Titans coach Brian Callahan.
Brown believes Taylor has built a formula for success, and he has high expectations again in 2024.
“He’s a very bright guy, and he’s a good person,” Brown said. “The players respect him for what he can do, the knowledge he brings, and they like him. The reason they like him is he treats them as he would want to be treated. That’s how he goes about it. It’s been a successful formula. I’m pleased with how we have come along under Zac. I think the future with him and Joe is bright.”
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