Mike Brown let Katie Blackburn negotiate Andy Dalton deal

The Cincinnati Bengals have announced a contract extension for quarterback Andy Dalton. While owner Mike Brown has made it clear he wanted to sign Dalton to a manageable deal, he left his daughter and Executive Vice President of the team, Katie Blackburn, to handle the negotiations.

He also said that Katie and Dalton's agent had been in contact for months negotiating the deal, and she's the one responsible for getting this deal done.

"I think Andy's agent, Jeff Nally, did a great job representing him," Blackburn said. "We went back and forth an awful lot. I think our goal was to make sure we could get focused on football once the the season came around. I appreciate all the hard work he's done and I'm thrilled to have Andy be here for a long time."

This is a huge indicator as to how much control Brown has given to both Katie and head coach Marvin Lewis. This also means that the success or failure of this agreement between Dalton and the Bengals will fall heavily on Katie's shoulders.

At least from what Brown has let on, this is by far the biggest deal Katie has ever negotiated, and one that will drastically affect the future of the franchise, for better or for worse.

Dalton does the deal pic.twitter.com/QEme01wScj

— Geoff Hobson (@GeoffHobsonCin) August 4, 2014