Joe Burrow’s rookie contract with Bengals has been set

The details of the eventual value for Joe Burrow’s contract with the Bengals has been set. While the deal hasn’t officially been signed yet, there isn’t much outside of additional language in the contract for both sides to sort out.

The rookie wage scale set in place didn’t leave too much doubt over the contract. There were many projecting pretty accurate marks prior to the draft over the contract. This also takes out any possible dramatics over a rookie holdout that use to plague Cincinnati as a franchise.

Spotrac also noted that this deal should carry a $6.5 million cap figure for the 2020 season, which just illustrates how much easier it is to build a team with a quarterback on a rookie contract. For comparison Andy Dalton has a $17 million cap figure and he is one of the cheaper veteran contracts. That fifth-year option on the contract is also especially nice. It will still likely end up being a significant number, but given that the quarterback market keeps getting reset higher and higher (Jared Goff and Russel Wilson currently carry cap hits of over $30 million), Burrow’s fifth-year option will still be a huge bargain in the grand scheme of things.

The Bengals usually aren’t in any rush to have their rookies sign their contracts, but then again things are very weird right now. No one really knows when or if the 2020 season will start. That could cause the Bengals to change how they do things this offseason.

Burrow and the Bengals will eventually make this official, so no one should worry about any delays. This is more just to take a look out how his contract will impact Cincinnati early in his career. Also as long as Burrow plays to the level everyone expects, we shouldn’t be surprised to eventually see the Bengals back up the Brinks trucks for him one day down the road.