3 Months After $9,000,000 Paycut for Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow Hints at Tom Brady Like Future in Cincinnati

Joe Burrow has been too close to the Vince Lombardi trophy in the past two seasons to not desperately want it at this point. The Cincinnati Bengals have been in the thick of title discussions ever since LSU sent their Heisman winner over. A Super Bowl appearance and an AFC Conference championship appearance later, Burrow’s mind is now fixed on getting that first ring. And he is willing to do whatever is necessary for his team to achieve that. This makes his mindset eerily similar to a certain Tom Brady.

This off-season saw a massive escalation in the quarterback market as Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts became the highest-paid NFL players. Now it’s time for Burrow’s extension. However, instead of Jackson and Hurts, Joe Burrow is emulating the TB12 model when it comes to financial negotiations and contract extensions.

Joe Burrow is willing to do what it takes to keep the team together

It’s been a well-known fact that Tom Brady has never prioritized earnings over Super Bowls. This has been a massive push in his journey to win seven Lombardis. He has openly claimed about taking cuts so that the rest of the team can build. This included restructuring his $25 million contract in 2022 to a 1-year $15 million deal to help the Tampa Bay Buccaneers acquire more pieces around him.

Joe Burrow, who has time and again drawn Brady comparisons in terms of his pocket presence, also shared the same ideology about quarterback contracts. “Whenever you have guys on the team that need to be paid, that’s always on your mind. You want that to be a focal point. So we’re working to make that happen,” Burrow said in a recent press conference.

This will certainly impress Brady and his former teammate Rob Gronkowski, who is also a believer in the team-first school of thought. “What’s the difference between 47-48 million or 53-54 million? When the next highest guy on the team is only getting paid in the twenties? If you want a team around you, take a million dollars less, which is, I don’t know, nothing in the grand scheme for quarterbacks,” Gronk recently said about Burrow’s extension.

ALSO READ: $9,000,000 Pay Cut by Patrick Mahomes Shows He’s Walking in Shadow of Tom Brady

This isn’t something only Brady has done. This off-season KC Chiefs 2x Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes also took a massive pay cut when the Chiefs restructured his contract to free up nearly $9.6 million in cap room. However, Joe Burrow’s negotiations are going a little differently from how they went for the rest.

Burrow doesn’t want any media interference

On being asked about the development of the negotiations, Joe Cool made it clear that he doesn’t want to discuss his extension talks before it’s completed. “I’m involved. It’s in the works. That’s not really something I like to play out in the media. They wanna do business. I wanna do business. And we want to keep that between us,” he said.

Will Joe Burrow sacrifice a top-echelon earner tag to keep his Bengals unit together? And will this take Cincinnati to the promised land?

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