by Brendan Tuma | Bengals Correspondent | Wed, Apr 15th 9:29am EDT

Paul Dehner of The Athletic writes that Joe Mixon is "prepared for a holdout" if a long-term contract isn't reached between him and the Bengals. (The Athletic)

Fantasy Impact:

Mixon is set to earn just $1.2 million in the final year of his rookie contract this season. Still just 23 years old, Mixon obviously knows that running backs have a small window to cash in these days. A holdout could be risky, however, as evidenced by what happened with Melvin Gordon over the past calendar year. Cincinnati is expected to turn a corner offensively once they select Joe Burrow in next week's draft. Obviously, they would like to have Mixon on the field as their rebuild reaches the next stage.