Why the Bengals may choose not to extend DJ Turner, Dax Hill, or Chase Brown right now

With the 2026 NFL season almost here, the Cincinnati Bengals have yet to hammer out new deals for three of their top impending free agents.

A recent report from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler suggests that the team is unlikely to get a contract extension done for fourth-year cornerback DJ Turner before Week 1. Because the team typically doesn’t get big extensions done in-season, this would likely mean Turner plays out the final year of his rookie contract.

He’s not the only cornerback up for a new deal. Former first-round pick Dax Hill is set to play this season under the fifth-year option, and there hasn’t been anything to suggest that the team is close to signing him to an extension either.

Finally, there’s Chase Brown, one of the NFL’s best running backs who’s still on a rookie contract. Back in January, there was a report from ESPN’s Ben Baby that Brown and the Bengals were working on a new deal, but since then, it’s been mostly crickets.

With Week 1 vs. Tampa Bay kicking off soon, it appears there’s a very real chance that none of these three key players will get a new deal.

While that will certainly cause some controversy, at least in the public eye, there are actually reasonable explanations as to why no new deals may occur.

DJ Turner and the franchise tag

Between the three, Turner is the only one who looks worthy of the franchise tag, as he performed like a top-tier cornerback last year.

However, that was the first full season Turner has put together since being a second-round pick out of Michigan in the 2023 NFL Draft. He had some nice flashes in Year 1, then appeared to be making the jump midway through his second season before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury.

While 2025 was a great year for Turner, it’s the only complete year he’s had to this point, so you can’t exactly blame the Bengals for wanting to see him do it for at least one more season before potentially paying him like one of the league’s best cornerbacks.

Then comes the franchise tag. So long as Turner continues to play at a high level, the Bengals have the franchise tag in their back pocket when next offseason kicks off. This approach would be similar to what the Bengals did with Jessie Bates and Tee Higgins in recent years.

Bates was tagged and allowed to walk, while Higgins was actually tagged twice before getting a long-term extension. So technically, the Bengals are 1-for-2 when it comes to big-name players getting the tag recently.

Unless something disastrous happens or someone makes a crazy trade offer for the talented defender, there’s a good chance Turner is still playing for the Bengals when the 2027 season kicks off.

Dax Hill and an incomplete resume

While Turner has consistently shown promise since being drafted, the same cannot be said of Hill. After a disastrous two-year stint at safety to begin his career, Hill spent the next two seasons bouncing between slot and boundary cornerback, the latter being where he’s currently settled. It was a rocky road for Hill to endure, with many calling him a bust until he turned the corner last season.

Problem is, Hill still doesn’t have a full season of good tape on the boundary, which makes it hard for the Bengals to give him any type of extension, especially one that pays him more than the $12.6 million he’s collecting this year on the fifth-year option. Anything he signs would likely need to average at least that over the life of the deal, and frankly, Hill likely hasn’t done enough in the Bengals’ eyes to warrant that type of deal.

They weren’t even willing to pay Myles Murphy the fifth-year option of his rookie deal this year, which would have been $14.4 million, and Murphy has a better resume than that of Hill.

Then there’s the injury concern. Hill missed all but five games in the 2024 season with a torn ACL. He rebounded with a solid 2025 season, only to miss most of training camp and the preseason this year with a hamstring injury.

While it would be nice to extend Hill, it’s easy to see why the best scenario is probably for him to just play out this year and hope the two sides can hammer something out next offseason.

Chase Brown and a devalued position

Of the Bengals’ big three when it comes to impending free agents, one could argue Brown has the best overall resume. The 2023 fifth-round pick out of Illinois has amassed 2,806 scrimmage yards and 22 total touchdowns over the last two seasons and could be primed for his best year yet behind what should be the Bengals’ best o-line he’s run behind.

Unfortunately for Brown, he plays a position that’s been widely devalued across the league. Smaller two- and three-year deals have become the norm, even for top-end running backs. And while Brown is good, he’s not in the elite tier of running backs like Saquon Barkley, Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Derrick Henry.

One other worry I could see for the Bengals: Brown already has a lot of wear on his tires and is at the age where many running backs’ production begins to decline. He amassed 734 plays from scrimmage over his five-year college career, including 328 rushes in his final season at Illinois. He’s now 26 years old (turns 27 next March) and already has 642 plays from scrimmage in the NFL.

Earlier this year, Apex Fantasy Leagues released a study showing a sharp decline in running backs’ peak seasons after they turned 27.

If Brown were to sign just a two-year extension, he would turn 28 before the 2028 season even kicks off. So even a short-term deal has a very real chance of not paying off for a Bengals team that’s going to be tight on money with so many big-name players on the roster.

While it would certainly be a setback for the Bengals to not get any new deals done for their big three impending free agents, it’s easy to see why they may very well do it. And after an offseason that saw them shell out big money to upgrade the defense, this is more than just a ‘they’re being cheap’ situation. They’ve proven they’re willing to spend big.

This may simply be a scenario where they feel spending right now isn’t the best approach.

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