Joe Mixon is coming off an interesting rookie campaign. Many expected him to have a huge role in the Bengals offense after being drafted in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft. It would also make sense that the team would want to show he was worth drafting that high after the Bengals took quite a PR hit to select him.
A year later Mixon has been a model citizen in Cincinnati, but his stats on the field were somewhat lacking. He played in 14 games, rushing for 626 yards and four touchdowns.