Bengals' ownership, represented by executive vice president Katie Blackburn and vice president Elizabeth Blackburn, hit a variety of issues Monday raised by a group of beat reporters that ranged from re-structuring Joe Burrow’s contract to the Bengals possibly landing an NFL Draft in the near future.

Joey Digits

Last week the club opted to re-structure Burrow's $275 million contract to ease a tight salary cap generated by a $300 million offseason. It was a concept, the Blackburns said, had been built into the deal and had been discussed before with Burrow's agent. The club got the best of both worlds when they added to the cap ($10 million according to published reports) without a major hit tying up future years.

"We had a few conversations during the offseason about it, saying we'll keep it in mind and know that it's something that we have to work with. Then it was pretty easy when we got to the point that we did it," Katie Blackburn said. "It's a little bit of moving something from here to there when you do it. We've always been pretty careful of trying not to make things unbalanced. So we're thoughtful about not trying to create something that is problematic in the future, so we're balanced about doing it. If we can do it and it can help us, then we're certainly open to doing it and this time, we did."

"Easy," is how they described dealing with Burrow during the offseason, which isn't always how outsiders have speculated.

"Internally, there's a good comfort and confidence with the communication with Joe, and externally that can be spun a little differently," Elizabeth Blackburn said.

Katie Blackburn said they spoke with their franchise quarterback during the offseason, but they always do.

"There were conversations with him, and he's always pretty easy to talk to," Katie Blackburn said. "Good conversations that are, I think, productive. Certainly not edgy in any way, and just I would sort of generally say positive."

They say the presence of Burrow and his contract running through 2029 didn't make them suddenly find urgency. They've had it since he got here.

"We do feel like we have a strong base to work around. So, does that make you take advantage of the other piece? Maybe that factors in a little bit," Katie Blackburn said. "Because you feel like you're close. It's not like we feel we only have limited time. You take a fresh look, and you try to take advantage of as many opportunities every year that you think you are able to make you be the best you can be that year."

Elizabeth cited one of Burrow's own quotes.

"The window is his whole career, and I think that's what makes Joe and us a great fit," Elizabeth said. "We take a similar approach, and try to be competitive now and in the future."

Feeling A Draft

For the first time Monday, the team publicly expressed its desire to host the NFL Draft. Published reports had the Bengals in the running for 2028 until the league awarded Minneapolis the event. Yet the Blackburns are just as enthusiastic about 2029, 2030 …

"Any year they want to bring it to Cincinnati," said Katie, who says she'll be on a call with the league in the coming weeks to continue the bid. "We make sure we have a location they think would work. Then it is other things like hotels and accessibility is what I'm guessing we will talk about. But we are excited. We are going to do our best to let them know we have interest and go from there."

Elizabeth Blackburn, who was the club's director of strategy and engagement before recently getting the title of "vice president," sounds a familiar selling point. It sounds similar to the argument her grandfather used 60 years ago to help put the Bengals in Cincinnati, a city so close to other NFL teams like the Browns, Steelers, Colts, Titans, Lions and more.

She says it will take some education, which is what Mike Brown did for the Cincy city fathers. Now it's for the NFL.

"They don't know the Cincinnati market like we do. We love all the great attributes. We are trying to help get them a little bit up to speed on the vision for a good location," Elizabeth Blackburn said. "We think the draft would be such a great benefit and continue the story, really, (how) this stadium started with enhancing the riverfront and investing in the downtown. The league folks, we are getting them up to speed on Cincinnati.

"Some of the hotel projects that are out there have a little bit of a longer lead time, but Cincinnati is such a great football market, and it is so central to so many fan bases, we internally feel really good about the vision for the NFL Draft here if you think about all the football history in Ohio."

Long Haul Lease

While other teams are abandoning buildings the same age or younger than 26-year-old Paycor Stadium for billion-dollar projects (and fleeing downtown sites in the process), the Bengals agreed to extend their Paycor lease with Hamilton County last year in a commitment to the site on The Banks that spawned re-energized riverfront development.

"Our goal is to continue to get as much use out of this building as we can for the sake of the county and the investment that's been made here," Katie Blackburn said. "We think it's beautiful, practical. I do have some concerns that too many stadiums are going indoors. I like the outdoor aspect, but obviously, as you look at revenue and that, people seem to lean towards the indoor. We like this stadium. We're going to do our best to get as much out of it as we can, and we'll see how long we can make that happen."

The fans can plan to see the fruits of construction over the next two seasons, such as renovated clubs and suits, all restrooms updated, newer and more concession stands, as well as new signs.

"Some of the stuff is flashier, and some of it's just important to keep refreshed," Katie Blackburn said. "We're looking at some things that for next year might be more noticeable. Scoreboard, (escalators), things that I think will just help make the experience better.

"It's been a lot of fun since we got the lease signed … it's nice to have positive things to talk about on the stadium, rather than the stress of getting a lease extended."

Triple Play

The first offseason after the Bengals promoted three longtime scouts to assistant general manager received rave reviews league-wide and showed why the Bengals have so much confidence in (alphabetical order) in Trey Brown, Mike Potts and Steven Radicevic.

"All three of those guys have really good executive leadership and play significant roles for us. The title just aligns to the value they have for our personnel department," Elizabeth Blackburn said. "They are people who have good experience. They work well with the way we like to work here. I think they have done a lot. They have some pretty good experience. They have been with us for a little while. They just merited us recognizing what they were capable of doing and were doing for the team."

Running It Back

Katie Blackburn said the decision to stick with head coach Zac Taylor and director of player personnel Duke Tobin after three straight seasons without a playoff berth is based on the confidence in their past success and the advantage of continuity as Taylor heads into his eighth season in an AFC North where the other coaches are in the first seasons with their teams.

"We view ourselves as an experienced football team. We've had success. We understand the situation that we're in. But you can make change in different places, in different ways," Elizabeth Blackburn added. "And there's risk you take with every change. And we are trying to take very measured steps to maximize our chances with known commodities.

"We think we've made changes in certain processes, on the roster, behind the scenes, certain things that can lead to different outcomes. That's hard sometimes to totally see. But certain change comes with big risk."

Ring of Honor

When Elizabeth Blackburn joined the club six years ago, one of her first initiatives turned into one of the club's greatest achievements.

Earlier this month, the Bengals announced the first major changes to the Ring of Honor when they expanded the ballot for the first time. Along with the seven remaining original nominees, five players from head coach Marvin Lewis' early 2010s team that went to the playoffs five straight times were added: defensive tackle Geno Atkins, defensive end Carlos Dunlap, wide receiver A.J. Green, cornerback Leon Hall and left tackle Andrew Whitworth.

In balloting by season ticket-holders that ended last week, at least one of the two inductees must be an original nominee in the last year of multiple inductions. Starting in 2027, one player is to be voted in.

On Monday, Elizabeth Blackburn took questions on why the original seven weren't inducted before moving to the next phase.

"We think of the Ring of Honor as a sacred tradition to the team, and every year when we look at it and think about it, we do so very thoughtfully. Because I know it's a delicate and really important tradition to the fans, to the alumni," Elizabeth said. "It went all the way back to the very beginning, which was, why didn't you just induct everybody at once? And we debated it and thought a long time about the right way to put a process into place that, in my mind, paid players their due. We landed on wanting to keep the number of inductees in any given year small so that they have their moment in the sun and we still feel really good about the ballot in and of itself. That is meant to be a prestigious recognition."

Dax and DJ

Two years ago, the Bengals successfully solved the jigsaw puzzle of extending the contracts of two elite wide receivers in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. With their big numbers still here, and the Bengals faced with two excellent cornerbacks in contract years at another lucrative position, they are going to try and do with the same with Dax Hill and DJ Turner II. They know it won't be easy.

"It's something that we'll have to work through. Love those guys. Love DJ, love Dax," Katie Blackburn said. "We obviously have our work cut out for us as to how to try to figure out how to retain them while we have the other commitments that we have.

"Obviously we love those guys, and we'll explore what we can to see where we end up."