The Cincinnati Bengals had a franchise quarterback in the 2000s before Joe Burrow—remember Carson Palmer? Bengals owner Mike Brown had better, suggests Mike Florio, or he will regret a lesson not learned.

The Bengals are facing a critical offseason with many important contract decisions to make after a down year. While they mounted a late turnaround, winning their last five games, they merely finished a game above .500. With a healthy Joe Burrow all season, they missed the playoffs—as they usually did with Carson Palmer.

So much of that had to do with the teams the Bengals surrounded Palmer with, though, and that eventually prompted him to ask for his ticket out of town. Florio warns that if the Bengals don’t prove to Burrow that they are willing to spend on their roster, he might eventually take the same path.

“Are the Bengals willing to placate Burrow by writing big checks to multiple teammates? Or will they drag their feet and pinch their pennies?” he wrote for Pro Football Talk. “If the Bengals choose the latter route, the clock could start ticking toward Burrow reaching the same conclusion that Carson Palmer once did.”

He quoted Palmer explaining his reasoning back in 2019, saying that “if the most important thing is the financials and the second-most important thing is winning, then you don’t have a chance. And it’s so important that ownership is willing to do what it takes to win.”

Considering how vocal Joe Burrow has been about wanting the Bengals to pay his teammates, one might imagine that he is of similar mind to Palmer. Cincinnati tanked in 2010, and he was off to Oakland, then Arizona. He eventually found success with Bruce Arians as his head coach with the Cardinals, reaching the conference finals.

I will remind that the Bengals went two decades without a playoff win. It wasn’t until 2021 that they broke that streak, Joe Burrow nearly leading them to a Super Bowl win. They made it back to the conference finals the following year but haven’t made the playoffs since.

Now it’s time to pay the piper, but is Mike Brown willing to do it? Burrow knows WR Ja’Marr Chase has the Bengals over a barrel. But will they also pay Tee Higgins and Trey Hendrickson and Mike Gesicki? The salary cap is a real thing, but there are always moves you can make.

And the Bengals are a team purportedly in a Super Bowl window. They are supposed to believe that they can win now. That is the whole point of having a quarterback like Joe Burrow. If you’re not willing to max out your spending now for a Lombardi Trophy, you don’t deserve one. And eventually, you’ll find yourself without those who prioritize winning — like Burrow. So if I were Mike Brown, I would be putting my money where my mouth is later this year and writing some fat checks.