CINCINNATI (AP) — The Bengals have signed linebacker Vontaze Burfict to a three-year contract extension that will keep him with the team through the 2020 season.
The move Thursday comes despite Burfict being suspended by the NFL for the first three games this season for his egregious hit on Kansas City Chiefs fullback Anthony Sherman in a preseason game.
Burfict has been a key playmaker on Marvin Lewis’ defense with 582 tackles, seven sacks, five interceptions, three forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries in his first five seasons. But he has also been one of the league’s most-frequently fined — eight times — players and been suspended twice for questionable hits during his career.
Lewis says in a statement that Burfict, signed in 2012 as a rookie free agent out of Arizona State, “is still one of the young, emerging talents within the league.”