The fourth-year linebacker had agreed Friday to a four-year extension to keep him in Cincinnati through the 2027 season, and the deal became official Saturday morning when he signed the papers.
“It’s almost like, just like a sigh of relief that things are done, and you can just continue to go out and play football and what I’ve done throughout the last four years coming into this year,” Wilson said Sunday in a news conference before the team’s afternoon practice. “I think it’s gonna be another fun year for us.”
His agent, Wasserman’s Steve Caric, had been working to finalize everything and let Wilson know it was done, but Wilson was at work, finishing up Day 8 of training camp Friday, so the only people he had informed were his parents, via text message.
Hilton’s reaction was “awesome,” Wilson said. He was glad to see his teammates were happy for him, but being in training camp, there wasn’t much time to celebrate. The players were off Saturday, so he went to breakfast with his wife but then went about his normal routine of body work, Pilates and massage to help with recovery before practice resumed Sunday.
Wilson said he doesn’t know what big thing he wants to buy with his salary increase yet – his deal is worth up to $37.25 million – but maybe a new house will be in store. Getting that second contract is a sign he’s truly made it in the NFL, but while that thought came to mind, he still wanted to stay humble.
“It’s the contract you want to get toward and as you probably know from talking to me, I’m big on just living in the moment, being present and just kind of focusing on that, letting those outside things kind of take care of themselves if you just put in the work,” Wilson said. “I think it really hit me when I came home and my wife was in tears of joy. It was one of those things where it’s a sigh of relief in a sense that you’ve got that security and it’s done and now you can move forward and be in Cincinnati for the next five years.”
Bengals coach Zac Taylor and defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo both said Wilson was someone they really wanted in that 2020 draft after they got to know him at the Senior Bowl that year. Taylor said he was a “guy that the whole building had a ton of conviction on through the pre-draft process,” and everything the coaches had heard about him as a player and person proved to be accurate.
Wilson has become a leader on the defense, earning the “green dot” to relay communication from the coaching staff during games, and he’s been an asset as a three-down linebacker. Having both him and fellow linebacker Germaine Pratt for at least the next three years together was huge for Anarumo.
“Thrilled,” Anarumo said of Wilson’s extension. “Not only Logan but Germaine too, earlier this year. I feel like we have one of the best tandems at linebacker in the league and now to be able to keep Logan for an extended amount of time. … We’re super excited to have him back. It’s great for the team, great for the organization.”
Knowing the Bengals valued him as a long-term piece to the puzzle, while also having other key players negotiating new deals, meant a lot to Wilson. He was well-aware of the organization’s situation trying to pay guys like Joe Burrow and Tee Higgins, and Wilson believes his contract still allows them to get things done with other players.
Wilson’s draft class, which included Burrow and Higgins, was a big part of the team’s turnaround in 2021 and the hope is to keep as much of that group together as the building blocks for the future as well.
“It means a lot to me to be a small part of this organization from kind of where we were, you know, in COVID year (2020), winning like four football games to where we’re at now and to be a small part of that is very rewarding for me,” Wilson said. “It’s humbling. You know, it’s kind of the reason you do things to kind of turn a program around like we have, and it’s just very fun to play for Coach Taylor and the stuff that he’s instilled in us as players, and the way that he’s led this organization. You know, I think we’ve ignited the city of Cincinnati and we’ve just got to keep that fire moving forward.”
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