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Joe Mixon signs rookie deal with Cincinnati Bengals

Joe Mixon is under contract.

The Cincinnati Bengals announced Friday that they have signed the No. 48 overall selection. Based on his draft slot, Mixon's deal will be worth nearly $5.5 million over four years, per NFL Network's Mike Garafolo.

The Bengals drafted the talented but controversial running back in the second round despite questions about his character after he punched a woman in 2014 while at the University of Oklahoma.

Oklahoma suspended Mixon for a season after he punched and knocked out Amelia Molitor, a fellow Oklahoma student, after a brief confrontation at a Norman, Oklahoma, restaurant. Molitor suffered fractured bones in her face, per the Associated Press. Video of the incident wasn't made public until after a judge ordered the release of security videos in December 2016. Mixon completed one year of probation, 100 hours of community service and behavioral counseling as part of a plea agreement to a misdemeanor assault charge, according to court records.

The Bengals are giving the 20-year-old a chance to move past the incident.

At 6-foot-1, 226 pounds, Mixon is a dual-threat tailback with burst at the line of scrimmage and elusiveness at the second level and is a weapon in the passing game. The versatile player will have a chance to wrangle the starting gig as a rookie.

"From what I saw in college and one of the big reasons we brought him in is because he can do both [run and catch]," quarterback Andy Dalton said of Mixon earlier this month, via the team's official website. "One of the things that helps with a guy that is versatile is you're not tipping anything -- you could be running the ball and you could be throwing it."

Expect Mixon to get a sizeable workload as a rookie, cutting into the touches of both Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard in what should be a much-improved Bengals offense in 2017.

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