CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bengals and center Ted Karras have agreed on a one-year contract extension, the team announced on Friday.
Karras will stay a Bengal through the 2026 season under the new contract. The same thing happened last year, when the Bengals and Karras agreed on a one-year extension for the current season.
"I want to play for as long as they'll have me and then I'll play one more," said Karras of that contract last year. "That's kind of been my thought process in this league."
Karras joined the Bengals in 2022 as an unrestricted free agent. Since then, he's started in all 53 games he's played in for the Bengals and has lined up for 99.5% of the team's offensive snaps, the team said.
The center player has also won the hearts of Cincinnatians through his philanthropic work; his organization Cincy Hat has raised funding to help hundreds of adults with developmental disabilities gain more independence through Indiana nonprofit Village of Merici.
His popularity was clear last year, when Bengals fans showed up to a Cincy Hat event in droves. "St. Tatty's Day" was a hit among Bengals fans, as hundreds of people went under the tattoo needle to get the brand's logo tattooed on their bodies.
Karras has also worked with the Ken Anderson Alliance on plans to build independent living facilities for adults with disabilities in the Cincinnati area. The plan is to transform a 13-acre property in Harrison into 100 units so that adults in need can have their own homes.
"I've been propelled into this role of kind of a champion for adults with disabilities right now, and there's such a (large) need of housing," Karras said in August of 2024. "And The Cincy Hat partnered with the Village of Merici can do a lot, but it can't do the needs that we need so ... we thought the best way would be to partner with the city and get a big project going."
Later that year, in October, Karras headed up an effort to help clean and restore graffiti-riddled halls at the historic Eckstein School in Glendale after the Bengals player saw our coverage of the vandalism.
“I saw Bill talking on the news about Week 2, after Monday Night Football, and what an important mission this is, and an awesome history right here in Glendale,” Karras said. “(I) really just wanted to throw my hat in and help any way I could.”
And that’s exactly what he did, bringing together his construction company Paradigm and fellow Bengals teammates like Orlando Brown Jr., Alex Cappa and Cordell Volson. Several local organizations and community members were also there to help.
“The main goal was to get people out here and understand what the mission of the Eckstein School is, and what the project is going to be. I wanna get as many eyes on it as possible,” Karras said.
