No longer appearing likely to extend Ja’Marr Chase and split with Tee Higgins, the Bengals have seen their updated plan — one featuring a hopeful long-term Higgins future in Cincinnati — produce notable progress.
After a report earlier this week indicated Higgins and the Bengals were still far apart, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports the team has made “significant progress” on extensions for both Chase and Higgins. As Trey Hendrickson resides in limbo because of the team’s renewed Higgins interest, Cincy could have deals done with its longtime WR pair soon.
Nothing is developing on the Hendrickson trade front, per KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson, who adds no contract adjustment appears imminent, either. This may be the cost of doing business for the Bengals, who have set a clear hierarchy that places Higgins above Hendrickson in the contract queue.
Meanwhile, however, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini adds the Chase and Higgins contracts should combine to reach or surpass $70M per year. This seemed like a scenario the Bengals wanted to avoid as recently as January, when Duke Tobin said a Higgins extension would have to come at the “right number.” But Cincy re-tagged Higgins, as Joe Burrow ramped up pressure on the organization to keep the duo together. The Bengals will need to pay their duo more than the Dolphins and Eagles did their high-end tandems.
It is worth wondering if this would be the best way for the Bengals to invest, especially considering just about everything had pointed to the team moving on from Higgins in 2025. The team has a history with a quarterback growing frustrated with its lack of aggressiveness, however, as a Carson Palmer–Mike Brown dustup ended with the former franchise QB traded in 2011. Tobin was with the Bengals at that point. The team now appears close to keeping Burrow’s troops together, likely at the cost of keeping Hendrickson.
Chase turned down a Bengals offer this year, but after the team was unable to extend him before the 2024 season, the market has shifted. Tobin said he expected Chase to be the NFL’s highest-paid non-quarterback, after his triple-crown season upped his value. But another position’s market has affected this aim. After the Raiders eclipsed Justin Jefferson‘s previous non-QB AAV mark by paying Maxx Crosby $35.5M per year, the Browns gave Myles Garrett a whopping $40M per annum to back off his trade request. The Bengals are in the crosshairs here, as T.J. Watt, Micah Parsons and Aidan Hutchinson could change that number again this offseason. Acting early would be in Cincy’s best interests now, though that has not exactly been a strength as of late for the team.
Garrett getting to where he did has already changed things for the Bengals, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the leaguewide expectation is a deal that checks in between $40.1M and $41M per year. Chase would not have commanded this in 2024, but the Brown had said by training camp the Bengals were unlikely to pay their WR1 before last season. Although Chase’s hold-in applied pressure that did lead to negotiations, nothing commenced. Now recommitted to extending Higgins, the Bengals are set to authorize a monster Chase extension that will change their roster blueprint.
