It appears the Bengals have made good on recent rumblings as Jordan Schultz of FOX Sports reports that Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins exclusively informed him that they’ve agreed to contract extensions to stay with their team. 
Schultz reports that Chase will receive a four-year, $161MM extension with $112MM guaranteed, while Higgins’ deal is for four years and $115MM. The first two years of Higgins’ contract — an undisclosed amount, at the moment — will be guaranteed, as well. The early predictions of the two’s contracts combining to eclipse $70MM per year is not quite accurate, as they appear to combine to equal $69MM per year.
Chase’s deal surpasses that of Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. Higgins’ contract reportedly makes him the highest-paid WR2 in NFL history, surpassing Miami’s Jaylen Waddle. While Higgins would move up two spots from the 10th-highest paid receiver in the league to the eighth-highest, Chase’s catapult up to the top of the list moves him back down to the ninth-highest paid receiver in the NFL. Only the Dolphins (Tyreek Hill & Waddle) match them with two in the top 10, and the Commanders (Deebo Samuel & Terry McLaurin) and the Buccaneers (Chris Godwin & Mike Evans) join with two in the top 20.
We saw major progress as this week started with Chase and Cincinnati far apart on extension terms before producing “significant progress” two days ago. Chase had turned down a Bengals offer this year, but after the team was unable to extend him before the 2024 season, the market shifted quite a bit. After the Raiders eclipsed Justin Jefferson‘s previous non-QB AAV mark by paying Maxx Crosby $35.5MM per year, the Browns gave Myles Garrett a whopping $40MM per annum to back off his trade request. By getting these signings of Chase and Higgins done, the Bengals avoid the price driving up even more, as T.J. Watt, Micah Parsons, and Aidan Hutchinson could all adjust that number again this offseason.
Once the exact numbers and structure come through, we should become aware of just how much the Bengals’ cap situation has improved — and it should be a significant improvement. Cincinnati was sitting at just over $26MM in cap space before these two deals transpired. Higgins’ $26.2MM franchise tag cap hit should disappear, as should Chase’s $21.8MM fifth-year option cap hit; both will be replaced with new, much lower cap numbers that will rise in the later years of their new contracts.
By securing Chase and Higgins for another four years, Cincinnati has locked down a receiving duo that has combined for 658 catches for 9,112 yards and 74 touchdowns over the past four years. During the time the two have played together, they have combined to account for 44 percent of quarterback Joe Burrow‘s completions, 56 percent of Burrow’s yardage, and 58 percent of his touchdowns. With Burrow locked in through the 2029 season, as well, the potent Bengals offense doesn’t appear to be going anywhere.
And Cincinnati better hope that their prolific offense continues to produce. A big reason why the Bengals failed to make the postseason in 2024, despite Burrow leading the league in completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns and Chase winning the receiving Triple Crown, was a defense that ranked 26th is points per game and 25th in yards per game.
While Chase and Higgins are celebrating their new extensions, star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson continues to reside in limbo waiting for any developments on his extension or trade potential. Cincinnati reportedly wants at least a first-round pick for the 30-year-old pass rusher and perhaps more, though rival execs view that ask as “ridiculous.”
Hendrickson’s issues with his contract situation date back to a trade request a year ago, similar to Higgins. Higgins made the savvy move of dropping his representation and pairing up under Chase’s agency, making it clear that a Chase deal was not possible without a Higgins deal, as well. Hendrickson, on the other hand, seems to have been left in the cold here, as the extensions reported today will make it extremely difficult for Cincinnati to give a long-term pact to him, as well.
Regardless, Bengals fans can let out a long sigh of relief knowing that Chase, Higgins, and Burrow will be around to continue putting up record offensive numbers in the years to come. Whether dedicating $124MM per year to three offensive players will ultimately handicap a team desperately needing to improve on defense is to be determined. For now, though, Cincinnati can take pride in being sure it’s done what it can to make its stars happy.
$40.25 mil per for Chase and $28.75 mil per for Tee. Bengals spending some money!
Higgins is not worth that type of money. He benefits playing opposite of Chase and even then his numbers aren’t anything special.
He’s worth it, if it keeps Burrow in Cincinnati.
If Higgins had hit the open market, I’m convinced somebody would have given him $35M/yr.
You can say he’s not worth the $29M/yr the Bengals gave him, but the market is what it is.
I thinking winning is the only thing that will keep Burrow in Cincinnati.
And they aren’t going to win with a top 10 worse defense in the league.
Everyone who says this hasn’t watched the offense when Tee isn’t in there. I’d agree he’s probably not a top 10 receiver on his own but he’s definitely in the 10-15 range forsure
“He benefits playing opposite of Chase”
Good thing it looks like he’ll be playing alongside him for the foreseeable future!
More like Chase benefits when Higgins is there. If you watched the games, their offense wasn’t as good without Higgins.
Wr2 is a hard position to have depth at. Higgins is elite. We will now never know. lol
It’s like a puzzle piece. They tried to replace him with the knucklehead they drafted last year, but it wasn’t happening. They have different skill sets and are better together.
Exactly. Usually teams just hire has been veteran talent. Just hoping it comes together. It almost never does. Having a legit wr2 is how teams win championships.
Whoa, bet every over on bengals games this year. Ash d and hot o.
They were going to go heavy on D in the draft anyway.
Every pick needs to be defense but they have oline issues and no special RB either.
So many holes that the draft won’t be able to fill.
You have to build offense now and hope defense creates accidental stars. No need building 2 less than stellar sides. Ask drew. He knows.
Tobin is pretty good at finding talent. They need to focus all the energy on their defense though. I don’t know if Al Golden would have been my answer at DC, but I guess it’s who Taylor trusts.
A stout defense had been their ethos in the big red era. It would be nice to see them get back to balance with defense being their focus. Hard to do now with so much cap eaten on 3 gents.
Yowza. Good on them for being true to their word that they wanted to make this happen. Bengals could have saved a ton by getting this done earlier. Here’s hoping they and Burrow can stay healthy and the new defensive coordinator can actually develop young players.
About to see Mike brown jr panhandling down on vine street after this
Solid job by the bengals – may be slight overpays but ya gotta keep Burrow happy. With the cap spikes likely to continue these contracts shouldn’t be too bad.
Now they gotta focus on defense in the draft. Maybe a couple o lineman