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 with the 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. 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. Only the Dolphins (Tyreek Hill & Jaylen Waddle) have two in the top 10, and the Commanders (Deebo Samuel & Terry McLaurin) and the Buccaneers (Chris Godwin & Mike Evans) have 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 significant. 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 by new, much lower cap numbers that will rise in the later years of their new contracts.
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