The Bengals kept the receipts. (For tax return purposes).
The Cincinnati Bengals took to Twitter tonight to post a montage of tweets and sports pundits talking about how cheap they are and would never be able to afford their wide receivers.
The team finally inked deals with both Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase to keep them together with Joe Burrow for at least the next four years (five in Chase’s case).
They did so by making Chase the highest-paid non-quarterback and Higgins $28.75 AAV over four years, with the first two guaranteed. Two things are things they’ve never really done. Higgins’ guarantees were never really given outside of superstar-producing players.
Actions speak louder. pic.twitter.com/meEGChNqci
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) March 20, 2025
The notion of the Bengals being cheap has been low-hanging fruit for a very long time. Probably as long as some people who are reading this have been alive, however, that fruit grew from a seed of truth.
There are even fans who were pessimistic they’d be able to retain both based on how they’ve operated even in recent seasons. They have been willing to let players walk in, refusing to move on multiple years of a contract being guaranteed, like Jessie Bates.
This was obviously a departure from that, and hopefully it becomes the norm as they’ll be able to retain players easier in the future.
It’s nice to dunk on these people by dishing out big bucks to star players, but if they want to keep people quiet, they’ll have to continue to retain talented players. *cough* Trey Hendrickson *cough.*
