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Not great, but still plenty of time to get a deal done.
The Cincinnati Bengals are heading into the most important free agency and draft season in franchise history. With Joe Burrow coming out of an MVP-caliber season, the team needs to re-sign or extend both wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
They used their franchise tag on Higgins in 2024 and may again in 2025, but this is their last chance to come to an agreement with Chase before he’ll need to be tagged in 2026, as he’s playing on his fifth-year option this season.
The Bengals have submitted an offer to Chase, but the two sides are far apart, according to The Athletic’s Diana Russini.
“Meanwhile, Chase is expected to reset the non-QB market,” Russini wrote. “An offer has been made by Cincinnati, but the two sides remain far apart in talks for now.”
Chase finished the 2024 season with 127 receptions for 1,708 yards and 17 touchdowns. leading the NFL in all categories. The Bengals, of course, had a chance to lock Chase up before he won the Triple Crown, but they opted to let him play out his fourth year and final year of his rookie contract, knowing they had the fifth-year option.
The Bengals are now in the position where they need to not only extend Chase and re-sign Higgins but extend Trey Hendrickson, who led the league in sacks and has asked for an extension or trade. Had they been able to extend Chase before the season, they could have saved themselves quite a bit of money. Now they’ll have to pay up.
The current highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL is Chase’s former LSU teammate Justin Jefferson, who signed a four-year, $140 million extension, which included $88.7 million fully guaranteed, gave him a $36.9 million signing bonus, and is paying an average of $35 million a year. They’ll likely have to give Chase something that pays him closer to $40 million a year, which would make him the highest-paid non quarterback in league history.
Stay tuned as the situation between the Bengals and Chase develops.
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