Consider 2024 the year for wide receivers to get paid. The Cincinnati Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins hope to join the club. After A.J. Brown and Amon-Ra St. Brown received mega-deals this offseason with Brandon Aiyuk and Justin Jefferson likely to follow suit, the Bengals’ top two wideouts are skipping the start of voluntary OTAs as they angle for long-term contracts.
Higgins is playing under the franchise tag worth nearly $22 million. Despite floating a trade request, he expects to be a Bengal for 2024. After a slow start last season, Higgins heated up to end the year, finishing with 42 receptions, 656 yards (15.6 yards per catch), and five touchdowns across 11 games. Much of that came without QB Joe Burrow, who was lost for the season mid-year due to a wrist injury.
Chase is one of the best receivers in football and will inevitably receive a long-term deal from the Bengals that could make him the highest-paid receiver in football. In 2023, he recorded his first 100-catch season for 1,216 yards and seven touchdowns. The team’s first-round pick in 2021, he had a monster rookie season, going for 1,455 yards and 13 touchdowns as the Bengals posted a top-10 scoring offense.
Entering his fourth NFL season, Chase is eligible per CBA rules to receive a contract extension and he’s looking for a deal before the year begins. A long-term contract with him would almost certainly average over $30 million per year, topping the $32 million average yearly value Brown received on his new deal with the Philadelphia Eagles last month.
The Bengals are looking to bounce back after missing the playoffs in 2023. Burrow returns healthier and perhaps bulkier, though household offensive names have departed. Longtime Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd signed with the Tennessee Titans while mainstay RB Joe Mixon was traded to the Houston Texans. The team also lost offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, hired as the Titans’ newest head coach.
