The Bengals’ core roster consists of players like Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Trey Hendrickson. All are great to elite players at their respective positions, which is wonderful to have. The only problem is you have to pay all of them if you want to keep them. While Burrow is already paid up, the other three are all due for their payday this year.
So, how to pay them all? Burrow’s stance seems simple enough for the Bengals: figure it out.
Burrow has been a tremendous advocate for his teammates in their contract pursuits. The Bengals don’t have the loosest purse strings, so to speak, but they paid up for him. They have been preparing for years to pay Chase, who should become the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history this offseason. But what about Higgins, who is a pending free agent? What about Hendrickson, who may win the Defensive Player of the Year Award after leading the league in sacks?
“We can make it happen”, Joe Burrow said on SiriusXM recently, via Dave Clark of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “We can make it happen. And it just has to be right for everybody involved. I know the players want to make it work. We all want to be together. So I don’t see it not working out, but we’ll see”.
Of course, it’s one thing for Joe Burrow to announce the Bengals are throwing a pizza party and another thing entirely for them to deliver all the pizzas. Having planned for this eventuality for years, they do have cap space, but there are many angles to consider.
I don’t think Burrow has to fret about Ja’Marr Chase. He has been their top priority outside of Burrow since the Bengals drafted him. And they drafted him in part because of Burrow following their college experience together. But if you’re paying Chase $36 million or more, how much can you pay Tee Higgins?
As for Trey Hendrickson, he already accounts for $16 million in 2025 compensation against the cap. That’s a good starting point to work something out. In 2023, the Bengals signed him to a one-year, $21 million contract extension, but consider us down the road now. They have kicked the can as far as it will go, and now it’s time to do a long-term deal. But he takes a back seat to Chase, of course, whom Burrow praised.
“I don’t know what more he could do to show and prove himself”, Burrow said of Chase as he looks for a record-setting deal from the Bengals. “We have several guys like that who have stepped up for us and deserve to be paid and deserve to be paid what they’re worth”.
One of the problems the Bengals run into is their policy, which similar to the Steelers’. Outside of quarterback contracts, they are very reluctant to give guarantees beyond the first year. I don’t see them getting away with not giving some to Chase. But would they give it to Hendrickson too, and if not, would he balk? And then there’s Tee Higgins, who only has to wait until March before anybody can bid on his services. The boys are back in town—but how long is the tour? And yes, this is my transparent excuse to embed a Thin Lizzy song into an article. You’re welcome, or I apologize, whichever is applicable to you.
