The Cincinnati Bengals did it. Rocky Arceneaux and Alliance Sports did it. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are staying for the long haul.
As first reported by Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz, Chase has agreed to terms on a four-year, $161 million contract extension with Cincinnati. Higgins is set to sign a new deal lasting four years and worth $115 million.
The plan to retain both Chase and Higgins has been years in the making. Once the 2021 season wrapped with a trip to the Super Bowl, the Bengals knew both of their stud wideouts were going to be priorities to keep around. Many teams to this day are searching for a genuine No. 1 wide receiver. Cincinnati managed to draft two in back-to-back years. You pretty much never see that happen.
The road to get to right here since that memorable 2021 season has not been ideal. Negotiations with Higgins couldn’t even officially begin until the 2023 offseason and Chase had to wait another year for his turn to face the hardball negotiation tactics the Bengals deploy. Both waited longer than they should’ve, but both are now making more than they could’ve as well.
Despite both deals getting done being the reasonable expectation for any franchise, there are aspects for each of them that point to some progress being made by the people who run the club.
Bengals couldn’t afford to keep waiting with Chase
No one who spent more than five seconds thinking on the situation ever truly believed the Bengals wouldn’t eventually pay Chase. He’s on track to being the greatest receiver in franchise history. If there was going to be a non-quarterback to earn future guarantees in his market-resetting deal, it was going to be the first player to ever wear the No. 1 jersey for Cincinnati.
The question wasn’t if, it was when.
In the summer of last year, I predicted Chase’s deal wouldn’t be signed until right before the 2025 season. This matched with when A.J. Green signed his four-year, $60 million deal nearly 10 years ago. Cincinnati’s largest deals in team history always came together in August or September. The Bengals wanted to get ahead of this by a year and hammer it home before the start of the 2024 season.
The intent was there. The execution was not.
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase (1) talks with head coach Zac Taylor on the sideline during a preseason training camp practice at the Paycor Stadium practice field in downtown Cincinnati on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024.
© Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
Chase and the Bengals nearly crossed the goal line right before Week 1 after Chase declined to practice throughout training camp, but disagreements about cash flow and when guarantees would trigger created an impasse. Since then, the salary cap took another large leap, and both Maxx Crosby and Myles Garrett briefly earned the title of the highest-paid non-QB in the NFL.
By not getting Chase signed last September, his price went up considerably. That he won the receiver triple crown and achieved First Team All-Pro status at just 24 years of age confirmed how costly of a mistake it was to not seal the deal six months ago when it was simply Justin Jefferson’s $35 million per year contract to eclipse.
Once Garrett reached a $40 million per year deal prior to free agency beginning, the Bengals couldn’t wait any longer. Director of player personnel Duke Tobin and head coach Zac Taylor both proclaimed at the NFL Scouting Combine that Chase would eventually sign the NFL’s most expensive non-QB contract from an average annual value perspective. They knew what the end result would be, so why let the cost rise even more? $40.25 million per year was the final number.
Classic Bengals pessimism pointed to Chase biding his time throughout the offseason, letting the number balloon while the Bengals posture only to eventually pay much more than they originally intended to offer. Chase could’ve preserved himself for another camp as the team would work feverishly without him to avoid yet another slow start to the season. He won’t have to do anything like that with his future now secured the way it should be.
It may not have been the most efficient process, but the Bengals did good to get this done before the price went even higher and to ensure Chase is there for the lead up to the season.
The twists and turns that led to Higgins signing long-term
While extending Chase was inevitable, Higgins was absolutely not in the same boat for most of the last two years.
Initial talks began in 2023 when Higgins’ agent was David Mulugheta. Cincinnati and Mulugheta did not get off on the right foot. The Bengals’ first offer was under $20 million per year, as reported by Cincinnati.com’s Kelsey Conway. Both sides continued to work toward a deal that offseason, but the Bengals wouldn’t include the level of guaranteed money Mulugheta has been known to push for. This is the same agent who got Deshaun Watson his unprecedented fully guaranteed contract from the Cleveland Browns.
The ’23 season began without an extension for Higgins, and it seemed to impact him. He posted two receptions or fewer in three of his first four games. Once his play returned to expected levels, a hamstring injury forced him out for three weeks, ultimately ensuring his production for the year would be the worst of his career. 42 receptions for 656 yards and five touchdowns are never the totals you’d want in a contract year.
Mulugheta and the Bengals still weren’t seeing eye-to-eye entering 2024 and the club placed the franchise tag on Higgins very early in the two-week window it was available. It was at this point everyone believed the Bengals had lost faith they could sign him to a long-term contract. They’ll get one more year out of him and let him go in 2025, just like they did with Jessie Bates III, whom was also represented by Mulugheta.
Mulugheta and Higgins tried forcing their way out with multiple trade requests. The Bengals, as they do, didn’t budge. Higgins swallowed his pride in the summer and reported to training camp after signing the tag, determined to make the most out of an unfortunate situation.
He did much more than that. Not only did he rebound back to his 2021-22 level of production, he made a decision that altered all expectations from there. He replaced Mulugheta with Arceneaux, the same agent who represents Chase.
Suddenly, the Bengals’ original plan had life.
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase (1), quarterback Joe Burrow (9) and wide receiver Tee Higgins (5) take the field as captains for the coin toss before the first quarter of the NFL Week 18 game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025.
© Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
What ensued was Burrow constantly letting the world know that keeping Higgins and Chase was the priority. Pressure from the public mounted for the club to make the face of the team satisfied after his MVP season was nullified due to the incompetence around him and his prized pass-catchers. The Bengals agreed, and here we are.
Higgins didn’t have to do what he did. Mulugheta may not have been able to successfully negotiate with the Bengals, but he would’ve gotten him the best possible deal whenever he would’ve hit the free agent market. By parting ways with him, Higgins opened the door to losing millions in guarantees. He did it to make sure he’d stay where he wanted to be.
Still, it had to actually get done. Now that it is, this deal stands alone in Bengals history in a niche sort of way.
Signing Higgins is a milestone only Bengals fans can immediately recognize
Higgins, still just 26, is a great player in his own right. He may one day make Cincinnati’s Ring of Honor. The Bengals have always wanted to keep him around, and as backwards as it sounds, he’s the exact kind of player they’ve grown accustomed to letting walk.
Bates is the perfect example. While he was good enough to command a sizable contract, the Bengals tried to win the deal and keep him for a significantly less than what he got from the Atlanta Falcons in 2023. They tried the same with DJ Reader in 2024 before he left for the Detroit Lions. Marvin Jones and Kevin Zeitler, two studs from their 2012 NFL Draft class, each moved on for multiple years of guaranteed salaries in back-to-back years in 2016 and 2017.
Players who are well above average but just below the perennial Pro Bowl or even All-Pro level while playing for Cincinnati haven’t always been able to secure a fair deal in town. The Bengals fold to appease the truly elite like Burrow and Chase. They always stand firm forcing others to take less or find more elsewhere. Those who take the deals, ala Tyler Boyd, Joe Mixon, Sam Hubbard, and Logan Wilson, don’t command guaranteed salaries. The ones who’ve left always could.
Higgins is the first of his kind to break through here, and the fact that his first two years are guaranteed proves that to be the case. Is it a sign of what’s to come for how the Bengals treat players of his caliber? Maybe. Even if he’s just an exception, it’s an exception they’ve never quite made before.
There exists an argument that paying both Chase and Higgins isn’t wise. That this level of capital going to the receivers of an elite QB would be better spent elsewhere.
Forget that for a second. If your team is infamous for letting good players walk in the name of frugality, and spending more money in comparison over the course of several years when trying to replace them, avoiding that whole charade is huge on its own.
Cincinnati would have a worse team without Higgins, even if the money saved from not paying him could’ve immediately been spent on upgrades for other positions. Now the Bengals just have to find those upgrades without having to worry about replacing one of the four best players on their roster.
For all the worries about expensive future cap hits, the Bengals don’t have any more players on their team right now that can command large extensions for the next few years. They would have even more resources without extending Higgins, but again, those same resources would be used to try and replace him anyways. Ask around the NFL how hard it’s become to find that guy at receiver.
The Bengals have two of them. That’s a win no matter how you look at it.
The Bengals are really doing this. Not everyone agrees it’s the right thing to do, and just as many believed it couldn’t be done. For a while, I was one of those non-believers. Even after the switch from Mulugheta to Arceneaux, something as simple as DK Metcalf signing a new contract worth $32 million per year deal with the Steelers a week ago could’ve been an obstacle that derailed everything. Were the Bengals actually going to get this done no matter the cost?
Yes. No matter how delayed or inflated the price became, the Bengals finally completed the task.
The stars are staying in Cincinnati. Now, Cincinnati needs to prove it was worth it.