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Jeremy Fowler
The Cincinnati Bengals are hoping to pull off an ambitious — and expensive — offseason.
The team will attempt to secure a trio of stars who need new deals — wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins and defensive end Trey Hendrickson — for the long term, sources told ESPN.
Whether Cincinnati can pull it off remains uncertain, but the team’s messaging behind the scenes is that it’s certainly going to try.
That starts with Higgins, who is set to hit free agency March 12. One team source says they believe the Bengals will use the franchise tag on Higgins if no long-term deal is reached by the March 4 tag deadline “in order to have time to get a deal done. Can’t let him walk.”
Sports Illustrated reported Monday that Cincinnati planned to put the nonexclusive tag on Higgins. This would give the team and player until July 15 to negotiate a long-term deal, and if no deal is reached, Higgins would play on a salary of $26.17 million for 2025. Higgins played under a franchise tag of $21.8 million in 2024, and a second tag, in this case, triggers a 20% increase of the previous payout.
Chase, coming off a triple-crown season for most receiving yards (1,708), touchdowns (17) and receptions (127), will be looking to be the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL — possibly by a wide margin. And Hendrickson has back-to-back years of 17.5 sacks, leading the league in 2024, at a time when elite pass rushers are making above $30 million per year. The fast-growing pass-rush market also could spark trade movement around the league, especially if the Cleveland Browns entertain Myles Garrett‘s wishes to play for a new team.
Quarterback Joe Burrow has been vocal this offseason on wanting the Bengals to spend to keep his three star teammates. In an extended interview with the “Pardon My Take” podcast that was released last Wednesday, Burrow was asked to describe how his five-year, $275 million contract extension signed in 2023 could be altered and help give the Bengals extra salary cap flexibility.
“You could convert some of the money to a signing bonus, which will lower the cap hit,” Burrow said. “You can push some of the money to the back end of the contract. That lowers the cap hit. And then when you get to the back end of the contract, you can restructure it and convert it to a signing bonus. You can also just take less money.”
Later in the interview, Burrow pointed out that most players just convert the money into a signing bonus, a method he said he was willing to pursue.
ESPN’s Ben Baby contributed to this report.