Bengals plan to make Ja’Marr Chase the highest-paid non-QB, sign Tee Higgins to long-term deal

[Arkansas Bengal]

Bengals plan to make Ja’Marr Chase the highest-paid non-QB, sign Tee Higgins to long-term deal

• By
• Charean Williams

Published February 25, 2025 06:02 PM

•  

 

The Bengals have a plan in place to keep star receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

 

Duke Tobin, the team’s director of player personnel, expressed optimism that the Bengals can make Chase the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL and sign Higgins to a long-term deal. He also needs to take care of edge rusher Trey Hendrickson, who is due a raise after making 17.5 sacks each of the past two seasons.

 

“We want them signed,” Tobin said. “Is it easy? No. Are we up to it? We are up to it. We’ve done a lot of these things.”

 

The Bengals want to reward Chase, who is scheduled to play this season on the fifth-year option of $21.816 million, after he won the league’s receiving triple crown. Chase will top Justin Jefferson’s annual average of $35 million per year. 
 

“He is going to end up being the No. 1 paid non-quarterback in the league,” Tobin said. “We’re there. Let’s get it done. The earlier we can do some of this stuff, the freer it gives us to build the rest of the team. We have other needs that we want to build, and so we want to get these kinds of things done early enough to where we can really focus on building out the rest of the football team, but they’re all priorities to us but the ones that aren’t signed, are the ones that are on the table first.”

 

Higgins, who played last season on the $21.8 million franchise tag, is scheduled to become a free agent next month. He is the top free agent in PFT’s top-100.

 

“Seems like three, four, five years I’ve been talking about Tee,” Tobin said. “I think you guys all know how I feel about Tee Higgins. I think Tee Higgins is a fantastic football player, and I want him on my football team. Whenever I’m in charge of a football team, I want Tee Higgins, so I’m going to do what I can to get Tee Higgins. Our preference with Tee Higgins is to do a long-term agreement. Always has been, and it continues to be, and we’ll work hard to get that done.

 

“We are fortunate. We’ve got a lot of really good football players, fantastic football players, and we’re fortunate to be in position to fit them all in. We’ve managed our cap well. We’ve got low debt money. We want a high payroll and low-debt money, so the people in Cincinnati playing for us can get all the money.

 

That’s what we want. We’re in position to sign these guys, and it’s a good position to be in. It really is. We’re going to attack it. We don’t want to just re-sign these guys and have the same football team we had last year. We want to add to it as well. We want to re-sign these guys, reward them for their ability level, and add to the football team. So, it’s a tall task. We think we’re up to it.”

 

 

profootballtalk.com

[T-Dub]

4 hours ago, Arkansas Bengal said:

“We are fortunate. We’ve got a lot of really good football players, fantastic football players" -Tobin

 

 

 

Man, I wish someone would have asked him to name them.  I think we can count "really good" on one hand.

[Cat]

8 hours ago, T-Dub said:

 

 

Man, I wish someone would have asked him to name them.  I think we can count "really good" on one hand.

The best players. People come up to him with tears in their eyes, and say "Sir, these football players are the best in the world!"

[sparky151]

At least he recognizes and has basically committed to keeping the big 3 on the team. Plus adding outside talent. 

 

I was half expecting them to do the extensions for Hendrickson and Chase ahead of free agency opening so they could plead poverty, even though they could reduce their cap numbers if they wanted to,

 

 

[Jungletiger]

Not the Tee post I wanna see

 

 

Could be trolling, he does like to make people crash out.

[claptonrocks]

14 hours ago, T-Dub said:

 

 

Man, I wish someone would have asked him to name them.  I think we can count "really good" on one hand.

3 great..2 outstanding..

The rest not so much..🥺

[LostInDaJungle]

• Duke is very confident and optimistic they will be able to extend Tee, Ja'Marr, and Trey. No trades, and he's hoping to be able to get Tee's done before the tag deadline next week. He said he agrees with everything Joe said at the Super Bowl, and they have the cap space and lack of dead cap to reward their guys.

Just being realistic... How much weight does this carry?

Scouts like guys all of the time... Their job is to care about pure talent, not dollars and cents. Does Zac Taylor have the gravitas to actually move anything with Katie and Troy?

The year Bates walked it was all "We love Jesse..." He didn't get resigned. You know everyone lobbied for Whitworth... Didn't convince Katie to show any faith in the biggol' teddy bear.

 

Last year Zac assured us that Jamarr was close... Does he even really know what went down with that negotiation? Is he just telling us what Katie/Troy told him? "Yeah, Jamarr just changed his mind, Dunno." Changed his mind and then got pissed off and held out? Umm, sure.

Coaches and Scouts can love players all they want. The GM still signs the contracts and the checks, and we haven't heard a peep from our GM. To quote the great poet Edgar A. Guest, "I'd much rather see a sermon than hear one". I'll believe it when the contracts are signed.

[Jungletiger]

4 hours ago, Jungletiger said:

Not the Tee post I wanna see

 

 

Could be trolling, he does like to make people crash out.