Agent’s Take: Bengals could pay a much steeper price if they don’t heed Joe Burrow’s plea to lock up stars

Pro Bowl quarterback Joe Burrow has made it crystal clear how he wants the Cincinnati Bengals to approach this offseason. Do whatever it takes to ensure that wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, edge rusher Trey Hendrickson and wide receiver Tee Higgins are Bengals long term.

“We have the cap space to get it done,” Burrow said during Super Bowl week. “I want to make it happen. Everybody involved — Trey, Tee, Ja’Marr, Mike [Gesicki] — we all want to stay together. When you have guys who are motivated like that, I think you can get those things done.”

NFL teams got good news a few days ago because the 2025 salary cap will be higher than initially expected. The cap will be set between $277.5 million and $281.5 million. 

Burrow is right that the Bengals don’t have salary cap problems. Cincinnati should have in the neighborhood of $60 million in 2025 cap space.

Burrow has volunteered to restructure the five-year, $275 million contract extension he received right before the 2023 regular season started that made him the NFL’s highest-paid player at $55 million per year. “You could convert some of the money to a signing bonus, which will lower the cap hit,” Burrow recently 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.”

Burrow shouldn’t expect the Bengals to take him up on his offer although his 2025 cap number is $46.25 million. Cincinnati stays away from pushing current salary cap obligations into the future through contract restructures. It’s been over a decade since the Bengals have restructured a contract strictly for cap purposes.

Higgins’ situation will initially take center stage since he played the 2024 season under a $21.816 million franchise tag. The Bengals reportedly plan on making Higgins a franchise player again before the 15-day designation period ends at 4 p.m. ET on March 4, absent a long-term deal. A second Higgins franchise tag will cost $26,179,200, a 120% increase of his 2024 designation.

The Bengals giving Higgins a second straight franchise tag would be uncharacteristic. Safety Jessie Bates III and wide receiver A.J. Green were allowed to leave via free agency in 2023 and 2021, respectively, instead of getting franchise tags two years in a row.

The franchise tag would buy the Bengals more time to figure out a contract with Higgins. Players who receive franchise designations have until July 15 at 4 p.m. ET to sign multiyear contracts. 

Higgins will be one of the most coveted players available if he gets to the open market. He caught 73 passes for 911 yards with a career-high 10 touchdowns in 2024 despite missing five games because of assorted injuries. 

Higgins will likely be able to command more than $30 million per year in free agency especially with a team that has an abundance of 2025 cap space and a glaring need at wide receiver, like the New England Patriots, making him a top signing priority. To remain in Cincinnati long term, Higgins will be justified in insisting on being the league’s highest-paid No. 2 wide receiver. That distinction currently belongs to Jaylen Waddle. The 2021 first-round pick signed a three-year, $84.75 million extension, averaging $28.25 million per year, with the Miami Dolphins last May.

The Bengals run the risk of Higgins deciding to play on his franchise tender again with acrimonious negotiations. Since Higgins wouldn’t get a third straight franchise tag in 2026, he would be an unrestricted free agent as a 27-year-old. By NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement rules, a third franchise tag would be 144% of his 2025 designation ($37,698,048) or the position with the biggest franchise number, whichever is greater. It would be the latter because the 2025 quarterback franchise tag will be between $39.997 million and $40.574 million.

Higgins being traded after receiving a franchise isn’t out of the question either especially if the Bengals start having concerns about signability. Cincinnati would likely want at least a first-round pick in return for Higgins. The Green Bay Packers dealt Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders in March 2022 for 2022 first- (18th overall) and second-round picks after designating him as a franchise player. Adams was a different tier of wide receiver than Higgins. He was coming off a career year in 2021 in which he earned first-team All-Pro honors for a third straight time. The Bengals would get a 2027 compensatory draft pick at best by letting Higgins walk in 2026 free agency.

Hendrickson has given the Bengals a pay-me-or-trade-me ultimatum. He is underpaid. Hendrickson signed a four-year, $60 million contract in 2021 free agency to join the Bengals. He was given a one-year extension worth $21 million in July 2023 at the start of training camp although he had two years remaining on his deal since he had outperformed his contract. Hendrickson made his first trade request last offseason since the Bengals weren’t going to address his contract for a second straight year. He is scheduled to make $16 million in 2025, which is his contract year, on an $18,666,668 cap number.

Hendrickson led the NFL with 17.5 sacks and tied for the league lead with 83 quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus in 2024. He is the fourth player in NFL history to have consecutive seasons with 17.5 or more sacks. The others are Mark Gastineau, Reggie White and J.J. Watt.

Hendrickson will likely be looking to join the exclusive $30 million-per-year edge rusher club in which Nick Bosa is the only member. Bosa signed a five year, $170 million extension, averaging $34 million per year, with the San Francisco 49ers in early September 2023 after a holdout that lasted the entire preseason.

The Bengals may not be comfortable extending Hendrickson’s contract more than two years because he turned 30 in December. Hendrickson isn’t showing any signs of slowing down though. His 35 sacks over the last two seasons are easily the NFL’s most during this span. Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt, who is also entering a contract year, is second with 30.5.

The Bengals would probably want at least a second-round pick in return for Hendrickson. It wouldn’t be an unreasonable demand considering the Patriots received a 2025 third-round pick from the Atlanta Falcons last preseason for Matthew Judon. The 32-year-old edge rusher was limited to four games in 2023 because of a torn right biceps.  

The Bengals made an unsuccessful attempt to extend Chase’s contract last year before talks broke off when the 2024 regular season started. Chase is scheduled to make a fully guaranteed $21.816 million in 2025 on his fifth-year option.

The final offers made in last year’s negotiations are now obsolete because of Chase’s 2024 performance. He won the receiving triple crown by simultaneously leading the league in receptions (127), receiving yards (1,708) and receiving touchdowns (17). 

Any deal Chase signs should make him the NFL’s highest-paid wide receiver. Justin Jefferson is the existing standard. The Minnesota Vikings signed Jefferson to a four-year, $140 million extension, averaging $35 million per year, last June. Jefferson is also the league’s highest-paid non-quarterback. His contract has $110 million in guarantees, of which $88.743 million was fully guaranteed at signing. The $88.743 million is the most ever fully guaranteed at signing for a non-quarterback.

Jefferson’s deal adjusted for salary cap inflation is in the $38.5 million-per-year range. Coming off a receiving triple crown season could be enough justification for Chase to seek $40 million per year.

Chase recently said he’s looking for what’s fair in a new contract. Expect Cincinnati to have a different idea of what fair means.

The Bengals will surely balk at resetting the wide receiver market by 14.29%, which is what $40 million per year represents. Burrow got a 4.76% increase over the Chargers’ Justin Herbert when he became the league’s highest-paid player. That type of increase over Jefferson would put Chase at $36,666,667 per year.

The bigger obstacle to a new Chase deal could be structure, not money. Typically, the Bengals are in the dark ages when it comes to structuring contracts for veteran players. 

The only guaranteed money in Cincinnati veteran contracts is a signing bonus and/or a roster bonus payable within a few days of signing. The bigger deals contain an unsecured third or fifth day of the league year roster bonus in the second and third years. The roster bonuses are supposed to be substitutes for additional contract guarantees. The overall guarantees in Cincinnati contracts are less than comparable deals on other teams. 

The only exception has been Burrow. His $55 million-per-year deal has $219.01 million of salary guarantees, of which $146.51 million was fully guaranteed at signing. The Bengals were reportedly willing to make some structural concessions to Chase last year, but just not enough to his liking.

The potential sticking point about structure could also apply to Higgins. Higgins recently hired Rocky Arceneaux, who is Chase’s agent. Arceneaux may have heightened sensitivity to treating Chase and Higgins differently structurally because of his representation of both players.

Cincinnati’s preferred contract structure shouldn’t be a problem for Hendrickson. He accepted it in his 2021 deal and with the 2023 extension.

Signing any or all of the three long term would free up 2025 cap space. Chase and Hendrickson’s respective $21.816 million and $15.8 million 2025 base salaries as well as Higgins’ nearly $26.2 million franchise tender could be lowered where each is given a fairly substantial signing bonus.

Cincinnati failing to accomplish Burrow’s player retention objectives could be the beginning of a problem with the star quarterback. It’s safe to say Burrow has no desire to follow in Hall of Famer Dan Marino’s footsteps. Marino got to the Super Bowl in his second NFL season, just like Burrow. It was Marino’s one and only Super Bowl appearance in his 17-year NFL career.

Carson Palmer, the 2003 first overall pick, eventually got fed up with Cincinnati’s inability to build a contending team around him. Palmer retired eight years into his NFL career after the 2010 season rather than continue playing for the Bengals because his trade request wasn’t being accommodated. The Bengals relented when the Raiders gave up a 2012 first-round pick and 2013 second pick for Palmer as the trading deadline approached in 2011. It would be a shame for history to repeat itself with Burrow.