In the late hours of Sunday, March 16, Fox Sports insider Jordan Schultz announced that he received exclusive information that both Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins agreed to four-year extensions with the Cincinnati Bengals. Locked on Bengals host James Rapien had announced that the deals were done the day prior but no nationally known entities corroborated, so it flew under the radar. Regardless, the deals were done, they will likely be announced this week, and everyone has opinions.
Getting the top receiver in the game and the top WR2 locked down through 2028 (and Chase through 2029), is objectively good for the Bengals. Yes, there are issues on the team. However, the team won nine games in 2024, narrowly missing the playoffs despite a bottom-of-the-league defense. Even then, seven of those losses were by one score and three were by three points or less. Joe Burrow and the offense can carry the team to a winning record. As nice as it is to win more games than not, going 9-8 and missing the playoffs by a game is not the goal.
Locking down Chase and Higgins was priority number one this offseason for the Bengals. Now that that’s taken care of, there are still plenty of things the team has to do to get this roster into contending shape for 2025.
What’s Next for the Bengals After Chase, Higgins Extensions
Figure It Out With Hendrickson
If you want the Bengals to compete for a championship in 2025, it includes Trey Hendrickson on the roster. https://t.co/XYWs3VusAF
— Goodberry (@JoeGoodberry) March 17, 2025
The market has seemingly cooled on the Trey Hendrickson trade front. Back at the beginning of February, Hendrickson gave the Bengals an ultimatum: either extend him or trade him. As negotiations seemingly broke down, the team gave Hendrickson permission to seek out a new deal with another team and work out a trade. His representation allegedly told the Bengals that they could net a first-round pick for Hendrickson.
Now, a month and a half later, nothing has changed. No trades have materialized. Free agency has cooled off. As it turns out, the Bengals don’t have any legitimate interest in trading away its defensive star, going so far as to ask a ridiculously high price in trade compensation.
There has been a disconnect between the Bengals and Hendrickson. Despite all of that, the two sides have plans to sit back down and hash these negotiations out. According to national insiders/Hendrickson’s agent’s mouthpieces, the sticking point is new money. Ie., he’s making $16 million this year and if he signs a two-year, $60 million extension, it all averages out to be $25.3 million per year.
The Bengals defense was atrocious last year and the team did the bare minimum in free agency to this point. Losing Hendrickson would be criminal malpractice. They are not going to get his production from a rookie. Cincinnati has to do what it can to get the deal done.
Higgins’ and Chase’s cap hits were lowered with their extensions. The money is there. If the Bengals have to sweeten the deal with a ludicrous signing bonus, so be it.
Sign At Least One Guard
To this point, the only moves the Bengals have made on the offensive line were cutting Alex Cappa and re-signing Cody Ford.
That’s not enough. In fact, that’s an awful way of protecting Burrow considering the team rostered the NFL’s worst guard duo last year. As the Locked on Bengals duo put it, the team is addicted to going into the draft with one glaring need. At this point, that’s what it looks like is happening.
Evey free-agent guard the Bengals were even superficially linked to has signed elsewhere. Teven Jenkins was offered a deal but turned it down and visited Seattle this week. Now, who is left? Will Hernandez? Brandon Scherff? Dalton Risner?
Even if none of the available guards are destined for All-Pro status, the team seriously needs to upgrade the position before the draft.
There will be solid guards in this year’s class. Tyler Booker, Gray Zabel, and Donovan Jackson are first-round options (the latter two could likely be had after a trade back, of course). In the second round, guys like Marcus Mbow, Jonah Savaiinaea, and Tate Ratledge are popular names.
Considering the last time the Bengals took a first-round guard was Kevin Zeitler in 2012, they’ll have to break another tendency. Even if they think Matt Lee can move to guard and be a starter (they probably don’t), guard is a glaring need.
One More Broken Tendency?
The team has handed out lucrative contracts to three offensive players with multiple years of guarantees and signed a player on the wrong side of 30 (with the possibility of at least one other), why can’t they do one more crazy thing? The Bengals should sign 38-year-old, future Hall of Famer, Calais Campbell.
The Bengals defensive line lacks, well, everything when Hendrickson is off the field. Joseph Ossai, Myles Murphy, Kris Jenkins, BJ Hill, and McKinnley Jackson don’t have the juice Hendrickson has. The defense is geared to stop the run but when it gets into obvious passing downs, the defensive line can’t get to the quarterback.
Campbell could provide that spark. He gave the Miami Dolphins 615 snaps and managed 52 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, five sacks, and broke up five passes. Father Time may be undefeated but Campbell has had him on the ropes for years now.
He would give the Bengals positional versatility to help out at tackle and edge. Plus, he would provide some intangible leadership for the young defensive line group. Imagine learning from a guy with the pedigree of Campbell.
The Bengals had their shot to sign Campbell last year and balked. They shouldn’t make the same mistake this offseason. Might as well take a shot.
Main Image: Scott Galvin-Imagn Images
The post Bengals Have Extended Both Star Receivers…Now What? appeared first on Last Word on Pro Football.