The Cincinnati Bengals are hoping to extend WR Ja’Marr Chase, WR Tee Higgins and DE Trey Hendrickson this offseason, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
<img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="300" height="200" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-581739" src="https://i0.wp.com/nfltraderumors.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/USATSI_25285341_168383805_lowres.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1" alt="Ja'Marr Chase, Joe Burrow, Tee Higgins” width=”300″ height=”200″>
The Bengals have already planned to put the non-exclusive tag on Higgins this offseason while they negotiate a long-term deal. At this point in time, it doesn’t appear that they have any plans to move on from him.
Bengals QB Joe Burrow has been adamant about keeping the team’s core intact.
“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.”
Hendrickson has recently said that he either wants a contract extension or to be traded.
Chase has an excellent case to reset the market at wide receiver after Vikings WR Justin Jefferson and Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb signed deals last summer worth $35 million a year and $34 million a year respectively. Both deals were worth over $100 million in guarantees.
Cincinnati tried to work out a deal with Chase last summer but couldn’t agree on a cash flow that satisfied the star receiver. Bengals de facto GM Duke Tobin is optimistic they’ll get a deal done this year.
“It’s a priority for us,” Tobin said, via Kelsey Conway of The Enquirer. “It’s something we feel like there’s a framework to work off of. Should be a pretty easy framework to work off of. Guys in his position have recently re-done contracts. We believe in Ja’Marr, he’s very important to us. The other guys that have done contracts are very important to their teams. So, we believe there’s a real framework to work off of. I would expect that we could come together on something that makes sense for both sides.”
Chase, 24, was a two-year starter at LSU and a unanimous All-American during his sophomore season. He opted out of the 2020 college football season due to the pandemic. The Bengals took Chase with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
He is in the fourth year of a four-year, $30,819,642 contract with the Bengals that included a $19,774,285 signing bonus. The Bengals picked up a fifth-year option on him worth $21.816 million fully guaranteed for the 2025 season.
In 2024, Chase appeared in 17 games for the Bengals and caught 127 passes on 175 targets for 1,708 yards and 17 touchdowns, winning the NFL triple crown by leading the league in catches, yards and touchdowns.
Higgins recently expressed his desire to remain with the Bengals but said it’s not in his control whether they will agree on a deal.
Higgins, 25, is a former second-round pick by the Bengals in the 2020 NFL Draft out of Clemson. He finished the final year of a four-year, $8,686,785 rookie contract and made a base salary of $2,993,000 in 2023.
He was set to be an unrestricted free agent in 2024 when the Bengals placed the franchise tag on him, which cost the team around $21.8 million fully guaranteed for the 2024 season.
In 2024, Higgins appeared in 12 games for the Bengals and recorded 73 receptions on 109 targets for 911 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns.
We have him included in our Top 100 2025 NFL Free Agents list.
Bengals de facto GM Duke Tobin recently said they would like to get a deal done for Hendrickson, but it’d be difficult to have expensive players at every position.
“We can’t have guys at the top of the payroll in every position, right?” Tobin said. “We’ll do what we can. We’ll do what we feel is right, and we will try to get Trey re-signed. It’s not giving anybody an extension. It’s agreeing with somebody on an extension.”
Tobin believes Hendrickson earned a pay raise, but it’s still unclear if they’ll be able to reach an agreement.
“Has he earned a pay raise and a bump in an extension … he has,” Tobin said. “We’re cognizant of that, and we will give that to him. But whether we agree on what that looks like is, is what is to be determined.”
Hendrickson wanted a new deal from Cincinnati last offseason after believing he’d outplayed his current contract, which at the time had two years left on it. The veteran requested a trade before ultimately playing out the 2024 season and leading the NFL with 17.5 sacks.
However, the Bengals have a lot of different priorities to juggle which could make it tricky for the two sides to agree on a number both are happy with.
Hendrickson, 30, was selected with the No. 103 overall pick by the Saints out of Florida Atlantic in 2017. He finished his four-year rookie contract worth $3,106,288, which included a signing bonus of $706,284.
Hendrickson then signed a four-year, $60 million contract with the Bengals back in 2021 and went on to appear in the Super Bowl for the team. Cincinnati signed him to a one-year extension through 2025 in 2023.
He’s due a base salary of $15.8 million in the final year of his contract in 2025.
In 2024, Hendrickson appeared in all 17 games for the Bengals and recorded 46 total tackles, 19 tackles for loss, 17.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and six pass defenses.
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