Bengals Insider Perfectly Breaks Down How Team Can Keep Chase, Higgins, Hendrickson AND STILL Have Money
Credit: Cara Owsley via Imagn Images
The biggest dilemma this offseason for the Bengals is the same one they had last year: how are they going to pay the likes of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Trey Hendrickson? They are incredibly productive players, but the notoriously frugal Cincinnati front office didn’t budge, and now things are back to square one. However, with all three players producing at a rate that justifies a hefty payday for all three of them, it will be difficult to figure out how to do exactly that.
Bengals insider Joe Goodberry perfectly laid out the groundwork for keeping all three players. His method not only ensures that the Bengals can retain Joe Burrow, but they can sign other top tier free agents as well to fill glaring needs.
In a nutshell, Goodberry believes that expensive, underperforming veterans like Alex Cappa, Sheldon Rankins, and (sorry in advance, moms of Cincinnati) Sam Hubbard are likely to get the axe this offseason. Those corresponding moves, in addition to cuts of various underperforming depth pieces like Zack Moss, will hardly affect the cap situation, as none of the players he suggested as cut candidates are under contract beyond 2025. With several players gone, he suggested giving three year deals each to Tee Higgins and Trey Hendrickson and a five year deal to Chase. By converting much of their pay into a signing bonus, it will allow the cap hits of each Bengals star to not be nearly as significant.
Goodberry’s thorough breakdown can be seen here.
Following a season that provided just as much pessimism as it did optimism, investing in the players who provided sky high optimism is exactly what the Bengals need to do. Fans watched as their three best players not named Joe Burrow were openly disgruntled with their contract situations, and fear began to spread throughout Cincinnati that their team would fall apart. After spending an entire offseason with an “IT’S FINE EVERYTHING’S FINE I’M FINE” mindset, I would rather not go through that again.
Goodberry’s suggestion of signing all their players at the very beginning of free agency would change the Bengals’ philosophy on a dime. Instead of wondering “Oh man, what are we going to do?” in the potential aftermath of star players departing, getting them signed on day one will allow Duke Tobin to look at his remaining cap space and say “Where do we go from here?”
They’ve had an entire calendar year to figure things out, and patience is running thin among fans and players alike. The immediate remedy is right along with what Goodberry said – cut your losses with aging veterans, give the stars the salaries they have earned, and figure out the rest as time goes by.
Up Next