Tee Higgins’ contract situation with Bengals just got more interesting

Tee Higgins’ Week 17 showing and a new report paint his future with the Bengals in an interesting light.

By now, it feels like Tee Higgins simply won’t be leaving the Cincinnati Bengals.

Much has gone into this dramatic shift in Higgins’ future outlook with the Bengals over the last few weeks. His dramatic role in the season-saving win over the Denver Broncos in Week 17, highlighted by 11 catches for 131 yards and three scores and the game-winning catch in overtime, only intensified this idea.

A report after the game helped just as much, though.

Said report comes from a note shared by CBS Sports’ Aditi Kinkhabwala on social media:

Tee Higgins told me last week being paid as a WR1 is not necessarily his no. 1 motivator. Said, “I’m playing with if not the best, one of the best, QBs. I’m playing with if not the best, one of the best, WRs. That opens up things for me.” And: “In this offense, everyone has a chance to be spotlighted.” He now shares an agent with Ja’Marr Chase and Chase told us Higgins is “the most unselfish person.” Maybe it’s not impossible…

This has been a read-between-the-lines thing for a few weeks now.

After all, Joe Burrow shocked some by putting serious public pressure on the Bengals front office to get an extension done. Shortly after, Higgins split with his (notorious in Cincinnati) agent. Then, he signed with the same reps as Ja’Marr Chase.

Tack on an all-timer of a showing in Bengals franchise history in Week 17, and this report, and it certainly feels like the team won’t have a choice but to find a way to keep the dynamic trio together.

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Tee Higgins breaks silence on contract extension status with Bengals

Tee Higgins just appeared in a new interview and talked about his contract status with the Bengals.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins “would love” to stay with the team on a long-term extension.

So says the star wideout himself in a new interview with TMZ Sports ahead of his team’s Week 16 game against the Cleveland Browns.

There, Higgins confirmed he wants to be with the Bengals, although he added a”this business is crazy” for good measure.

This stance isn’t all that new for Higgins, as he’s remained adamant about the situation for the better part of a year, at least.

But this comment comes at an interesting time. Joe Burrow just put very public pressure on the Bengals front office to get a Higgins extension done. Ja’Marr Chase then did the same.

Right after that, Higgins split from agent David Mulugheta — and just so happened to hire the same reps as Chase.

The writing very much appears to be on the wall about what Higgins wants. While the Bengals getting Chase and Higgins extended together will be tricky, the team has the cap room and all three clearly want it. Plus, funnily enough, it helps that the team’s poor drafting means they don’t have to pay up big elsewhere on the roster right now.

If the Bengals get serious with the proper cash, contract structure, and guarantees, Higgins won’t hit the free-agent market.

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Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins contract sagas with Bengals just took a turn

What the Bengals stars want couldn’t be more obvious.

At this point, the writing on the wall for the Cincinnati Bengals is pretty hard to miss.

The ball’s in the team’s court when it comes to keeping Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

Joe Burrow wants it. And so, too, do Chase and Higgins, clearly.

Higgins just parted ways with agent David Mulugheta. And now, just a day later, Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Higgins’ new reps is Rocky Arceneaux of Alliance Sports Management.

Caitlin Aoki and Arceneaux rep Chase.

It doesn’t get much more obvious than this. Out goes Mulugheta, an agent the Bengals have a terrible history with, most recently through Jessie Bates. In are heavyweight reps the team has worked with in the past and will when it comes to Chase already next offseason.

The situation won’t do the Bengals any favors financially, not after the team gave itself a self-inflicted wound by not extending Chase last summer. But it should make the logistics a little easier — and both guys clearly want what the franchise quarterback wants.

All the Bengals have to do is provide the cash, with the proper structure, and all is well. What the players want — and what fans want — couldn’t be clearer.

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Bengals WR Tee Higgins parts ways with agent amid contract saga

A huge development on the Bengals, Tee Higgins front.

The rumors are indeed true — Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins has parted ways with NFL agent David Mulugheta.

Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported the news on Wednesday.

It’s a bombshell of a report following up on rumors earlier the same day that suggested as much. And as we noted there, a change in representation could mean Higgins takes a new approach to handling a possible contract extension with the Bengals.

Currently under the franchise tag, Higgins can’t sign an extension with the Bengals until after the season. But he’s free to do so well before free agency opens next spring.

The move doesn’t feel like a coincidence, at least. Days earlier, Joe Burrow broke out of his usual conservative shell to say he’s confident Higgins will be back next year, which led to speculation he was publicly putting pressure on the front office to get something done.

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Bengals need to do Ja’Marr Chase contract right now, says NFL insider

Want to keep Joe Burrow happy? One insider says right now is the time to extend Ja’Marr Chase.

The Cincinnati Bengals are notorious for not talking or doing contract extensions during a season.

One NFL insider says it’s time to throw out that behavior and get wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase extended right now.

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer made the case ahead of Week 15: “So I’ll repeat what I’ve said all season. Forget your precedents, Bengals. Go to Chase this week, and get him signed. He’s your second player. And happy quarterback … happy life.”

Doing so would make a lot of sense, should both sides be willing to come to the table and get it done.

That didn’t happen this past offseason when all involved seemed to wait on Justin Jefferson’s contract. After that happened, a deal never materialized, the issues bled into the season, and a report said Chase felt misled. Reports said the deal was very close, but the Bengals didn’t structure things the right way.

On the one hand, Chase wanted an extension arguably a year early. On the other, he deserves it, and his price has only dramatically increased because the market keeps climbing alongside the salary cap, and he’s in the Triple Crown hunt, with his agent even publicly celebrating how easy the extension will be.

Now is an interesting time to bring up this point about an in-season extension. The Bengals are 5-8 and the season is lost, barring some miracle in leaguewide results over the next few weeks. Extending Chase now would send a message to the locker room and fans about the upcoming offseason.

And it’s especially interesting considering Joe Burrow himself just put a ton of public pressure on the front office to keep Tee Higgins, too.

Signing Chase now, then Higgins in the offseason, would certainly be one way to keep the quarterback and fans happy.

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Will Bengals get cheap with Ja’Marr Chase? An NFL insider weighs in

One insider considers the upcoming standoff between the Bengals and Ja’Marr Chase.

The Cincinnati Bengals and Ja’Marr Chase aren’t talking a contract extension during the season after the recent, awkward standoff between the two sides.

That impasse that bled into the regular season ended with Chase apparently feeling like the Bengals misled him in talks.

And now insiders such as ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler have gone back and forth on how things might play out between the Bengals and Chase next offseason:

The belief leaguewide is, yes, the Bengals did get close to extending Chase’s contract leading up to Week 1, but while the per-year annual average on that contract offer was sufficient, the structure of the deal (guarantees) was not what he wanted. Now Chase is well-positioned to clear Jefferson’s four-year, $140 million bar and then some. Will the Bengals oblige? It seems like a no-brainer, but that’s still a hefty price tag for a team considered fiscally responsible. The feeling here is Cincinnati lets Tee Higgins walk in free agency and allocates resources for Chase, a 2026 free agent. If not, expect Chase to stay far away from the team for a while.

Here’s the problem for the Bengals: Chase’s price was always going to go up next offseason due to the nature of the market. They knew that. But it doesn’t help that he’s flirting with a Triple Crown and his agent is openly celebrating how easy he’s making the job for his reps.

So yes, things could get messy between the Bengals and Chase after the season. The team could technically stand firm in how it wants to structure the contract, citing the fifth year of Chase’s rookie deal, then a franchise tag, and perhaps even another after that.

But…Chase could use his leverage too. It’s uncomfortable, but a conversation that is understandably making the rounds right now.

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Bengals accused of making one of NFL’s biggest backfiring decisions

And this criticism of the Bengals is rightfully deserved.

The Cincinnati Bengals have made many mistakes in recent years, with losing key talent like Jessie Bates and DJ Reader blatantly backfiring on the field as we speak.

But the biggest mistake might still be unfolding and have even bigger ramifications for years down the road.

The mistake, of course, is not getting Ja’Marr Chase’s contract extension done this past offseason and letting the saga seep into the regular season.

Rightfully, Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox just listed Cincinnati’s failure to pay Chase early as one of the top still-backfiring mistakes across the entire NFL:

While we’re unlikely to see another receiver top Jefferson’s deal between now and next offseason, we’re likely to see Chase gain even more leverage in contract negotiations.

The Bengals balking at Chase’s contract demands and not getting something done due to guarantees and structure of payouts was downright silly. While the team can use the threat of the franchise tag and such as leverage, kicking the can down the road to next offseason will cost the team even more as the market keeps increasing and he keeps playing like the best receiver in football.

Given how downright awful the defense looks right now, it’s clear the team will need to pour some money into it this offseason (and Trey Hendrickson already wants a new deal too, remember?). But the Bengals will have limited ability to put money into the defense if so much will have to go toward Chase’s extension.

Hence…the Bengals should have used the unexpected early window to get the Chase extension out of the way. It’s probably especially frustrating for fans because — on paper — the team didn’t pay Bates or Reader so that it could pay Joe Burrow, then Chase and potentially Tee Higgins, too. So far, the Bengals have done neither at wideout and the defense has suffered, with no relief on the way because so much money will need to go to Chase next summer.

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Bengals’ Zac Taylor speaks on how summer contract drama impacted team

Zac Taylor addresses the contract standoffs and impact on the Bengals.

The Cincinnati Bengals have had to deal with a ton of adversity dating back to last summer.

There have been key injuries, like losing a huge chunk of the defense line. Joe Burrow was slowly working back from his own injury, among other notables.

And then there were those pesky contract standoffs.

Tee Higgins had the standoff over the franchise tag before reporting for camp. Trey Hendrickson, at one point, requested a trade before going full in camp. And Ja’Marr Chase’s big dispute bled into the season itself.

Yet, coming out of his team’s first win of the season, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor has nothing but praise for how his trio of stars handled things.

“I can’t point to that as the reason we’ve lost any of those games. And I couldn’t be happier with how those three guys are handling themselves right now,” Taylor told Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. “Honestly, you wouldn’t even know that they had those situations going on because they’ve just kind of gone all in with the team. …

“We’ve got guys that deserve to be paid and want to be paid. But we also got guys that want to win a Super Bowl. I can’t speak for them, but I do know that they know, Hey, if I show up and I work, we got a chance to do some special things. That’s kind of the attitude I see from those guys.”

Normally, this might just fall under the “coach speak” umbrella, sure. But the attendance and performance for all three guys when the games matter has been stellar, for the most part.

So while outside noise like this tends to hit teams when it matters most, the Bengals have endured the hit. Were the slow starts isolated to this season, perhaps we could suggest the contract standoffs were big factors — but slow starts have been one of the most consistent details of the Zac Taylor era and injuries played a big role this year, too.

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Why Ja’Marr Chase took a $50M insurance policy on himself this season

A new report detailed a key development on the Ja’Marr Chase contract situation for the Bengals.

Ja’Marr Chase feels like the Cincinnati Bengals outright “misled” him during contract talks over the summer.

And he’s doing something about it, too.

Chase isn’t holding out of regular season games, no. But he’s using every last little bit of leverage he has to show the team he’s serious.

That means no more contract talks during the season and, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Chase has made a measured move to protect himself:

To reinforce his word and strengthen his position, Chase also has taken out a $50 million insurance policy on himself for this season to safeguard against injury and any potential lost earnings. As one source said about Chase, with the insurance policy in place, “He’s good.”

Translation: Chase is going to keep playing and get back to seeking that major contract extension after the season.

That is unless something historically dramatic changes from the team’s side. But the report says that, as we already expected, guarantees and structure of payouts were major issues during contract talks.

This means the pricetag paid by the Bengals will jump even higher next summer. But Chase was seeking an extension with two years left on his rookie deal.

The standoff made sense. Every big name in front of Chase that needed to reset the wideout market did, hence his asking. Long-term security against injury is important and the chance to get another extension earlier in his prime is a no-brainer. From the team’s perspective, Chase has two years left on his deal, then potentially multiple years of franchise tag leverage if necessary.

That’s not even pointing a finger at either side. The team offered an annual number over Justin Jefferson’s, per Schefter. But they made an offer within how they do business and Chase rightfully balked.

So things stand still here. Chase has some huge injury protections in place now that also show the team he’s serious. And unless the Bengals want to historically break character, this is how things will pause until after the season.

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Ja’Marr Chase feels like Bengals ‘misled’ him during contract standoff

A bad update on the standoff between the Bengals and Ja’Marr Chase.

A new report paints the contract situation between the Cincinnati Bengals and Ja’Marr Chase in a pretty bad light.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Chase won’t partake in contract talks with the team during the season unless something changes.

And it gets worse:

According to sources, the star wide receiver believes the Bengals misled him when they told him at the end of last season, and again during the offseason, he would get an extension that ultimately did not happen.

The report goes on to note that the contract talks this summer featured numbers that would beat the annual average of $35 million that Justin Jefferson got from Minnesota, but that other structures and payout details were issues for Chase and his reps.

Now, there are a few catches here.

For one, the Bengals don’t talk extensions during the season, anyway. As Schefter goes on to point out, Andrew Whitworth in 2015 was the only exception in the last two decades.

Two, we already knew that the guaranteed money wasn’t to Chase’s liking, perhaps especially in the case of injury guarantees.

And three, the fact Chase took out a $50 million insurance policy on himself against injury for this season, per Schefter, simply adds further confirmation that this is merely the latest leverage play by a player and his camp in these circumstances.

As has been the case all along, Chase had handled things well, walking the tightrope between showing the team he’s serious about his market-resetting contract while not overly harming the team.

That won’t appease all fans, of course, especially after the offense’s flop in the Week 1 loss to New England. But he didn’t do a dramatic holdout during training camp, nor miss games that matter, which given the money at stake for a player of his caliber (especially after he watched the team break precedent for his quarterback last year), is notable.

And while this all seems very dramatic, it merely moves the extension to next summer which, for the most part, was the expected time for one anyway. There, the Bengals will likely pay up well over that $35 million and fix the guarantee structures to Chase’s liking.

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