Tag: Bengals contracts

Ja’Marr Chase contract, ‘hold in’ situation updated by NFL insider

Another update on the Ja’Marr Chase contract saga with the Bengals.

A day after Cincinnati Bengals wider receiver Ja’Marr Chase practiced with the team for the first time this summer, an NFL insider has updated the contract outlook.

As expected, it has to do with Justin Jefferson, Brandon Aiyuk and CeeDee Lamb.

According to The 33rd Team’s Ari Meirov, Chase’s camp is waiting for the leverage provided by those other players signing extensions of their own.

“They are still talking on an extension, they are still ongoing, Meirov said. “The hope from Ja’Marr’s side is that they are able to reach a long-term deal and frankly, the way they look at it…if CeeDee or Aiyuk get done and those are in the Justin Jefferson neighborhood, they feel pretty confident that the Bengals are going to have their hands tied.”

This is what we’ve written from the beginning — Chase has two years left on his deal and Jefferson resetting the market sped up the process. He deserves to be at the very top, so the idea he’ll want to leapfrog both Aiyuk and Lamb is obvious.

As fans have seen themselves, Meirov notes that Chase has been a “class act through all of this” during camp. He also says that, at least for now, Chase will practice but potentially remain out of 11s.

Luckily for Chase, he doesn’t need all that much leverage in negotiations. As we stress always, Bengals president Mike Brown has already said, to paraphrase, that the team will “bend over backward” on the extension to keep him with Joe Burrow.

So again, Chase is playing the waiting game while looking at the market. If the two other big names get done before the season, he might, too. Otherwise, the big extension will happen next summer.

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Adam Schefter says Ja’Marr Chase ‘hold-in’ with Bengals is ‘mysterious’

Is the Bengals-Ja’Marr Chase thing this interesting?

The “hold-in” for Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase continues to captivate the NFL.

Case in point, Adam Schefter just went on ESPN and called the situation “mysterious” while comparing it to other situations.

“This is the one to me that remains the most mysterious. Because unlike Brandon Aiyuk and CeeDee Lamb, Ja’Marr Chase has two years left on his contract, not one,” Schefter said. “We’ve already heard Bengals president Mike Brown come out and say he would prefer to wait to do this deal. Now I think Cincinnati will still push to get this deal done. But from my understanding there hasn’t been a whole lot of progress.”

In the end, it might not turn out all that mysterious. Chase hasn’t been practicing yet but has been in attendance at all training camp practices (minus one exception) and also traveled with the team to Chicago for the second preseason game.

While Brown has said next year might be ideal for an extension, he also made it clear that it would happen, even saying, to paraphrase, that the team would “bend over backwards” to see it done. For Chase, it’s a matter of doing it now to lock in the guarantees, years and earlier chance at a future extension down the road, or likely even bigger cash one year from now.

And with Justin Jefferson already resetting the market, there’s a very real chance the Bengals and Chase are simply playing the waiting game to see what numbers Lamb and Aiyuk get. Then, they can put Chase over the top, where they both feel he deserves to be.

It’s not all that shocking to see Chase doesn’t want to risk injury while this unfolds. Barring something outright stunning, there’s no reason to think he won’t at least get in gear with Joe Burrow ahead of Week 1.

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Bengals, Evan McPherson agree to massive contract extension

The Bengals get the deal done with Evan McPherson.

The Cincinnati Bengals have completed the expected extension with kicker Evan McPherson.

Per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, it’s a three-year, $16.5 million extension that gives him $10 million in new money over the first year of the deal.

McPherson has been a star for the Bengals since arriving via the fifth round in 2021. He’s posted a perfect playoff mark of 19-for-19 and has made 21 kicks of 50-plus yards, the most ever for a kicker over his first three seasons.

To date, McPherson has only missed seven kicks of 50-plus yards and overall has made 83.9 percent of his attempts.

McPherson’s rookie contract was set to expire after the 2024 season.

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Ja’Marr Chase ‘hold-in’ with Bengals gets Justin Jefferson comparison

An NFL expert is right to make this link between Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase is one of the NFL’s top points of speculation right now.

No wonder. Chase was a “hold-in” at training camp up until this past Tuesday, where he was suspiciously absent from the team’s proceedings for the first time all summer.

That opened the floodgates on speculation that went in both directions. Hopeful fans wondered if a long-term extension was coming together. Most everyone else wondered if the “hold-in” was about to become a “holdout.”

But ESPN’s Dan Graziano brought up a good point recently by merely comparing the situation to Justin Jefferson’s with the Minnesota Vikings: “He’s in the situation that Justin Jefferson was in this time, last year. Jefferson didn’t get his deal until this offseason.”

Graziano went on to say that Chase himself might benefit more if he waits another year, too.

“I think the Bengals feel that way to a certain extent,” Graziano said. “I think that’s the more likely scenario from their end, that they would rather talk about this next year. Truthfully, I don’t know why he wouldn’t either because the numbers are only going to go up.”

That’s where the biggest point of speculation comes into play. Chase had made it no secret at all that he wanted to wait until guys like Jefferson and CeeDee Lamb reset the market first. Jefferson already did, so does Chase want the deal right now?

Sure the numbers might be better if Chase waits, but locking in a guaranteed market-resetting deal on the chance he suffers an injury this upcoming season would make sense, too.

The reality? We still don’t know why Chase wasn’t around on Tuesday and yes, Zac Taylor answered the question a little differently than normal. One has to think, though, that if Chase or his reps were disgruntled with the lack of contract talks or how contract talks themselves are going, we would’ve seen something leaked to reporters by now.

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Hakeem Butler contract details with Bengals revealed

Info on the contract the Bengals gave Hakeem Butler in free agency.

The Cincinnati Bengals added wide receiver Hakeem Butler in free agency, who immediately turned around and started making plays in practice.

That certainly matched the hype fans welcomed him with, considering Butler was just the UFL’s offensive player of the year.

Now we know more about his contract, too.

According to Aaron Wilson of KPRC2, Butler’s contract with the Bengals checks in at $915,000 and is for one year.

It’s not a bad deal for either party. Butler gets a chance to prove he once again belongs in the NFL and if he makes the 53, he’ll be playing in a stacked offense led by Joe Burrow.

For the Bengals, they get another huge body for the boundary in the same vein as Tee Higgins and Andrei Iosivas.

Here’s just one example of what the Bengals are getting already on that deal:

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Bengals sign Kris Jenkins to rookie deal

The Bengals get the hyped rookie under contract.

Near the finale of mandatory work in June, the Cincinnati Bengals finally got another member of the rookie class under contract.

There, Cincinnati announced the signing of second-rounder Kris Jenkins, adding him to the list of eight rookies who had previously signed deals with the team.

As always, the lack of signing by Jenkins wasn’t a concern given the rookie wage scale and he’s been in town working with the team for most of the spring.

That early work, paired with why the team drafted him in the first place, has coaches thinking that Jenkins can help replace DJ Reader right away.

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Bengals sign center Ted Karras to contract extension

The Bengals and Ted Karras do a deal.

The Cincinnati Bengals have signed starting center and team captain Ted Karras to a one-year extension.

That extension arrived on the last day of mandatory work as the 31-year-old veteran originally headed into the final year of his contract and keeps him with the team through 2025.

Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com provided the following on Karras’ thoughts:

“I’m grateful the Karras family and the Brown family get to keep working together because we’ve both been in the league for a long time,” said Karras, on his way out to the last practice of mandatory minicamp.

“It’s the first time we’ve come together and been on the same team. I love what they’re doing. The ultimate goal is to get it done. I want to get it done for Mr. Brown and the Brown family and we have the guys to do it.”

In the wake of the extension, Karras’ deal is effectively a two-year pact worth $12 million.

Given Karras’ strong on-field play and huge presence as a leader in both the locker room and the community, this type of move between the parties felt inevitable.

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Bengals announce signing of another draft pick

The Bengals almost have the entire draft class under contract.

The Cincinnati Bengals got a sixth draft pick under contract on Monday.

There, the team announced the signing of defensive end Cedric Johnson, one of its two sixth-round picks and one of 10 overall.

Johnson, a promising edge prospect, has a chance to compete for the final 53-man roster this summer.

He joins the following rookies who have already signed their deals with the team:

  • DT McKinnley Jackson
  • CB Josh Newton
  • TE Tanner McLachlan
  • S Daijahn Anthony
  • C Matt Lee

This means the Bengals have four players left to sign as of this writing, including first-rounder Amarius Mims, second-rounder Kris Jenkins and third-rounder Jermaine Burton.

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Tee Higgins is last tagged star without an extension

Tee Higgins is the last tagged star without a deal.

The contract standoff between the Cincinnati Bengals and star wide receiver Tee Higgins is now the proverbial last man standing this offseason.

Monday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and franchise-tagged star defender Antoine Winfield Jr. agreed to a massive four-year extension.

That leaves Higgins as the only franchise or transitional-tagged player left. It also puts the spotlight solely on the Bengals and Higgins at the July 15 deadline for an extension to happen. Otherwise, he’ll play the 2024 season on the tag.

Notably, that deal for Winfield was orchestrated by agent David Mulugheta, who also reps Higgins (and reps star safety Jessie Bates).

Trey Hendrickson, the other star Bengals player to request a trade this offseason, was at activities on Monday. Higgins has yet to sign the tag, with the time around that July 15 deadline the real important point of this saga.

Joe Burrow recently talked about the situations around Hendrickson and Higgins.

Here’s a look at all of the results for tagged players so far:

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Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins contract projections updated by expert

Here’s what an expert thinks Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins will get paid on new deals.

The Cincinnati Bengals continue to inch closer to figuring out the costly wideout position featuring Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

Higgins is currently on the $21.8 million franchise tag while Chase just had his fifth-year option that carries the same number picked up by the club.

As the leaguewide market continues to change, so do projections.

Spotrac’s Michael Ginnitti updated the outlook around Chase, which includes a projected value of roughly $30 million per year on average:

While much of the focus in Cincinnati has gone to Tee Higgins and his unsigned franchise tag, Chase (the reason Higgins has a tag and not an extension), has now been extension eligible for 4 months. Will the Bengals take a page out of Philly’s book and rush to extend their core weapon this summer, or will they balance out Chase’s value salary ($4.8M) against Higgins’ tag ($21.8M), then look to re-up Ja’Marr next offseason? Waiting is a dangerous game at this position right now. Chase projects toward a 3 year, $90M extension in our system.

Ginnitti also spotlights Higgins, suggesting he’s projected at a $23.3 million per year on average to align with Michael Pittaman Jr.’s deal — the exact deal referenced in a recent report about the Bengals-Higgins standoff.

While the projections shift, everything remains in a holding pattern for the Bengals. Higgins hasn’t signed the tag yet and both parties have until mid-July to work out an extension or he’ll play next season on it.

As for Chase, he’s in no hurry to sign an extension, which makes plenty of sense considering how the market continues to escalate while he waits.

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