Burrow Enters 2023, “Strong, Stable, Grounded’; Ja’Marr Vows To Chase Down Every Bengals Record; WRs Unwind With Damar Hamlin

OTHER NUMBERS: Here’s another look at how head coach Zac Taylor’s locker room chemistry is stirred by the attitude of the biggest stars. Both Burrow and Higgins are now eligible for extensions and they’re both here for the voluntary workouts.

“At the end of the day I love the game. Whatever happens with my contract happens,” Higgins said. “I’m not worried about that right now. Hopefully we can get something done soon. Right now I’m just here to work.

“My agent was even like, do what you want to do. It’s what you want to do. I’m not going to tell you what to do. That was my decision to come back and come work out.”

All eyes, of course, are on Burrow and his deal. Like everything else, if it’s not football he’s not going to give you a whole heck of a lot.

“I’m involved. That’s in the works. That’s not really something that I like to play out in the media,” Burrow said. “That’s something, just the way I think they want to do business, I want to do business. We prefer to keep that between us.”

And, yes, he wants a deal that can help them keep guys together. Such as Higgins and Chase, eligible next year.

“I’m pretty clear on what I want in the contract and what I think is best for myself and the team. We’re on the road to making that happen,” Burrow said. “You’ve got to have good players. It doesn’t matter how good your quarterback is. If you don’t have good players around him, you’re not going to be a very good team.”

That doesn’t surprise Higgins. The three of them have been talking about keeping the band together.

“It just tells everybody he wants to keep his weapons around. Hopefully we can do that and keep building from here,” Higgins said. “Obviously we talk about staying together for the long run. Hopefully we can do that and get something negotiated to where they can keep all three of us.”

SLANTS AND SCREENS: Higgins is wearing his Clemson No. 5 now after wearing Chad’s No. 85 his first three seasons in the league.

“It’s my childhood number. My cousin actually started…