Although several deals — most notably the one in Minnesota — transformed the wide receiver market this year, no more tectonic shifts remain for the Bengals to observe. The market’s next seismic move figures to come out of Cincinnati. Will the sides hammer out a deal now or end up waiting until 2025?
Ja’Marr Chase has practiced in a limited capacity in each of the past two days, doing so after previously yo-yoing between a hold-in and participating. While this bodes well for Chase’s availability in Week 1, this situation is not yet settled. The fourth-year wideout is not viewed as a lock to be on the field against the Patriots.
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Not known as a team that gives in on these matters, the Bengals may be forced to deviate from their usual contract practices to lock down Chase. The team does not offer non-quarterbacks guarantees beyond Year 1 of extensions, making the Bengals among the few NFL teams who still proceed this way. Jefferson, however, reset the market by securing $110MM guaranteed ($88.7MM at signing), and the Cowboys soon gave CeeDee Lamb $100MM guaranteed ($67MM at signing). The market is effectively set for Chase, who is a year younger than both players.
Chase is angling to top Jefferson’s $35MM-per-year accord, and while the guarantee structure figures to present more complications for the Bengals than reaching that AAV will, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport notes the team has submitted a “significant, significant” offer to the All-Pro talent (video link). The team had recently intensified its effort to extend Chase, and this process is going down to the wire.
It is not known if the parties will shut down negotiations after the regular season begins, but recent Bengals negotiations have proceeded this way. Tee Higgins and the team stopped talking after a below-market offer annoyed the team’s WR2, and the most lucrative receiver contract in Bengals history — A.J. Green‘s four-year, $60MM deal — was agreed to on Sept. 11, 2015. That resolution occurred two days before the regular season that year.
No Bengals player is currently tied to a contract that included upfront guarantees between $146.5MM (Joe Burrow‘s) and $31.1MM (Orlando Brown Jr.‘s signing bonus). Chase will need to land well north of Brown’s number to sign, and he has used this practice pattern to effectively ramp up negotiations with the Bengals. With no other receiver dominoes to fall, Chase…