The Cincinnati Bengals are poised to dole out a lot of money this offseason with wide receiver Tee Higgins, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and edge rusher Trey Hendrickson all seeking new contracts.
Higgins, the 2025 offseason’s top pending wide receiver free agent, was franchise-tagged last year, but that’s something Cincinnati is looking to avoid this offseason.
“I think Tee Higgins is a fantastic football player, and I want him on my team,” Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “Whenever I’m in charge of a football team, I want Tee Higgins, so I’m going to do what I can to get Tee Higgins. Our preference with Tee Higgins is do a long-term agreement. Always has been, and it continues to be. We’ll work hard to get that done.
“We want to re-sign these guys, reward them for their ability level and add to the football team. It’s a tall task, we think we’re up to it and [executive vice president] Katie [Blackburn] has us in position to attack it well.”
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Tobin reiterated the team’s preference is for “a long-term deal” when asked about using the franchise tag again on Higgins. As for Chase, who led the NFL in catches (127), receiving yards (1,708) and receiving touchdowns (17) in 2024, Tobin is comfortable making the fifth player since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger to win the receiving triple crown the league’s highest-paid non-quarterback. That would mean giving Chase a contract with a larger average-per-year salary than Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson, his former LSU teammate who is on a four-year, $140 million deal ($35 million average per year).
The 25-year-old Chase is currently set to play out the final year of his rookie deal on his fifth-year option.
“He’s going to end up being the No. 1-paid non-quarterback in the league. We’re there, let’s get it done,” Tobin said. … We’re going to reward Ja’Marr.”
Hendrickson, a 2024 first-team All-Pro after leading the NFL with 17.5 sacks, became the fifth player since individual sacks became an officially tracked metric in 1982 with consecutive seasons of 17 or more sacks. He’s the first since JJ Watt accomplished the feat in the 2014 and 2015 seasons, and since Hendrickson is now entering the final year of his four-year, $60 million deal in 2025 on the heels of that performance, he’s looking to get well compensated now, too. That’s also something the Bengals are looking to accomplish this offseason, but the two sides have a ways to go in the negotiation process.
“He’s been a great signing for us. We’ve been a great fit for him. He’s been a great fit for us. We would like to extend that. We would like to keep him, not only happy but with us on a long-term basis,” Tobin said of Hendrickson. … “Hopefully we’ll come to an agreement that everyone is acceptable of, but are we there yet? Not, we’re not there yet.”
