Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins get Big Extensions! As the wee hours of St. Patrick’s Day, 2025 edition, kicked into gear the Cincinnati Bengals dug into their pot of gold and handed out millions of gold coins to their wide receiver combo. The Bengals have historically been unwilling to dish out money to their star players. This comes as a surprise with both of the players getting a ‘bag’. The thought was that the Bengals were going to decide on one or the other.
Ja’Marr Chase
Ja’Marr Chase received an extension worth four years, $161 million, with a $112 million guaranteed. This gives him the largest non-quarterback contract in the history of the NFL. That’s happened a few times these last couple of weeks, and the cap has been constantly going up.
Ja’Marr Chase had a case for Offensive Player of the Year last season if it wasn’t for Saquon Barkley’s historic performance for the Philadelphia Eagles. Chase had 127 receptions, 1708 receiving yards, and 17 touchdowns. He was the number one player in fantasy last year (non-QB). This marks his first time earning this accomplishment. He certainly can continue playing at this level for a long time to come. His college and Pro QB Joe Burrow is not afraid to throw him the ball and throw it to him well.
Chase’s stock only goes up. Not that doing any better than last year would take him to another level, he is as high as you can get. But fears of a hold-out, similar to last year, could have kept him lower on draft boards in 2025. Preseason injury is the only way that can occur now (god forbid).
Chase will have every opportunity to repeat his 2024. Cincinnati’s defensive personnel hasn’t gotten notably better. They did fire last year’s Defensive Coordinator Lou Anaroumo and hired former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden. The departure of Sam Hubbard and rumors of trading the 2024 NFL Sacks leader Trey Hendrickson only support that statement. Their offense was amazing in trying to catch up for their lackluster season. 2024 saw possibly the best individual performance by QB Joe Burrow in large part to the efforts of Ja’Marr Chase. I expect a similar result for the tandem in 2025.
Tee Higgins
Tee Higgins signed a four-year, $115 million deal. The first two years of the deal are guaranteed. Higgins has been rumored to many teams over the last few seasons, including the Giants and Patriots, because of the lack of faith in the Bengals’ ownership. Tee Higgins is one of the most talented receivers in the NFL, when healthy. That statement, “when healthy” is the reason Higgins has been in this contract mess for the last couple of seasons. A Franchise tag was placed on him the last couple of seasons to delay the contract talks as much as possible.
Higgins has never played a full season, maxing out at 14 three times. A largely unfair tag (no pun intended) to place on him is ‘injury prone’ with a couple of freak injuries that have plagued him from time to time. He missed six and eight games in the last two years respectively. Cincinnati finally realized that potentially having the best wide receiver combination in the NFL was much more worth it than letting him walk.
Per 17 games, Tee Higgins averages 80 receptions, 1,116 receiving yards, and 8 touchdowns. This would make him a WR2 most seasons. His production when he is on the field is undeniable, even with the elite target earner, Ja’Marr Chase opposite him. His production should continue along with Chase’s for similar reasons. Burrow has chemistry with both of the players. When he was on the field in 2024, he looked to have jumped to another level, having 34.8 fantasy points in the fantasy championship.
Winners
Joe Burrow comes out as a winner on this end if that was not already obvious. Burrow has put pressure on Bengals ownership each of the last 2 seasons. His frustration with their lack of spending is well known and even came out and publicly said that they, “have the cap space to get it done.” The franchise player wanted his two guys and got them. Burrow will be a top-five quarterback next season barring something drastic.
Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are both winners in this as well. Chase has proved to be THE number one in fantasy and is young and talented enough to sustain it. Going to another team after next season would likely be detrimental to his game. You can count on less than five fingers the number of quarterbacks that are better than Burrow. For Higgins, the same rings true. Even though any team he went to, he would be the alpha, he would be paired with a far less superior thrower of the football. The two main rumored teams were the Giants and the Patriots.
Fantasy managers of all shapes and sizes can benefit from these mammoth extensions. As a side bonus, on Sundays, we can still watch the connection between Burrow, Chase, and Higgins.
Losers
Andrei Iosivas showed some promise last season catching 36 balls, nearly 500 receiving yards, and six of Joe Burrow’s 43 touchdowns. He was a flex play in deeper leagues last season with a gradual incline on his dynasty stock. The sixth-rounder in 2023 out of Princeton is largely a non-factor now with Tee Higgins firmly back in the fold. Higgins’ poor health could make him viable if there is a long-term injury.
Mike Gesicki, the Penn State product, put up some respectable numbers in Cincinnati in 2024, after he had a few lost years in New England and Miami. He had over 650 receiving yards and a couple of touchdowns. This made him a respectable fantasy option week-to-week. While I believe the production could be similar for that offense, it is irresponsible not to recognize the repeatability of all actors in this offense to put up the same production. I believe Gesicki could be the one who suffers from both returning over the length of his new three-year, $25 million deal.
Overview
All in all, The Cincinnati Bengals did what they had to do. It looked like an impossible feat to pay Burrow, Chase, and Higgins $124 million combined. Who knows if this will be a sustainable number for the Bengals, considering their lack of consistent spending and three offensive stars eating up 44% of the available cap, along with their defensive struggles. Tee Higgins will likely be a cap casualty after the first two years of the deal as well. For now, we have one of the greatest offenses to ever grace us. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are going to be high on my ranks going into next season.
One last thing… Thank you, thank you, thank you to Mike Brown. Joe Burrow’s career has been saved, at least for fantasy purposes. Let’s get him some help on the defensive side of the ball.