If the Cincinnati Bengals front office felt it ended the criticism headed its way by extending receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, it was sorely mistaken.
The monstrous contracts handed out to both receivers were the right moves to make. Quarterback Joe Burrow is the driving force behind the Bengals’ Super Bowl hopes, and this was the best news he could have received. Optimizing Burrow and maintaining an elite passing offense remains the most accessible path to a Super Bowl.
However, in their pursuit of extending its stars, Cincinnati left some meat on the bone of its 2025 cap savings, and it could cost the team a meaningful free agent or two in the coming weeks.
One cap expert revealed the Bengals made two key mistakes on their recent extensions.
"Structure of Chase's deal is fine overall (good, in fact), except for having a non-proratable $10M roster bonus in 2025, which all hits the cap this year," Andre Perrotta tweeted. "Bengals unnecessarily ate $8M in 2025 cap space by not folding in Ja'Marr's $10M 2025 roster bonus into his $22M day-of-signing roster bonus. If they just combined those and did a $32M roster bonus earned on the day of signing and thus prorated (instead of $22M proratable, and $10M not proratable), Chase's 2025 Cap Hit = $15,570,000. Instead, it is $23,570,000."
Chase’s contract, worth $161 million over four years, with $112 million guaranteed. Higgins came in a bit below most expectations, at four years and $115 million, with questions regarding his guaranteed money – just $30 million at the time of signing.
This (by design) means Higgins might not be quite as locked in long-term as his contract would suggest.
Further, Over the Cap says that Cincinnati ranks 17th in cap space, but with those improvements would have approached the top 10 teams.
"Bengals could have further reduced Tee's 2025 Cap Hit (compared to the 2nd Tag amount) by $3.75M if they folded his second 2025 roster bonus ($5M) into his first 2025 roster bonus ($15M), since all $20M would have been prorated instead of just the $15M," Perrotta tweeted. "CIN could have had an additional $3.75M in 2025 Cap Space if the 2025 Roster Bonuses would not have been split."
This won’t render the Bengals signings meaningless or more neutral than beneficial, especially with most high-level free agents off the board. But with edge rusher Trey Hendrickson’s contract extension yet to be completed, any extra breathing room could prove to be crucial.
