The Cincinnati Bengals could lose star wide receiver Tee Higgins to the open market — though superstar quarterback Joe Burrow had made public pleas for the club to retain him, Ja’Marr Chase and Trey Hendrickson.

The most important of the three aforementioned players is arguably Chase.

The LSU product recently posted the third triple-crown in the past century, posting 1,708 receiving yards, 17 touchdowns and 127 receptions on the season.

While the Bengals had a subpar finish on the season, posting a 9-8 record, the season Burrow and Chase had can’t be denied. Those two are Cincinnati’s building blocks heading into the coming years.

If the Bengals want to become a title contender, that’ll come with the moves in the margins this offseason after extending Chase’s contract.

How did Chase have a career season, though? He recently took to Sirius XM to make sense of his superb season.

“Just having an opportunity to make plays on the ball in the air,” Chase told the station. “Joe (Burrow) gave me opportunities. (offensive coordinator) Dan Pitcher, giving me the opportunity to move into different positions. Big explosives all over the field. I got a chance to show more of my game.”

The Bengals were unable to strike a contract extension with Chase before the 2024 season, which is now to their detriment. The superstar wide receiver was remarkable and drove up his extension price heading into the new offseason.

Chase now rivals his former college teammate Justin Jefferson as the best receiver in the entire NFL.

Burrow wants Chase to stay around, and Cincinnati will now be more inclined to pay the steep price for the superstar wide receiver, who is more than worth every penny he will receive in the extension.

Sure, Cincinnati needs to maintain some cap flexibility to make some roster adjustments, and that might come with a restructured contract from Burrown and other marginal changes to work around the overall salary of the team.