CINCINNATI — ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler dropped more breadcrumbs this week about the Bengals’ plans for its trio of stars in Tee Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase, and Trey Hendrickson.
Sources tell him the team wants to sign all three to new deals and keep them for the long term. Our James Rapien reported on Tuesday that the Bengals plan to franchise tag Tee Higgins and want to sign him to a new deal.
“The team will attempt to secure a trio of stars who need new deals — wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins and defensive end Trey Hendrickson — for the long term,” Fowler wrote. “Whether Cincinnati can pull it off remains uncertain, but the team’s messaging behind the scenes is that it’s certainly going to try.
“That starts with Higgins, who is set to hit free agency March 12. One team source says they believe the Bengals will use the franchise tag on Higgins if no long-term deal is reached by the March 4 tag deadline ‘in order to have time to get a deal done. Can’t let him walk.'”
It makes sense to get Higgins done first to lift the tighter salary cap restrictions a franchise tag brings on NFL teams and then deal out new contracts for a deserving Hendrickson and Chase. The latter is entering the offseason set to play on the fifth-year option, while Hendrickson is wildly underpaid compared to his top edge-rushing peers (set to make $16 million this coming season) and is entering the final year of his deal as well.
The messaging is there, now we await pens hitting paper to ink these deals.
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