Rewind to this time last year. The Cincinnati Bengals tried to get a deal done with Ja’Marr Chase but an agreement wasn’t reached and now the same story is being played out once again this offseason. Both sides are trying (and apparently failing) to reach an agreement and keep Chase in Cincinnati.

The Bengals foolishly stated that they were going to make Chase the highest non-quarterback in the league so now their hands are tied. Judy Battista appeared on The Dan Patrick Show earlier this week and couldn’t believe how badly the Bengals had fumbled this situation.

Patrick led into the discussion by stating that if a player is great, the teams should pay them. Battista then took that and ran with it, mentioning that this past weekend shows “what happens when [teams] wait” to sign a player. She says that now the Bengals have to pay millions of more dollars and have “put themselves in a terrible spot”.

“The Bengals did it to [Ja’Marr Chase] twice. First of all, they should’ve done Ja’Marr Chase last year, they were close. I believe they got hung up on guaranteed money, like which now you’re like ‘Ugh!’,” Battista said. She then goes on to explain how the non-quarterback market jumped significantly thanks to the Maxx Crosby deal and then the Myles Garrett deal increased it further.

“The Bengals have said publically that they’re gonna make Ja’Marr Chase the highest paid non-quarterback so I mean they’ve got no wiggle room and now that’s going to be much more expensive.”

Judy Battista says Bengals shot themselves in the foot with Ja’Marr Chase contract situation

Battista isn’t wrong here. The Bengals had a chance to get in front of all of these massive contracts a year ago and while yes, at the time that deal would have been incredibly expensive, we’ve seen it doesn’t take long before a few deals make the old one look cheap in comparison. The Bengals have said they’re going to make Chase the highest-paid non-quarterback so, as Battista said, they don’t have wiggle room.

If Cincinnati’s front office is going to pay Chase that hefty chunk of change, they need to do it as soon as possible because, as we’ve seen, the numbers are only going to continue to climb. The sooner the Bengals can get a deal done, the better but sadly, we don’t appear to be closing in on a solution.