Joe Burrow always gives the Cincinnati Bengals a chance.
The NFL’s best quarterback having his two favorite receivers only gives the Bengals that much more of a chance.
Bengals fans are now assured they’ll have that for years to come after Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins each agreed to monstrous, four-year contract extensions on Sunday night.
These deals don’t mask that the Bengals have done almost nothing to fix their problems this offseason, issues that caused them to fall short of preseason Super Bowl expectations and not even make the playoffs this past season.
But let’s put reality on hold for a bit and savor the moment.
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These deals allow Cincinnati fans to dream big.
They give Bengals fans real hope that the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy just may be attainable sometime in the next four years.
And dammit, that’s a good thing. Hope your little hearts out, folks. There’s not been much else to get excited about around here lately. Hope is a good thing. It’s OK. Go ahead and have some.
Burrow-to-Chase. Burrow-to-Higgins. The griddy. The one-armed touchdown stretches. Dream big. And keep dreaming. Burrow, Chase and Higgins are how the Bengals became the NFL’s surprise team in 2021 and made a Super Bowl run. They’ll give Cincinnati a chance to maybe get back to the Super Bowl and win it all in 2025 or 2026 or 2027 or beyond.
Burrow has said the window to win the Super Bowl is his entire career. Well, the window sure is wide open as spring officially starts later this week.
These deals quash all the growing cynicism that Burrow’s Bengals career was heading the way of Carson Palmer’s. It puts the Dan Marino comparisons on the back burner. Maybe things ultimately will end badly for Burrow in Cincinnati, but no one is thinking about that now.
Instead, we’re wondering if ownership actually listened to Burrow, who openly politicked for the Bengals to get long-term deals done with Higgins, Chase and others.
These deals should restore some confidence in Bengals ownership. Did Mike Brown, stubborn to his core, really listen to a player about a business decision? Did he really just agree to pay $276 million for two players not named Burrow? Did the Bengals really just make Chase the highest-paid nonquarterback in the league?
The Bengals?!? The team that cares more about cap space than winning?
Holy moly. You’re happy as hell to get this St. Patrick’s Day pinch. You’re proudly wearing orange and black today – and two of the NFL’s top stars are seeing green. In Cincinnati. Not in Philadelphia or Kansas City or Baltimore.
The Bengals didn’t act like small-time, small-minded players for once. This is big. It’s big time.
All good? OK, then, now back to reality.
It’s probably not the smartest move to tie up nearly $69 million a year in two receivers. Well, it’s probably not smart for a franchise that’s not smart in the draft. Tying up more than a half-billion dollars in Chase, Higgins and Burrow puts extra pressure on the Bengals’ understaffed talent evaluation department.
It particularly signals that the Bengals will look to build (rebuild?) their defense through the draft. They’ve been terrible at picking impact defensive players in the last four drafts. The Bengals’ only star defensive player’s future in Cincinnati remains uncertain.
Will Brown keep the spending spree going and get a contract extension done with Trey Hendrickson next? The Bengals put Hendrickson on the trade block and then decided not to trade him, potentially a positive sign for a new deal.
Hendrickson, the best free-agent signing in franchise history, should’ve been priority No. 1 this offseason. He’s the reigning NFL sacks leader. It shouldn’t matter that he’s 30 years old.
The league is about the quarterback, protecting the quarterback and rushing the quarterback. And right now, the Bengals have Burrow and Hendrickson, who’s under contract for 2025.
The Bengals have failed to overhaul the defensive line in free agency. They haven’t addressed their needs on the interior offensive line.
It appears as if they’re taking a run-it-back approach with a defense that cost Cincinnati the postseason. The Bengals had Burrow playing at an MVP-level and Chase winning the triple crown. They had Hendrickson dropping the quarterback 17.5 times.
To recap, the Bengals had the best quarterback, best receiver and best edge rusher – and still missed the playoffs. The Bengals averaged 28 points a game. They showed that outscoring teams isn’t a sustainable winning formula, and yet the Bengals are content with the status quo on defense.
It’s obvious the front office thinks the problem was defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, who was fired after the season. He wasn’t the problem. Talent is the problem. Consistently bad drafts are the problem.
It’s also obvious the front office thinks outscoring teams actually is a winning formula. Bengals decision-makers see that the team lost seven of its eight games by an average of four points. That’s a typical Bengals attitude: “We’re close. No need to change much.”
Oh, sorry, this day is supposed to be about hope. Have at it.
