Bengals extend Chase (4 yrs $161mill) AND Higgins (4 yrs $115mill)

[HappyDays]

1 hour ago, YoloinOhio said:

They will need to draft and pray at several positions where they need immediate starters who are difference makers. They didn’t improve at all this offseason yet. The hope is Al golden improves the defense but that will be tough without talent and depending on rookies. Otherwise, it’s the same team as last year and they can pin their hopes on a wild card bc they are clearly having to chase a much better Baltimore. 

 

Did any serious contender meaningfully improve this offseason? The Bills didn't - we spent the offseason re-signing our own and signing decent but unspectacular free agents, and still have a couple positions with glaring holes on the roster. Teams like the Pats and Panthers went on a spending spree because they could. The contenders are all going to have to "draft and pray" because that's the part of their window that they're in. Legitimately good to great starters at premium positions aren't making it to free agency.

 

Like what was Cincy supposed to use Higgins' money on? Should they have given Dan Moore $21M AAV? Milton Williams $26M AAV? It's a fair point that they have serious concerns across their roster, but that doesn't mean they should start spending bad money just to say they tried to improve weak positions. Their only mistake in this saga is that they waited too long and cost themselves a few extra million a season.

[mikemac2001]

23 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

who were the best guys they lost after the SB year?

Their entire secondary changed the next year and then DJ reader left the following.

 

There were a-lot Of parts on that defense that left other than Trey. 

 

[Buffalo Ballin]

Good luck with that.

 

For receivers? I don't care who they are. That's QB/RB/Great defensive players type money. I just don't know anymore. Having an often injured Burrow will make this a huge fail.

 

This type of money should have been used to strengthen their O-line to protect Burrow and defense to stop the opposition.

Edited March 18 by Buffalo Ballin

[YoloinOhio]

1 hour ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

Burrow is a mirage of his surroundings IMO. That's not to say he doesn't have skills. He does. But he's greatly propped up by the WRs around him and the fact the defense is so bad they are in almost constant come back mode and have to pass 40+ times a game. 

 

Even Jake Browning looked really good throwing to Chase and Higgins 2 seasons ago. I see people putting him top 3. I don't see him even in the top 5 QBs. 

Burrow is a good to great qb on a bad team with a bad owner and HC. He can take them to the SB again, I think he’s good enough. I think he’s a Brady type mentally and physically. The issue is they do not know how to build the team that is needed to win a SB. When will they do that. In his lifetime? I have no issue with the GM paying the WRs they drafted and developed and who burrow wants to stay. I do have an issue that they are bumbling around in the front office waiting so long and costing so much extra money in the process they are hamstrung on signing quality starters at other positions let alone quality depth needed to get through a season, win a division, etc. Trying to act like this was the “Eagles model” bc they also have two highly paid WR. The eagles way is also an elite OL, Defense, all world RB and dual threat QB. None of which is in place there. Godspeed. 

Edited March 18 by YoloinOhio

[CincyBillsFan]

2 hours ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

Burrow is a mirage of his surroundings IMO. That's not to say he doesn't have skills. He does. But he's greatly propped up by the WRs around him and the fact the defense is so bad they are in almost constant come back mode and have to pass 40+ times a game. 

 

Even Jake Browning looked really good throwing to Chase and Higgins 2 seasons ago. I see people putting him top 3. I don't see him even in the top 5 QBs. 

That's a fair point and also Burrow and the O were often going against late game prevent defenses.  That will do more then anything to prop up your stats.  Just look at Mahomes stats in the SB against the Eagles up to the point where the birds led 34 - 0 then look at his stats the rest of the game against a prevent/back-up D. 

 

 

[Billl]

52 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

Burrow is a good to great qb on a bad team with a bad owner and HC. He can take them to the SB again, I think he’s good enough. I think he’s a Brady type mentally and physically. The issue is they do not know how to build the team that is needed to win a SB. When will they do that. In his lifetime? I have no issue with the GM paying the WRs they drafted and developed and who burrow wants to stay. I do have an issue that they are bumbling around in the front office waiting so long and costing so much extra money in the process they are hamstrung on signing quality starters at other positions let alone quality depth needed to get through a season, win a division, etc. Trying to act like this was the “Eagles model” bc they also have two highly paid WR. The eagles way is also an elite OL, Defense, all world RB and dual threat QB. None of which is in place there. Godspeed. 

They led in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl with the same core of players and have played the Chiefs tougher in the postseason than any other team.  The options are to play to their existing, massive strengths and try to hit on some draft picks around them or tear things down around Burrow and try to completely reinvent the roster.  No serious franchise would go with the latter.

 

Three years ago, the Chiefs traded Tyreek because he wanted $30 million AAV.   Today, that contract sounds like a massive bargain.  The same will be true for Chase and Higgins.  The Bengals’ issues have been 100% caused by poor drafting the last few seasons.  No amount of middle class free agent signings will change that.

[YoloinOhio]

4 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

Did any serious contender meaningfully improve this offseason? The Bills didn't - we spent the offseason re-signing our own and signing decent but unspectacular free agents, and still have a couple positions with glaring holes on the roster. Teams like the Pats and Panthers went on a spending spree because they could. The contenders are all going to have to "draft and pray" because that's the part of their window that they're in. Legitimately good to great starters at premium positions aren't making it to free agency.

 

Like what was Cincy supposed to use Higgins' money on? Should they have given Dan Moore $21M AAV? Milton Williams $26M AAV? It's a fair point that they have serious concerns across their roster, but that doesn't mean they should start spending bad money just to say they tried to improve weak positions. Their only mistake in this saga is that they waited too long and cost themselves a few extra million a season.

They weren’t a serious contender, they needed to improve. They aren’t in the same category, sadly, as those with well rounded rosters. Now dependent on rookies. Again I agree they should have paid their WR (but should have been sooner, they are stupid).

Edited March 18 by YoloinOhio

[SoTier]

4 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

Did any serious contender meaningfully improve this offseason? The Bills didn't - we spent the offseason re-signing our own and signing decent but unspectacular free agents, and still have a couple positions with glaring holes on the roster. Teams like the Pats and Panthers went on a spending spree because they could. The contenders are all going to have to "draft and pray" because that's the part of their window that they're in. Legitimately good to great starters at premium positions aren't making it to free agency.

 

Like what was Cincy supposed to use Higgins' money on? Should they have given Dan Moore $21M AAV? Milton Williams $26M AAV? It's a fair point that they have serious concerns across their roster, but that doesn't mean they should start spending bad money just to say they tried to improve weak positions. Their only mistake in this saga is that they waited too long and cost themselves a few extra million a season.

 

Are the Bengals "serious contenders"?   I don't think they are at this time.  The Bengals are a marginal playoff team at best.  That they failed to make the playoffs in 2023 is blamed on Burrow being injured, but they were only 5-5 in the 10 games when Burrow played and 4-3 without him.  They failed again to make the playoffs, again going 9-8, in 2024 because their defense couldn't stop anybody.   

 

Your argument that the Bengals shouldn't "waste" money on modest FAs doesn't make sense.  They don't have a few holes that can be stop-gap filled with modest FA signings like the Bills or Ravens or Rams.  They have lots of holes on both sides of the ball.  Hendrickson led the NFL in sacks, but the Bengals' defense still sucked.  They have serious need of better defensive backfield personnel, so even some of the modest DBs available in FA would be upgrades.   Burrow was sacked 48 times in 2024, but they re-signed Cody Ford (yes, the same Cody Ford the Bills drafted in Round 2 in 2019 and wasn't good enough to even be a Bills backup).  In contrast, Josh Allen was sacked 14 times, Lamar Jackson was sacked 23 times, and Matthew Stafford 28 times in 2024.

 

How is a team supposed to improve its record if its roster is filled with poor players -- and it doesn't go after some modest FAs who are better than the guys currently on their roster?

 

Edited March 18 by SoTier

[Mr. WEO]

21 hours ago, mikemac2001 said:

Their entire secondary changed the next year and then DJ reader left the following.

 

There were a-lot Of parts on that defense that left other than Trey. 

 

 

the year after they lost the SB, their D improved from 17th in points given up to 6th.  

 

the year they lost the SB they were 26th against the pass. The following year they were 23rd.

[mikemac2001]

1 hour ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

the year after they lost the SB, their D improved from 17th in points given up to 6th.  

 

the year they lost the SB they were 26th against the pass. The following year they were 23rd.

Okay you asked who they lost. They let defensive talent leave after the SB. 

 

dj reader was probably the biggest and that happened the following year 

Maybe there offense maybe held the ball more controlled the game but don’t act like players didn’t leave on the d side that was what you asked so don’t change the story 

[Mr. WEO]

1 hour ago, mikemac2001 said:

Okay you asked who they lost. They let defensive talent leave after the SB. 

 

dj reader was probably the biggest and that happened the following year 

Maybe there offense maybe held the ball more controlled the game but don’t act like players didn’t leave on the d side that was what you asked so don’t change the story 

 

the Defense got better the year after they lost the SB. 

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

After watching all the holding that OL get away with in the playoffs this is probably the future of the NFL. 80% on offense and 20% on defense. If you have a good GM you could draft defensive starters and just let them walk. Use your cap for the Offensive talent. 

[mikemac2001]

35 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

the Defense got better the year after they lost the SB. 

My point is since the SB They have not focused on defense and it was terrible last year they continue to ignore it 

 

That’s what we were talking about

[CincyBillsFan]

23 hours ago, Billl said:

They led in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl with the same core of players and have played the Chiefs tougher in the postseason than any other team.  The options are to play to their existing, massive strengths and try to hit on some draft picks around them or tear things down around Burrow and try to completely reinvent the roster.  No serious franchise would go with the latter.

 

First off, that 4th quarter SB lead, in fact the Bengal's 2021 playoff success, was orchestrated by the brilliant play of their defense.  Their offense was at best average during that run.  Today several of those defensive players are gone as is the defensive coach that seemed to have Mahomes/Reid's number.  They are not close to being the same team.  In fact the Bengals are a fundamentally different team then the one that made a trip to the SB 4 years ago.

 

Second, your claim that the Bengal's play the Chief's tougher then anyone else is false.  The Bills have also played the Chiefs down to the wire their last 3 games.

 

[CincyBillsFan]

43 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

the Defense got better the year after they lost the SB. 

Yes it did and that great defense almost got them to a 2nd consecutive SB.  In both those seasons, 2021 & 2022, the Bengal's D and not their O carried the team.  But since those seasons Cincy has allowed their D to go to crap, got rid of their brilliant D coach and double-downed on their offensive weapons.   Hell, they still haven't fixed their O line. 

 

The Bengal's are conducting an interesting experiment - put all your resources into field the best Offensive skill players to surround your elite QB while simultaneously ignoring your D and O line. Only time will tell whether this will work or not.  I'm betting against it as Cincy fails to make the playoffs for a 3rd straight year.

 

 

 

[ColoradoBills]

6 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

Yes it did and that great defense almost got them to a 2nd consecutive SB.  In both those seasons, 2021 & 2022, the Bengal's D and not their O carried the team.  But since those seasons Cincy has allowed their D to go to crap, got rid of their brilliant D coach and double-downed on their offensive weapons.   Hell, they still haven't fixed their O line. 

 

The Bengal's are conducting an interesting experiment - put all your resources into field the best Offensive skill players to surround your elite QB while simultaneously ignoring your D and O line. Only time will tell whether this will work or not.  I'm betting against it as Cincy fails to make the playoffs for a 3rd straight year.

 

 

 

 

There are routinely posters on this board praising other teams (especially the Bills competition) who ignore things like the Bengals OL.

If Beane was fielding an OL like the Bengals, they would be calling for his head.

 

It's pretty rough when Cody Ford is considered an anchor for your group.  I'm sure they will do more in the draft and probably pick up

another one or two in the remainder of FA, but that's pretty dangerous with a QB with an injury history like Burrow.

[TheFunPolice]

I like this, because all that happened was the Bengals stayed the same but burned a ton of cap and cash. 

 

They are the same team they were last season when they missed the playoffs. Burrow will throw for 6000 yards and 51 TDs and they will finish 8-9 but "be the team nobody wants to see in the tournament (that they won't make)!" 

[YoloinOhio]

On 3/19/2025 at 11:19 AM, mikemac2001 said:

My point is since the SB They have not focused on defense and it was terrible last year they continue to ignore it 

 

That’s what we were talking about

It hasn’t gotten better bc they are cheap and didn’t pay key defensive players,  and have the smallest scouting dept in the league. They literally employ only 4 scouts! So while it’s easy to draft at the top like burrow and chase, not so easy to build affordable quality depth in the lower rounds. They blame it on the DC,which is considered front office scapegoating when he had one good player.