Two years ago, the Cincinnati Bengals had the league’s best wide receiver duo flanking the perimeter for a combined average annual salary of $9.8 million. In 2025, that same tandem will earn a combined average annual salary of $69 million.
Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins quickly established themselves as one of the league's best tandems, but paying both stars never seemed to be feasible — until it was. In the second year of messy negotiations, Cincinnati managed to sign long-term extensions with both wide receivers on the same day. The lucrative deals were out of the norm for the Bengals, who have historically been known as one the league’s most frugal spenders.
Last offseason, Bengals owner Mike Brown pointed to the salary cap to explain why the team wasn’t able to sign a long-term deal with Higgins. “You can’t just pay people willy-nilly,” Brown said at the time. A year later, that’s exactly what he did.
Bengals’ stars worked together to get Tee Higgins signed
NFL agent Rocky Arceneaux of Alliance Sports, who represents Chase and Higgins, discussed the negotiations during an interview with The Enquirer's Kelsey Conway. As more details emerge about how the deals took place, it’s becoming clear that Cincinnati’s trio of offensive stars took their teamwork to the negotiating table.
Before the NFL Scouting Combine, Arceneaux “didn’t feel like there was a chance in hell” that both of his clients would remain in Cincinnati. The Bengals had previously discussed the possibility of franchise-tagging Higgins with the intent to trade him, so the expectation was that a trade was imminent after he was tagged in early March. Then, Arceneaux learned the Bengals were declining incoming trade offers for Higgins.
“And that's when I realized that they were more inclined to reward him instead of trading him,” Arceneaux said. “So, at that point, I think the structure and the tone of the negotiations took a turn for the better.”
So what changed? The first step was that Higgins fired his former agent, David Mulugheta last December. By hiring Arceneaux, who already represented Chase, they were able to pressure Cincinnati into signing both of them. Arceneaux told the Bengals that Chase’s deal wouldn’t happen without Higgins, according to The 33rd Team’s Arizona Meirov.
Then, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow pressured Brown to sign both wide receivers by publicly refuting his salary cap claims. To keep Burrow happy, the Bengals needed Chase. To sign Chase, they needed Higgins. Ultimately, Cincinnati was left with few alternative options — they had to retain all three of their offensive stars.
While Cincinnati managed to get the deals signed, they still mishandled the contract negotiations. The Bengals could averted the entire fiasco by signing both wide receivers last year when their market values would have cost the team a combined average annual salary of approximately $50 million — nearly $19 million less than they’re paying annually. That additional money could have been used to extend defensive end Trey Hendrickson, who remains embroiled in negotiations.