As a Cincinnati Bengals fan, I knew that this offseason would be the beginning of an incredibly turbulent period for arguably the best triad of wide receivers in the National Football League. Over the past three seasons, the combination of Ja’Marr Chase‘s elite speed, Tee Higgins‘ tremendous size and length and the shiftiness of Tyler Boyd has made life easy on superstar quarterback Joe Burrow. Using his advanced accuracy, Burrow has been able to capitalize on the talents of all three of his biggest weapons.
Cincinnati Bengals Deal with the Natural Course of Events
Unfortunately, that was all doomed to change this offseason as the contracts of both Higgins and Boyd were set to expire in 2024. To start with, the team has essentially written off Boyd completely this year as it is widely believed that his slot receiver skillset can easily be replaced by another receiver. Higgins on the other hand has been the focus of the offseason since he is both younger than Boyd and his size and length have boosted his status toward being one of the better target men in the entire NFL.
Several weeks ago, Cincinnati made a foolish attempt to delay the inevitable by applying the franchise tag to Higgins and locking him in for a one-year, fully guaranteed contract worth $21.8 million. On Monday morning, their postponement finally deteriorated as Higgins grew frustrated with the lack of communication from the front office regarding an extension and the star receiver officially requested a trade from the Queen City Club.
While it was a reaction that I’ve predicted several years in advance, the team has completely lost negotiating power afterward. While the market deemed Higgins worthy of a first round pick in return last season if he was valued in the trade market, his unease has tanked his value all the way to a second round pick.
Hopefully, the team’s inactivity in the free agent market so far can be explained by a potentially desperate approach to Boyd to try to keep at least two of their fantastic trio of pass catchers. There has been open speculation that Boyd would be leaving this offseason but there was also a naive sense of hope that the team would somehow retain Higgins.
Is Cincinnati Completely to Blame for the Poor Planning with Higgins?
Although the franchise should’ve put the proper thought into trading Higgins last offseason, there is something bizarre going on today. While I had believed that there was a glimmer of hope to retain Higgins with the additional $30+ million added to the salary cap this offseason, that has all come slamming down over the past few days with the damage that inflation has done to some of these contracts. While numerous reports had listed Higgins at going for a $17 million per year contract a month ago, it looks likely now that he could fall anywhere between $20 to $25 million per season.
This morning, there was a general trend in contractual value where virtually every player that agreed to a contract this morning locked it at approximately 10-20% higher than their market value. That means that Cincinnati may have been somewhat doomed in this endeavor by inflation after drafting three players in the first and second round at the second highest contractually valued position in football.
Just as an example, former New England Patriots receiver Kendrick Bourne signed a three-year contract worth $33 million which averages out to $11 million per season. While he may have been a solid option on the abysmal receiving corps put together in New England, Bourne was anticipated to make approximately $5 million per season. The current inflationary setting doubled his salary and in a reactionary market, the Bourne contract also drove the rest of the receiving market through the roof.
One of the most outlandish contracts of the day was the deal that the Las Vegas Raiders handed to former Miami Dolphins star defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. While Spotrac, an independent contract aggregator valued Wilkins at just over $20 million per season, the Raiders gave him a monster four-year deal worth $110 million per season. That averages out to $27.5 million per season in a deal that gave him just shy of a 30% increase to his market value. Well now every single agent in the NFL sees that number and uses it to justify similar pay increases.
The Cincinnati Bengals aren’t entirely to blame for the disastrous inflation that has hammered the country over the past few years. Everyone was excited to see what would happen after the tremendous boost to the salary cap but unfortunately, the increase to contract value was actually even more dramatic. Cincinnati can’t be blamed for inflation but the team knowingly drafted Chase in 2021 instead of an offensive lineman in a move that would ultimately cripple the team’s finances in the modern day.
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