In arguably their biggest stop in salary cap purgatory, the Cincinnati Bengals have found themselves in a nightmarish position with one of their best players. After establishing himself as one of the best overall wide receivers at the professional level, superstar Ja’Marr Chase is looking to collect a record payday. In the meantime, the talented LSU product has declared that he will not be participating in preseason practices until the front office capitulates to his demands. Needless to say, this situation has the potential of going down a dangerous path for the city of Cincinnati.
Cincinnati Bengals Need to Weigh Options Regarding Chase’s Contract
First off, while judging the talent on the field is obviously important, estimating damage to the salary cap is equally significant during the modern age of professional sports. While Chase is an outstanding player, it is likely that he is demanding a contract in the realm of five years for $180 million, averaging out to approximately $36 million per season. This theoretical contract would make him the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL and in combination with quarterback Joe Burrow‘s contract averaging $55 million per season, could have grave consequences on this team’s financial future.
If you remove emotion from the equation, there is an obvious option here: given that talented secondary receiver Tee Higgins has gone on the record that he would settle for a contract worth around $24 million per season, Cincinnati could easily switch routes and lock in Higgins for a long term contract. If that were the case, the team would likely be stuck trading Chase for a probable minimum of two first-round picks.
Let’s start with the obvious con that Chase is a fan favorite and amongst the most dominant players in the NFL. On top of that, he has a long-term connection with Burrow dating back to their LSU days that is difficult to quantify. That being said, the Kansas City Chiefs (the current dynasty of the NFL) made an almost identical move in 2022 when they traded arguably the best receiver in the NFL Tyreek Hill for a boatload of draft capital. While Hill has continued to be possibly the most dominant player in the league, Kansas City certainly doesn’t have any seller’s remorse after they won back-to-back Super Bowls since the trade.
Another argument supporting the trade is that the organization has developed a solid nucleus of talent around Burrow that is far less top-heavy than the past few years have been. The team has assembled solid receivers like Andrei Iosivas, Trenton Irwin, Charlie Jones, and Jermaine Burton who could certainly fill in after a potential trade. If you look at the model provided by both Kansas City and the New England Patriots during Tom Brady‘s reign, an elite quarterback should only need one outstanding receiver to go to in key situations. Kansas City has tight end Travis Kelce and Brady had tight end Rob Gronkowski.
While I think that this trade is the best path forward for Cincinnati, I cannot deny the core truth: this would be an extremely aggressive trade by one of the NFL’s most conservative front offices. The Brown family resists change like no other and dealing one of the franchise’s best all-time players might be too much of a gamble for them to swallow. Regardless, resolving this cap issue with both Higgins and Chase should remain the team’s top priority for the next several years.
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