The Cincinnati Bengals have just shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars to keep their offensive trio of quarterback Joe Burrow and wideouts Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins together.
Chase's new deal is for $40.25 million annually while Higgins' is $28.75 million.
But that doesn't mean Higgins is accepting the title of WR2 as he discussed during the press conference announcing the deals.
"I don't even look at it like that, you know what I mean?" Higgins told reporters. "I kind of wish they wouldn't have put it out there like that, because now that's what everybody's saying, ‘I'm the highest-paid two.' Let's just say I'm at a place where they value me and they respect me and I'm a good player. Let's just say that. Not the highest receiver two or anything like that.
"Let's just say he's another great Bengals receiver that puts in the work and got his head down and just grinds."
Chase agreed, referring to Higgins in the press conference as WR1A. And that's ok, titles can be misleading. Just usually not in this context.
If any one team in the NFL has a close-to-equal wideout tandem, it's the Bengals with Chase and Higgins. The money isn't equal, but the importance to the offense is close.
Related: Bengals Reveal Offensive Identity Through Massive Extensions
And Higgins seems content to be the league's seventh-highest-paid wideout in the league, behind only Chase, Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb, A.J. Brown, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Tyreek Hill and Brandon Aiyuk.
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This story was originally published March 18, 2025 at 6:53 PM.
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