The Cincinnati Bengals made one of the biggest splashes of the offseason, locking in both Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase to long term contract extensions to the pleasure of fans - and seemingly - players.
Bengals center Ted Karras appeared on The Pat McAfee Show entering the weekend and expressed great excitement about the team's top two receivers being locked in for the next few years.
"We're keeping our best players in-house," Karras said of the Bengals two wideouts. "That's a big strategy for winning in the NFL, is developing high picks into good players and then retaining them. And I'm really happy for those guys, those guys work hard. Those top three. I mean, that makes us a very serious offense."
The extensions come after the Bengals led the NFL in passing yards (4,640) and touchdowns (43) with an unmatched aerial attack.
Individually, Chase took home the wide receiver Triple Crown, leading the NFL in receptions (127), yards (1,708) and touchdowns (17). Higgins appeared in just 12 games but still managed to haul in 10 touchdowns on his 73 catches for 911 yards. Higgins' 75.9 yards-per-game was a top-10 mark in the NFL, while Chase's 100.5 led the NFL with a 10.3 yard-per-game advantage over the number two man; Justin Jefferson.
Now, without the pressure of getting contracts worked out for the pair, the team can focus on putting up even better numbers offensively.
"A huge plus that we're not having like the hold-in with Ja'Marr [like last season]," Karras noted. "So there's not that periphery distraction overall. It's not a big deal, I would say, in an NFL locker room, but it can be when it builds up like that, it can be a negative."
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Karras deemed that the pressure is back on for Cincinnati to return to the playoffs after missing out on the postseason in each of the last two years, with back-to-back 9-8 records. The Bengals reached the Super Bowl in 2021, and have been chasing that success ever since.
Karras is entering his 10th NFL season and his fourth with the Bengals. He had previous stops in New England, where he won two Super Bowls, and Miami.
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This story was originally published March 31, 2025 at 12:53 PM.