Over the past few months, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has been the best salesman in the world. Burrow’s goal: to make sure his wide receivers, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, were on the team for the long term. His motto: ABC — Always Be Closing.
For months, Burrow told anyone who would listen that the Bengals needed to keep both players. They were invaluable. They were the key. You can’t spell championship party without Ja’MarrTee.
‘Those discussions are ongoing,’ Burrow said in December. ‘I’m confident that I think we’re going to be able to do what it takes to bring Tee back. And I know that I’m gonna do what it takes to get him back and so is he. We’ve had those talks. So, those are going to be offseason discussions. But I think we’re excited about that opportunity.’
‘Whenever a great player leaves, you wish you could have found a way to keep him,’ Burrow also said. ‘You don’t want to make a living out of letting great players leave the building. And I think that’s why you gotta do everything you can to get those deals done early.’
‘We have several guys like (Chase) who have stepped up for us and deserved to be paid,’ Burrow told ESPN at the Pro Bowl Games in January. ‘And deserve to be paid what they’re worth.’
During Super Bowl week, Burrow was again pounding the table for his receiver teammates. He talked about restructuring his contract to help pay for their contracts. He spoke about the salary cap. He was the QB1/GM1.
‘Keeping everybody we had last year is obviously ideal,’ Burrow said. ‘I think we can do it. I know we all want to stay together, and we all want to make it happen.’
Burrow is right to want to keep his receivers. Of course. And they are outstanding players. Especially Chase. Together, they are devastating. You also keep your good players. This is all true.
Yes, Burrow got what he wanted. Bengals management blinked.
Good luck with that, Joe.
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The problem is the way the Bengals are building their team isn’t the way the best franchises do it. The Philadelphia Eagles didn’t build a Super Bowl champion through the receiver position. They built it through the offensive line.
Kansas City has won Super Bowls primarily because of Patrick Mahomes but also because it invested heavily in defensive pieces. The team trading Tyreek Hill to Miami helped fortify the franchise’s championship runs with a bevy of picks and salary cap flexibility.
“We took a step back and figured, ‘How are we going to get better on both sides?’ And that’s why we decided it was best for us and best for Tyreek,” Brett Veach, the team’s general manager, said at the time. “It was kind of a best-case scenario for us and for him.”
Generally, franchises that build top heavy on offense at the expense of other positions don’t win Super Bowls.
Bengals management was in a tough spot. Burrow engaged in a public campaign of pressure on his ownership (which is notoriously cheap). They had to listen to their quarterback or risk his ire.
But now the team is in a box.
Chase reportedly will get a four-year, $161 million deal. For Higgins, reportedly, it’s a four-year, $115 million deal. That’s a lot of money eating into the team’s salary cap for just two receivers. No matter how good they are.
The team may be able to keep defensive star Trey Hendrickson, but last year the Bengals allowed the seventh-most points per game (25.5) and the third-highest red zone touchdown rate (67.9%). That was with Hendrickson playing like Reggie White.
This all puts the front office in a position where it must have a series of consecutive, excellent defensive drafts. Not sure I have confidence in the Bengals doing that. Wait. Checks notes. I’m positive I don’t have the confidence in the Bengals doing that.
What’s more likely is that the Bengals are going to have to win games 31-30. They’ll win some like that. Maybe more than most like that. But a Super Bowl?
Burrow was brilliant during the team’s 2021 Super Bowl season, but running back Joe Mixon was almost as much of a star that year. In a game against the Steelers he rushed 28 times for 165 yards and two touchdowns. He finished that season with a career-high 1,205 rushing yards and 13 rushing touchdowns. Mixon’s power running covered up other blemishes on the team.
Maybe Burrow, Chase and Higgins can be so overwhelming, defense won’t matter. That doesn’t seem likely.
The thing about the good teams, the really good teams, is that they can beat opponents in diverse ways. This is why the Eagles are so formidable. Last season they had the fewest number of pass attempts in the league at 448. The offense passed so few times because it didn’t need to pass more. They had an Avenger at running back and a devastating defense.
So, yes, Burrow got what he wanted. Burrow kept his guys.
Now comes the really hard part.