What might a contract extension for Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase look like this offseason?
Other than resetting the wideout market, of course?
For Spotrac’s Michael Ginnitti, the contract projects to come in at four years and $120 million with a $30 million-per-year average, with $70 million effectively guaranteed:
Injuries to himself & to QB Joe Burrow over the past two seasons have limited Chase’s ability to reach his max ceiling. Cincinnati likely pays a king’s ransom to see that happen within their offense soon. The 24-year-old has 2 years, $26.6M left on his rookie deal through 2025, so there’s not an immediate rush to get something done here, but it’s certainly worth discussing. Spotrac projects a $70M guarantee over the next 3 seasons, including back to back $20M bonuses to keep cap hits at bay while this contending team continues to get more and more expensive across the board.
At face value, that looks like something the Bengals should be willing to rush to sign, should Chase and his reps be willing to accept. By Spotrac’s own projections, that’s in line with what CeeDee Lamb will get in Dallas and actually under what Justin Jefferson will get in Minnesota.
Of course, Chase has been very open about the fact he wants to wait to do an extension until Jefferson and others have signed their own, which will need to happen sooner.
As such, Chase is bound to reset the market and be the highest-paid receiver in football by pretty much every metric. But these projections, at least, provide a baseline — and further explain why an extension with Tee Higgins is so tricky.
As with Joe Burrow before him, even an extension signed this offseason wouldn’t kick in on the cap space until after the 2025 fifth-year option, though for the Bengals, sooner is probably better for peace of mind and a full understanding of what they’re working with on the balance sheet.
