Cincy Jungle
The salary cap hits and contract structure are out for the Tee Higgins deal.
Fans and observers across the league had their eyes on the Cincinnati Bengals this offseason, hoping that contractual stalemates between the team and star receiver Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins could lead to a trade of one of the dynamic receivers to their favorite team.
However, as nearly everyone now knows, both players reached long-term agreements with the Bengals over the weekend, and now the details of Higgins’ contract have been publicly released.
Those details, though, leave the Bengals in a good position, with the contract Higgins signed light on guarantees relative to other receivers across the league. He certainly did not have the negotiating strength of Chase, and his contract shows that, not only in his average per year, but in how inexpensively Cincinnati can walk away after two seasons should they wish to do so for whatever reason.
To understand how that is the case, the best place to start is obviously with the details of the contract. Thus, before digging into the specifics, here are the specifics as laid out by long-time NFL agent Joel Corry:
2025
Signing bonus: $15M (prorated)
Roster bonus: $5M (not prorated)
Workout bonus: $100k
Base salary: $13.8M (unguaranteed)
Per game roster bonuses: $2M ($117,647 per game)
2026
Roster bonus: $10M (fully guaranteed)
Base salary: $10.9M (unguaranteed)
Per game roster bonuses: $2M ($117,647 per game)
Workout bonus: $100k
2027
Roster bonus: $5M (unguaranteed)
Workout bonus: $100k
Base salary: $19.2M (unguaranteed)
Per game roster bonuses: $2M ($117,647 per game)
2028
Workout bonus: $100k
Base salary: $27.3M (unguaranteed)
Per game roster bonuses: $2M ($117,647 per game)
That’s a lot of salary and bonus mumbo jumbo, and what most fans really want is what it boils down to in terms of commitments and cap hits for the team. So, based on the structure as laid out by Corry, here are those cap hits:
(Author’s note: These numbers will not match what is on OverTheCap.com or another cap site as of publication, as those numbers are not currently accurate according to the linked report from Joel Corry on the contract details on March 21, 2025.)
One of the details that has been most heavily reported on the contract Higgins signed is that it comes with only $30 million of fully guaranteed money at the time of signing. That is certainly the case, however, as the Bengals would incur a significant cap hit if they moved on from Higgins prior to the start of the 2025 season, making his 2025 base salary effectively fully guaranteed in all reality. So, if one wishes to include Higgins’ $13.8 million base salary in with the $30 million fully guaranteed, his contract clocks in at $43.8 million in the first year, a...
