Cincy Jungle
The Bengals are historically very stingy with guarantees, but they broke a lot of their standards with Chase
The Cincinnati Bengals were always expected to sign Ja’Marr Chase, but after his triple crown season, that seemed like it was going to be tougher than ever.
However, even with Chase pushing to also get Tee Higgins signed as well, the Bengals got both done. On top of that, as noted in this article by Dan Graziano, this is a very player-friendly deal, which is unusual for Cincinnati's typical approach.
The article makes this point by discussing how guarantees are already in place late in the deal, and additional guarantees are introduced each year.
He also gets $32.73 million in 2026 salary and bonuses, which were fully guaranteed at signing. His 2027 salary of $28.9 million is guaranteed against injury and becomes fully guaranteed if he’s on the Bengals’ roster on the fifth day of the 2026 league year (along with his $1 million in 2026 per-game roster bonuses). His 2028 salary is $31.9 million, of which $7 million is already guaranteed against injury and becomes fully guaranteed if he’s on the roster on the fifth day of the 2027 league year.
The Bengals may historically hate guarantees late into players' deals, but there have to be instances where they make peace with it and give the players what they deserve. Chase is one of those instances. If he stays healthy, he will go down as one of the all-time greats, not just of the Bengals but of the entire league, and it’s very exciting that he is locked in with the team for the foreseeable future.
Now, the Bengals just need to secure a contract with Trey Hendrickson, and this team will be ready to compete for postseason success.
