Arguably, no team benefited more from the NFL’s increased salary cap than the Cincinnati Bengals.
On Wednesday, ESPN’s Dan Graziano tweeted the league’s 2025 salary cap is expected to fall somewhere between $277.5M and $281.5M, up from $255.4M in 2024.
“The continued rise of the salary cap should make it easier for teams to retain key players with more financial space to work with,” wrote Front Office Sports’ Alex Schiffer Wednesday. “For a team like the Bengals, which currently has two disgruntled receivers on its roster, the higher cap makes it easier to keep both players.”
Per Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Bengals are expected to franchise-tag wide receiver Tee Higgins before the window closes on March 4 at 4 p.m. ET. After tagging Higgins, the Bengals would have until July 15 to sign the 26-year-old to a long-term deal.
Tagging Higgins would prevent him from hitting free agency, but it still doesn’t solidify his future with the franchise. He requested a trade last offseason and could do that again.
Fellow Cincinnati WR Ja’Marr Chase — who will enter the last year of his rookie contract in 2025 — is also in line for an extension.
The Bengals must retain both wideouts. In 2024, Chase had 17 touchdown catches in 17 games, while Higgins had 10 in 12 games. However, signing both would be expensive.
Spotrac estimates Higgins’ market value is a four-year deal worth $25.4M annually. Meanwhile, Chase could land a deal worth at least $40M per year, via Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz.
Still, a higher salary cap gives Cincinnati more spending room. According to Over the Cap, the Bengals now have $53.13M in cap room.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow recently told Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” he’s willing to restructure his contract (five years, $275M), which would increase Cincinnati’s cap space. Over the Cap approximates that a Burrow restructure would yield $19.26M in cap savings.
Finding a way to pay both wideouts will be challenging for the Bengals, but that suddenly seems more feasible.
