Latest news with #non-ProBowl
USA Today
28-03-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Bengals take some heat for Tee Higgins 'overpaid' contract
Bengals take some heat for Tee Higgins 'overpaid' contract When it comes to the Tee Higgins contract, the Cincinnati Bengals simply can't make everyone happy. Some have praised the Bengals for overlooked details in the Higgins contract extension. Others dismiss the details and/or just don't agree with paying so much for two wide receivers. One who dislikes the deal is Bleacher Report's Brad Gagnon, who tabbed Higgins as Cincinnati's most overpaid player based on contract values and his past production: I wrote in this spot last year that the $21.8 million franchise-tag rate is silly for a player who has never gone over 75 catches, 1,100 yards or seven touchdowns in four non-Pro Bowl campaigns. He did score 10 touchdowns in 2024, but the rest remains true for a player now making $28.8 million per season. If nothing else, the Bengals' structuring of the contract hints at similar concerns over Higgins' consistent injury woes over the years. The $115 million is an eye-popping figure on the same cap books as Ja'Marr Chase's $40 million per year, but per-game roster bonuses at least protect the team a little. While controversial for some, the Bengals wanted to get Higgins done at the request of core elements on the roster, headlined by Joe Burrow. In that context, it's all that really matters as the team follows its desired building path.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bengals blinked for Joe Burrow
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow made his feelings known. And the Bengals have wisely blinked. A team with a longstanding reputation of being extremely careful with money has prioritized the pursuit of a silver trophy over the hoarding of its gold, thanks to the public pressure Burrow has placed on the team. His remarks, during the non-Pro Bowl Pro Bowl and through a series of Super Bowl-week visits with the likes of SiriusXM NFL Radio, Breakfast Ball podcast and Pardon My Take, made his position clear. If the Eagles can pay more players than their quarterback, the Bengals can do it, too. Left unsaid was Burrow's unmistakable message: "Or else." The "or else" didn't need to be said. The Bengals lived it, 14 years ago. That's when former franchise quarterback Carson Palmer decided he'd had enough because, as he'd later explain, the organization was more concerned about making money than winning games. It wasn't enough for the Bengals to give Burrow a market-level deal. Burrow, like most great quarterbacks, wants to build his legacy through the accumulation of hardware. And with several high-end performers other than himself on the team, he wanted them to stick around. He mentioned, at one point, believing the team could, and should, keep receiver Ja'Marr Chase, receiver Tee Higgins, defensive end Trey Hendrickson, and tight end Mike Gesicki. Three have now signed multi-year deals. Hendrickson is the last man standing. Even though the Bengals have allowed Hendrickson to seek a trade, their goal (we're told) was to let Hendrickson see that other teams won't pay a 30-year-old pass rusher well over $30 million per year. The thinking is that he could eventually come back and accept Cincinnati's current offer, perhaps with a slight sweetener. Regardless, the Bengals faced a gigantic fork in the road. And despite their history of choosing the path of least expensiveness, they've opted this time around for the road less traveled. Which had been less traveled by the Bengals because the tolls are much higher. Few who have paid close attention to the league over the past 20 years expected it. It's dramatically out of character. And it happened because Burrow made it clear that he wanted it. What he didn't need to say was that, if they didn't do it, it was just a matter of time before he, like Palmer, would be choosing the road right out of Cincinnati.
NBC Sports
17-03-2025
- Business
- NBC Sports
Bengals blinked for Joe Burrow
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow made his feelings known. And the Bengals have wisely blinked. A team with a longstanding reputation of being extremely careful with money has prioritized the pursuit of a silver trophy over the hoarding of its gold, thanks to the public pressure Burrow has placed on the team. His remarks, during the non-Pro Bowl Pro Bowl and through a series of Super Bowl-week visits with the likes of SiriusXM NFL Radio, Breakfast Ball podcast and Pardon My Take, made his position clear. If the Eagles can pay more players than their quarterback, the Bengals can do it, too. Left unsaid was Burrow's unmistakable message: 'Or else.' The 'or else' didn't need to be said. The Bengals lived it, 14 years ago. That's when former franchise quarterback Carson Palmer decided he'd had enough because, as he'd later explain, the organization was more concerned about making money than winning games. It wasn't enough for the Bengals to give Burrow a market-level deal. Burrow, like most great quarterbacks, wants to build his legacy through the accumulation of hardware. And with several high-end performers other than himself on the team, he wanted them to stick around. He mentioned, at one point, believing the team could, and should, keep receiver Ja'Marr Chase, receiver Tee Higgins, defensive end Trey Hendrickson, and tight end Mike Gesicki. Three have now signed multi-year deals. Hendrickson is the last man standing. Even though the Bengals have allowed Hendrickson to seek a trade, their goal (we're told) was to let Hendrickson see that other teams won't pay a 30-year-old pass rusher well over $30 million per year. The thinking is that he could eventually come back and accept Cincinnati's current offer, perhaps with a slight sweetener. Regardless, the Bengals faced a gigantic fork in the road. And despite their history of choosing the path of least expensiveness, they've opted this time around for the road less traveled. Which had been less traveled by the Bengals because the tolls are much higher. Few who have paid close attention to the league over the past 20 years expected it. It's dramatically out of character. And it happened because Burrow made it clear that he wanted it. What he didn't need to say was that, if they didn't do it, it was just a matter of time before he, like Palmer, would be choosing the road right out of Cincinnati.
NBC Sports
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC Sports
Pro Bowl audience plummets by 18 percent for Sunday's flag-football game
The non-Pro Bowl Pro Bowl isn't doing very well with the customers. Via Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, the NFL's All-Star event attracted 4.7 million viewers on ABC, ESPN, and DisneyXD. The number reflects an 18-percent drop from last year. It's also the lowers live audience for the Sunday afternoon version of the event. The inaugural flag-football based event two years ago had 6.3 million watching. The good news, if there is any, is that the Thursday night skills challenge on ESPN dropped only one percent, from 1.14 million to 1.13 million. On one hand, 4.7 million is still an impressive live audience. On the other hand, at some point the number falls to the point where the juice isn't worth the squeeze.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Joe Burrow: We have several guys who deserve to be paid what they're worth
When a team has good players, those players eventually need to be paid — or replaced with younger, cheaper players. The Bengals, who have gone plenty of years over the decades without good players, now have plenty of good players. And their best player thinks it's time to pay up. Quarterback Joe Burrow, appearing on ESPN's coverage of the non-Pro Bowl Pro Bowl Games, said this when asked about receiver Ja'Marr Chase's contract negotiations, via Albert Breer of (thanks, Bert, for watching it so we didn't have to): 'I don't know what more he could show and do to prove himself. We have several guys like that, who have stepped up for us, and deserve to be paid — deserve to be paid what they're worth.' Burrow is right. But it's hard to get the lead Bengal to change his stripes. While the Collective Bargaining Agreement has specific minimum spending requirements, Brown has resisted paying market value to top players. The Bengals had no choice but to do it with Burrow. With other key players, they're choosing cheapness. They've dragged their feet with Chase, for example, getting a triple crown for less than $5 million in 2024. And in lieu of paying receiver Tee Higgins the kind of deal he would have gotten on the open market last March, they paid him $21.8 million under the franchise tag in 2024. If their history of never keeping a player for more than one season after applying the tag holds, Higgins will hit the open market and leave in March. Then there's defensive end Trey Hendrickson. He wanted a new deal after a 17.5-sack season. The Bengals refused. He played for $14.8 million in 2024 (less than half of the top of the market) and became a first-team All Pro. And now they can keep him for another season, at only $15.8 million. Despite Burrow's words, don't expect things to change. Based on the Bengals' history, Higgins will be gone, Hendrickson won't get a raise, and Chase will have to fight to get what he's worth. Look at what the Bengals did with safety Jessie Bates III. In lieu of paying him, they applied the tag, drafted his replacement in Dax Hill (it didn't work), and let Bates go the next year. And they were ready to cut running back Joe Mixon because they didn't want to pay him, until the Texans swooped in, traded for him, and gave him a new contract. If Burrow's going to stay with the Bengals over the long haul, he'll have to get used to it. Unless and until he's willing to make it clear to the team that, if they don't change their ways, he wants a change of venue. The problem is that Burrow has five more years under contract. And if he ever decides he's had enough, he'll have to make a Carson Palmer-style power play and hope the Bengals will blink. Which they weren't going to do with Palmer until the Raiders lost Jason Campbell to a broken collarbone two days before the 2011 trade deadline and the Raiders made the Bengals an offer they couldn't refuse. On one hand, Burrow is getting $55 million per year. On the other hand, he might have to watch more than a few quality teammates come and go as the Bengals struggle to put enough talent around him to get the Bengals the first Super Bowl win in franchise history.
