The Bengals have secured their superstars for the foreseeable future, and fans are ecstatic online. With some influence from quarterback Joe Burrow, wide receivers Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase have been signed to new four-year deals. The elite talent fans have spent years with will continue to play for the team. Cincinnati has much bigger issues than these players, and this may not be the best decision for the team and fans. The Bengals’ offense was never the issue, and the problems are glaring.
There is no doubting the greatness of these receivers, and it could be argued that these prices were fair. Both received four-year contracts, Higgins at $161 million and Chase at $112 million. Fans have their favorite players resigned, and Bengals fans online seem to be in favor. That’s fair, considering all they were missing last year was paying the same stars even more. This is a bad sign for the Bengals’ future.
With defense being a desperate need for them, there has been minimal movement on that side of the ball this offseason. Burrow, Higgins, and Chase now make up 44 percent of the Bengals’ cap space, leaving 56 percent for the remaining 50 players. Their defense was so abysmal last season, that it’s safe to say they took Joe Burrow out of the MVP race. The Bengals have provided their high-end talent more money, but have not improved their roster. They were not a playoff team last season, so why would a team that’s worse on paper do better? Their defense lost them four games last season in which the offense scored thirty or more points.
This might make sense if this approach was working, but there is plenty of sample size to prove it’s not. They want to keep their star quarterback happy, but he won’t be if they keep losing. It hasn’t even been mentioned that they will likely lose last year’s sack leader, defensive end Trey Hendrickson, who had 17.5 last season. A team losing because their defense going down one of the best defensive ends in the league is concerning.
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