Pro Football Hall of Famer Cris Carter Believes Bengals Will Break Norms to Keep Stars

Cincinnati's top receivers are worthy of new deals this offseason.

Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins celebrate a touchdown. / Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Cris Carter thinks a pair of his brethren on the Bengals will get their deals from the team. He discussed the need for Cincinnati to break precedent and guarantee money into the second season on new contracts for Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in an Up & Adams appearance.

Chase reportedly wants $40 million per season after the Bengals didn't extend him last offseason. Higgins has a reported open market value of over $30 million.

"I believe Tee Higgins, they're going to try to bring them back to Cincinnati," Carter told Kay Adams on Up & Adams."Cincinnati is trying to do things they've never done before. They don't guarantee money in the second year. Joe Burrow's the only player. So you have to throw away that model because you can't sign Chase and you can't sign Higgins without guaranteeing money into the second year. So their business model, they're gonna have to tear it up for them to be functional, because that division is not getting any easier.

"The Browns, they will get it together eventually. Pittsburgh and Baltimore, we know what they bringing every year, nothing but heat. So the Bengals it's an opportunity for the franchise to really either hit a peak or Joe Burrow's playing with lesser talent around him for the greater part of his career and that's not what they want in Cincinnati and I don't believe they're gonna do that."

Carter echoes reports from our James Rapien and ESPN's Jeremy Fowler that Cincinnati wants to retain its stars on new deals. Still, we are in the franchise tag window as of this writing and no deal news has surfaced just yet.

Time will tell if they can keep everyone happy on fresh contracts.

Cris Carter on Tee Higgins pic.twitter.com/fPk1udVOlQ

— Kay Adams (@heykayadams) February 20, 2025

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