The Bengals have finally leveraged the bad-teams-draft-high thing into the foundation for a great team, thanks to the presence of a great quarterback.
They’ve wisely paid their quarterback. Elsewhere, the Bengals apparently are determined to be as cheap as they’ve always been.
Yes, there’s a salary cap. There’s also a salary floor. And the difference between the two is raw profit.
Consider the excuse owner Mike Brown recently offered for not giving long-term deals to receivers Ja’Marr Chase or Tee Higgins.
“The pie is not going to grow,” Brown said.
Let’s stop right there. The pie is always going to grow. It keeps growing. Every cap. Year after year. More. And more. And more.
“It’s only going to be a certain size, but when you reach a point with your quarterback that you have to pay him a big contract, that takes a disproportionate piece out of the pie,” Brown said. “Which means you have less left to pay the others. Sometimes that impacts whether you can get the others signed.”
That’s the way it’s always been. Quarterbacks get a “disproportionate” piece of the pie. At least the Bengals have a quarterback who deserves it.
Other teams have found a way to pay their quarterback and other players. This year, Burrow’s cap number is $29.714 million. That makes it a perfect time to pay Chase, who’ll make under $5 million in the fourth year of his rookie contract.
It’s surprising that Chase is going along with the plan to make him wait. Of course, the Bengals don’t have a history of caving. When ownership doesn’t prioritize winning a Super Bowl, the potential consequences of a holdout don’t hit the same way.
Besides, the Bengals seem to think they can combine Burrow with anyone and be competitive. That’s one of the benefits of the rookie wage scale. Every year, teams can draft a group of low-cost rookies and, if they pick the right players and develop them the right way, get plenty of value at a low cost.
After 2024, Higgins will be gone. With Chase, who knows what will happen? The Chiefs have been fine without Tyreek Hill, because they have Patrick Mahomes. The Bengals can take the same position as to Burrow.
They can find more receivers. As long as they have the guy to throw them the ball accurately, they’ll be in the mix.
And, if they can stay closer to the floor than the ceiling, they can squirrel away plenty of cash.