INDIANAPOLIS — Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin answered the same question asked about as many different ways as possible at the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday.
It’s one on the mind of the entire NFL and the mouth of his franchise quarterback.
Can the Bengals pull this off?
In the case of one of the more fascinating and impactful offseasons in franchise history, this would involve extending Ja’Marr Chase and Trey Hendrickson, signing free agent receiver Tee Higgins, rebuilding a defense ranked among the worst in the NFL and giving Joe Burrow what he’s spent the last two months asking for every time he’s landed in front of a microphone.
Burrow’s public push to sign all these players wasn’t viewed as pressure applied in the eyes of Tobin and the Bengals’ ownership. It sounded more like a shared belief.
“I haven’t heard anything he’s said that I’m not in complete alignment on,” Tobin said. “I want the good players, too. And I think they ought to be paid to their ability level, and that’s what we’re gonna do.”
Tobin spent 30 minutes taking a barrage of questions at the podium with a flood of interested media hurling tangents of the same discussion. Head coach Zac Taylor did the same, calling the need to sign these players “champagne problems” and far better than the alternative of not having enough elite talents. Both spent another 30 minutes in smaller sessions with local reporters reemphasizing the point.
Tobin’s tone came off as definitive and aggressive in the expectation to land long-term deals with his collection of stars.
“We’re in a position to re-sign these guys, and it’s a good position to be in,” Tobin said. “We’re going to attack it. We don’t want to just re-sign these guys and pay more for the same football team we had last year. We want to add to it as well. So we want to re-sign these guys, reward them for their ability level and add to the football team. It’s a tall task. We think we’re up to it, and (Executive Vice President Katie Blackburn) has got us in position to attack it well.”
What did Tuesday’s conversation add to the expectations of this group? Let’s dive in one at a time.
Tee Higgins
Tobin rather famously said at this event two years ago that the rest of the league can “go get your own” when pressed about potentially trading Higgins amid contract negotiations.
Tobin could have fielded offers for the first pick of the second round when Higgins was drafted in 2020. He had all day to do so but passed.
He could have traded him last year when Higgins made a trade request after receiving the franchise tag. He never entertained it.
“I think you guys all know what I feel about Tee Higgins,” Tobin said. “I think Tee Higgins is a fantastic football player and I want him on my football team. Whenever I’m in charge of a football team, I want Tee Higgins. So I’m going to do what I can to get Tee Higgins. Our preference with Tee Higgins is to do a long-term agreement. Always has been. It continues to be.”
Higgins switched agents mid-season and is now represented by Rocky Arceneaux, who is also Ja’Marr Chase’s agent. A month ago at the Senior Bowl, Tobin asked for engagement to get a deal done from the other side. That was not the request now. Without spilling specifics, Tobin was clear on Tuesday that he feels good about the state of the negotiations.
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“We’re trying to reward him for what he’s done and what we think he will do going forward for us,” Tobin said. “We think we have a pretty clear vision of what that is, and what some comps around the league look like … we feel like we’ve got our arms around it. It’s just a matter of if they’re seeing things in a different light. We want a long-term deal.”
The clock is ticking on the next deadline. That comes at 4 p.m. March 4 when a franchise tag must be applied. The expectation internally is the tag will be used on Higgins if necessary to keep negotiations going at that point, but the long-term deal is the desired result.
“I’m optimistic until there’s reason not to be,” Tobin said. “I’ve always been optimistic with Tee, and I want a long-term deal. He fits with us and we fit with him. It’s a great match.”
Ja’Marr Chase
Tobin and Taylor doubled down on comments made at the Senior Bowl regarding their triple-crown-winning receiver. He will get paid this offseason and break new ground in the process.
“We want to make him the highest-paid non-quarterback in this league,” Taylor said.
“Ja’Marr is always going to be our priority,” Tobin said. “He’s a fantastic football player, he’s going to end up being the No. 1-paid non-quarterback in the league.”
Ja’Marr Chase scores a 40-yard touchdown to beat the Cowboys in December. (Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)
That distinction belongs to his former LSU teammate Justin Jefferson, who signed his record-breaking $35 million per year contract last June, the summer before his fifth season. Chase looks to set a new record approaching his fifth season.
There hasn’t previously been an inkling of doubt from the Bengals’ side that Chase’s deal would get done. There was not again Tuesday. The biggest push regarding Chase and Higgins is the urgency to avoid these deals lasting into the summer or replicating what unfolded during Chase’s hold-in of camp last year.
“We’re trying to get ’em done as soon as we can,” Tobin said. “When they broke down last summer, it just didn’t get over the (line), he changed his mind, which is fine. We understood. There’s not hard feelings in this stuff.”
Tobin said he doesn’t know if Chase specifically changed his mind, but merely didn’t take the final deal on the table. Both sides finding that agreement now goes a long way to the team successfully being able to plot a path in free agency to fix the defense.
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The club is working along “parallel paths” with both trying to get them done and is aware of how important the time factor would be to pulling off the complicated offseason of moves.
“I think we have the ability to build the defense if we can get clarity on (the contract) and structure him in a way that is beneficial,” Tobin said. “If they linger, it creates a little bit of uncertainty.”
Trey Hendrickson
While clarity and urgency surrounded Higgins and Chase, there was less so with Hendrickson. That’s not to say Tobin wasn’t still adamant about wanting to reach an extension with the NFL sack leader who is entering the final year of his deal. He’s set to make $16 million this year and count $18.6 million against the cap.
Nick Bosa tops the market for defensive ends at $34 million per year.
“We’ve been a great fit for him; he’s been a great fit for us,” Tobin said. “We would like to extend that. We would like to keep him not only happy but with us on a longer-term basis. He’s under contract right now, and we’re gonna talk as the offseason goes and hopefully come to an agreement that everyone’s accepting of. But are we there yet? We’re not there yet.”
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Tobin was asked about Hendrickson, who turns 31 in December, having age as a problematic factor in his negotiation.
“It’s just a data point and we’re trying to get a deal done with Trey,” Tobin said. “So that would tell you what our conclusion is on it, we are trying actively to get a deal done with Trey. It’s just a matter of coming to an agreement on what that looks like and what fits for us with the other things that we’ve got coming.”
Inevitably, Tobin was pushing Hendrickson down the priority list in terms of timing behind Chase and Higgins. The other side of this is what happens if the sides can’t agree on what an extension looks like in terms of years and value.
Would Tobin entertain trading a man who finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting?
“Our preference with Trey is to have him on our football team because we want him,” he said. “So I never really talked about open preferences for trading guys, because all that does is take on a life of its own. And that’s not something I want to do, because I want Trey on our football team. He’s under contract. We’re looking to pay him for what we believe will be really good future years and we see him as not falling off in his career. That’s why we’re actively trying, and if we get to the point where we’re actively trying to trade him, maybe I’ll give you a call.”
Trey Hendrickson has 57 sacks in four seasons with the Bengals. (Kareem Elgazzar / Imagn Images)
All these comments from Taylor and Tobin sound similar to those voiced by Burrow. Everybody on both sides of the table has voiced clear opinions and plans on keeping the Bengals’ contingent of stars together. Tobin called them a “championship-caliber” team but is seeking more than just re-signing or extending these guys.
Saying the right things and finishing the deals are two vastly different conversations.
That returns all of this back to the negotiating table. The Bengals have a clear plan for how they want to execute the offseason and it sure sounds like one Burrow and the concerned fan base would fully support.
One question, phrased many different ways, remains: Can the Bengals pull this off?
(Top photo: Dylan Buell / Getty Images)
