Cincinnati Bengals star quarterback Joe Burrow has put up MVP-type numbers this season despite the lack of team success. And that undoubtedly comes from the excellent play this season of star wide receievers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
Burrow, Chase, and Higgins have remained the best offensive trio in all of football. Burrow of course got his big contract this past offseason. But the organization has yet to extend either of Higgins or Chase to long-term extensions.
Chase will be under contract for one more year after the team picked up his fifth year option. But Higgins is set to head to free agency this coming offseason and it has been rumored that Higgins may be the odd man out not to get a long-term extension from the Bengals organization.
Higgins will likely command quite a bit of attention in free agency after five very productive seasons in Cincinnati. And losing someone like Higgins will almost certainly negatively affect the ultra-productive Bengals offense.
Burrow seems to realize Higgins’ looming departure, making it clear during a press conference on Tuesday that he would love for the Bengals organization to find a way to bring their star receiver back.
“Whenever a great player leaves you wish you could have found a way to keep them,” said Burrow when asked during a press conference on Tuesday via Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic. “You don’t want to make a living out of letting great players leave the building. I think that’s why you got to do everything you can to get those deals done early.”
Burrow didn’t mention Higgins directly. But you can obviously read between the lines and see who he is talking about…
The former Heisman winner also realizes that there is a business aspect of things for Higgins, who of course wants to get as much as he can in the open market.
“It’s obviously a possibility, not one that I’m excited about, but that’s not in the plans, I would say.”
The Bengals need to both win in Week 18 and have the Denver Broncos and the Miami Dolphins to lose their respective Week 18 games to get into the playoffs. And unless that happens, Higgins may very well be suiting up for his final game in a Bengals uniform on Saturday.
That being said, it sure seems like Burrow will be doing everything in his power to prevent this from being the case.
