Bengals Lock in Star WRs for Four Years

2025 Fantasy Football Impact

It seemed unlikely a year ago that both WRs would stick around Cincinnati for the longer term. Higgins got the first of his two franchise tags but didn't work out a long-term deal ahead of that deadline.

By this offseason, though, most people expected the Bengals to keep Higgins off the open market again and work out contracts with both WRs.

We'll see what Cincinnati's extreme investment into QB and two WRs means for the rest of the roster. But it looks like good news for the trio's fantasy outlook.

Chase and Higgins will have trouble matching their tandem scoring averages of last year, when they ranked first and sixth -- respectively -- among WRs in PPR points per game. But they've each ranked among the top 14 in each of the three seasons that have found QB Joe Burrow playing at least 16 games.

Expect both wideouts to remain high-end scorers and Burrow to carry perennial top-5 scoring potential.

Dynasty Impact

The deals obviously lock in that high-end value for Chase, Higgins, and Burrow over at least the next four years as well.

That doesn't preclude any from being a trade candidate. But don't treat any of the three Bengals as "sell high" options.

Other Winners & Losers

Any third WR option in Cincinnati will need at least a Higgins or Chase injury to approach fantasy relevance -- especially with TE Mike Gesicki also returning on a three-year deal this offseason.

We'll have to see about the impact on Gesicki. He spent much of 2024 trailing way behind the lead WR duo in production but enjoyed a strong finish.

He's ultimately a decent TE2.