Joe Burrow continues to pressure Bengals front office as he sees opportunity with faltering Chiefs

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has proposed that his team emulate the Philadelphia Eagles’ successful strategy for managing the salary cap to retain star players Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase. Speaking on the Pardon My Take podcast, Burrow highlighted how the Eagles have managed to secure key players like Jalen Hurts, Devonta Smith, and A.J. Brown while adhering to the salary cap.

“The Eagles are paying everybody,” Burrow remarked. “That seems like the way… Whatever they’re doing.” He pointed out that the Eagles have effectively kept their core players by converting parts of their contracts into signing bonuses, which helps lower the cap hit.

Burrow also mentioned that restructuring contracts and deferring payments to the back end can be an effective cap management strategy. Burrow, who signed a five-year, $275 million contract extension in September 2023, suggested that the Bengals could adopt similar tactics to retain Higgins and Chase.

“Cool Joe” explained it very clear

“You could convert some of the money to a signing bonus, which will lower the cap hit,” Burrow explained. “You can push some of the money to the back end of the contract. That lowers the cap hit. And then when you get to the back end of the contract, you can restructure it and convert it to a signing bonus. You can also just take less money.”

With the Bengals facing crucial decisions in the upcoming offseason regarding contract extensions for Higgins and Chase, Burrow’s comments provide a potential blueprint for the team’s approach. Both Higgins and Chase have been pivotal to the Bengals’ success, and Burrow is determined to keep the trio together. “We’re working to make that happen,” Burrow said.

“You gotta have good players. It doesn’t matter how good your quarterback is. If you don’t have good players around him, you’re not going to be a very good team.” As the Bengals prepare for the offseason, they may look to the Eagles’ cap management strategies as a model for retaining their key players while remaining competitive in the league.