Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer has all the numbers on both of those deals:
Ja’Marr Chase’s four-year, $161 million extension has …
• $73.9 million fully guaranteed at signing—$41.17 million in base salary, a roster bonus, and per-game roster bonuses for 2025; and $32.73 million in base salary and a roster bonus for 2026. His two-year total is $75 million, with another $1.1 million in per-game roster bonuses for 2026 not fully guaranteed until next March.
• In March 2026, those roster bonuses, plus $28.9 million of his money for 2027 becomes fully guaranteed. His three-year total is $105 million, with $1.1 million of his $30 million for 2027 not fully guaranteed until March 2027.
• In March 2027, those roster bonuses, plus $7 million for 2028 become fully guaranteed, bringing the guarantee total, at that point, to $112 million.
• Realistically, this ties the Bengals to Chase for the next three years, with the $7 million in 2028 subject to offsets.
• Chase is also due a non-guaranteed $44.816 million in 2029, the final year of the deal.
Tee Higgins’s four-year, $115 million deal has …
• $30 million fully guaranteed at signing—A $20 million roster bonus this March, and a $10 million roster bonus next March. Interestingly, his $13.8 million base for this year is not yet guaranteed.
• The practical guarantee here is the $45.9 million (if he plays in all 17 games this year), with $35.9 million due in 2025, and the $10 million roster bonus for next year subject to offsets (which means the Bengals could get out of the deal after a year with just what they paid in 2025, if someone paid him more than $10 million next). That said, the Bengals don’t have history of cutting guys after a year.
• $10.9 million of Higgins 2026 base becomes fully guaranteed next March, which adds to the already fully-guaranteed roster bonus that’s paid then.
• Higgins has $2 million in per-game roster bonuses in each year of the deal, giving the team considerable protection against injury.
