As a framework of the NFC at the combination of NFL scouts considered as the dilemma of the Bengals of Cincinnati, the executive rejected a theory commonly cited but not universally accepted.
No, the executive told Yahoo Sports three weeks ago, the teams do not need to draw a red line for the percentage of the salary ceiling they spend in a position.
THE The salary ceiling continues to growAnd players age from the recruit to veteran contracts. The executive, which has redesigned to negotiations of previous contracts with players who made recruit contracts during a Super Bowl race, offered a different director principle.
“Money continues the talent,” said the executive. “If you don't have the talent to (extend), don't do it. But if you say that you have all the pros at all these positions, then try at least to do it.
“If you feel that you can fill the rest of your list, then you don't care as a percentage.”
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This week, the Bengals told the NFL that they do not give, well, dang about percentage when they Extended receptors Ja'mar Chase and Tee Higgins at mega-contracts.
The extension of $ 161 million over four years of Chase resets the salary file not only for receivers but also for all non-quarters, with an average of $ 40.25 million per year, according to several reports, with $ 112 million in guarantees. Higgins and Bengals have torn the franchise label in favor of an agreement of four years worth $ 115 million. The first two years – around $ 57.5 million – are guaranteed.
Bengals added these wages to a list on which Joe BurrowThe contract is on average $ 55 million per year.
How the Bengals will fill the rest of their list, and If the Rusher Edge Trey Hendrickson will be in this mixtureIt remains to be seen. But many around the league already understand the decision of the Bengals to let their money chase their talent.
Because if the Bengals had not extended the two receivers for the long term, they would have had trouble finding comparable replacements. THE NFL 2025 draft This is not the right time to need a game that changes the game, tell Yahoo Sports. The evaluators are skeptical about the ceiling and the depth of this year's receiver class.
“Usually you want four or five guys you feel better than the best potential free agent on the market, while in this project, there are not many,” an AFC talented assessor in Yahoo Sports told. “There is simply not a lot of final upgrades of day 1.”
After a 2024 solid receiver class, talent assessors see “Drop Point” in the 2025 basin
The teams vary in the way they ask their assessors to identify a certain position, and the assessors within a certain team often vary in their notes. The notes must be filtered through the objective of the moment when a scout visited the prospect school and if the scout's mission was to look deeply or largely.
But talent assessors of four different teams have agreed that this year's receiver class is considerably lower than last year and compares unfavorably in the past five years.
The assessors say they have identified class 2025 receivers to play any role, but they find it difficult to find a player who projects to play each role.
“If you needed a n ° 1 receiver, there is no infallible guy in this project,” a NFC talent assessor told Yahoo Sports. “There are no n ° 1 receptors, there is a couple (n °) 2 and a lot of (n °) 3.
“And then you arrive at a fall point.”
An AFC talent assessor has agreed: “When I say that there is no real receiver n ° 1 – for me, (it means) this type is dynamic of the diagram, which means that the tapest and it would prosperate to any place.”
The AFC assessor thought that the receptor dip reflected the cyclical nature of prospects, as is the 2025 quarter-arre class is considered much less heavy than its predecessor. The 2024 receiver class presented Marvin Harrison JR., Malik Nabres,, Rome Odunze And Brian Thomas Jr. Seven receivers were drafted in the first round, with 10 of the five choices of the card in the second.
An NFC and AFC assessor, each declared that they had only classified two receivers in the first two laps this year. The receivers could be written more favorably than their notes due to the higher demand for supply, but the teams should be wary.
“It is only these years when there is not a lot of frightening guys,” said the NFC assessor. “I think Nile is at stake where these guys decide to stay in school, and then I think it will be one of those positions where you will see a wow in the second, third round (the guys drafted because) someone sees something in a child and we are going to be two or three laps on the guy compared to this team.
“Who cares? I mean, let's do our guys well. But that wouldn't shock me if, hey, one of those guys we have in the fifth round takes place in the second.”
The NFC and AFC assessor has not only questioned the high -end caliber of receivers this year. Their top 100 also showed a drop.
The NFC assessor ranked seven receivers in his top 100 a year after allocating 12 there; Since 2020, they had also ranked years with 12, 11, seven and eight. The AFC assessor was slightly more generous, with eight receivers this year after 14 in their top 100 of last year. From 2021 to 2023, the assessor awarded 11 classes among the first 100 to receivers each year.
For the context, the same NFC assessor included 23 defensive line players in their top 100 2025 while the AFC assessor included 29. In today's game, playing time between receivers and defensive line players only differ slightly – teams often monitor three receivers compared to three to four defensive line players.
Multiple evaluators thought that the trend of the project influenced free activities, in particular the signing of the Los Angeles Rams Davante Adams and the trade and signature of the Pittsburgh Steelers DK Metcalf. He also explains internal movements, like the last wave of Bengals.
Project Chase and Higgins in 2025 Draft explains why Bengals paid
Bengals know that they have a star in Burrow and have undertaken to provide him with weapons accordingly. They tend to a heavier game plan than the Eagles of Philadelphia, which extended both AJ Brown And Devonta Smith A year ago, and could therefore end up obtaining a stronger return on investment in individual performance.
But Cincinnati hopes that his return on investment at the team level is exactly what Philadelphia obtained the first season after having extended not one but two receivers: a Lombardi trophy.
“Since the moment we dragged them, we knew that they had been built for something special,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said on Tuesday at the Chase and Higgins joint press conference. “Now that it ended, the next step for us is a championship for these guys. And I think that is a great reason they wanted to be here.”
Chase comes out of a year of triple reception crown with a summit of 127 catches, 1,708 reception yards and 17 affected. He ran to 5,425 yards and 46 affected since Bengals wrote him fifth in the general classification in 2021.
Higgins raised 911 yards and 10 affected in just 12 games last season. In five years with Cincinnati, he collected 4,595 yards and 34 scores.
If the Bengals had sought to replace Higgins or continue the project this year, they would have struggled to find a similar construction.
Several talent assessors have not agreed any recruit receiver of 2025 at Chase level, one calling it “the best of the company lol” and the other saying “Ja'marr would be the best from afar”.
Higgins strikes the assessors as a strong starter which asserts its argument as the best n ° 2 of the game. This aligns with the way in which several assessors project the ceiling of this class. An NFC assessor said they thought Higgins would go to the “end of adolescents, at the beginning of the 1920s” in the 2025 recovery class compared to the 33rd place to which the Bengals took him in 2020.
The only receptors that project more strongly are Colorado Travis Hunterwho could rather play the defender as a pro, and perhaps TET MCMILLAN DE L'ARIZONAsaid an NFC assessor.
“The game (Higgins') is very similar to McMillan,” said the assessor. “They are long, they have large rays of capture, they have very good hands, they can go get the ball and go high. But they are not juicy, speed guys.
“They will live covered, but they are so tall and long that they can play games.”
The NFC assessor said that their ideal role for McMillan would be a strong receiver No. 2.
It is an excellent role to fulfill for a team – but it is not an enticing enough to force Bengals to go from their already proven Higgins.
An AFC assessor said that teams should use this year's recovery class to find solid receivers No. 2 and n ° 3, each team tends to consider receivers at the starter level. Could one receiver with a set of tools develop to another? This should be the objectives of their teams, because the Bengals project to maintain their grip on the upper receiver duo in the next offseason.
“They met our expectations at each stage of the path, even exceeded them at this point,” said Taylor about Chase and Higgins. “They know that there is no more to accomplish in a team. Many more victories to have.”
