Is The Bengals' Window Closing With Burrow's Next Contract?
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 - Do you feel like this year that the window will close
00:07 on this team to get back to the Superbowl
00:10 based on the fact that he's gonna pay Burrow?
00:13 I mean, he's gonna pay him more
00:15 than any quarterback in the NFL.
00:16 He'll soon be the highest paid quarterback.
00:19 And then the decisions that that team
00:22 and that owner have to make of who they're gonna pay,
00:24 it's obvious Chase is the guy they're gonna pay.
00:28 And then that'll be the end of Higgins.
00:31 What happens to the Bengals after this year?
00:34 I know that's a crazy question,
00:35 but in reality, you better brace yourself Cincinnati
00:38 'cause there's no way that old man's paying all of them.
00:41 - It's been a conversation
00:42 and it's been a conversation going into last off season
00:45 because this team has gone to back-to-back AFC title games.
00:48 They went to the Superbowl and even though they lost,
00:51 it was a good feeling to get there,
00:53 but you have to in the back of your mind
00:54 to understand this is what it is.
00:56 And the way the Chiefs have been able to pay Patrick
01:00 from homes and build around him,
01:02 you can see what an elite quarterback does.
01:04 That receiving core outside of Travis Kelsey
01:06 for the Chiefs last year, starting the season,
01:08 outside of what Juju Smith Schuster used to be,
01:11 was a who's who of guys that have flopped around the NFL.
01:15 And I think when you look at the organizational shift,
01:20 years and years ago, this organization was a laughingstock.
01:22 I think now this organization has looked at
01:25 as one of those that, okay, how are they doing this?
01:27 How are they keeping this in line?
01:30 They've already done stuff out of character, right?
01:33 They gave Orlando Brown Jr. a lot of money.
01:35 The year before they gave Lyle Collins a lot of money
01:38 and now they've already extended Logan Wilson.
01:41 They gave Trey Hendrickson another year.
01:43 The key for me in Cincinnati is Tee Higgins
01:47 because there's a lot of teams in the NFL
01:49 that have a dude at receiver.
01:51 The Bengals have a couple of dudes at receiver.
01:53 I don't think Tyler Boyd's gonna stay around
01:55 for the rest of the past this year.
01:56 But if they can find a way to get a deal with Tee Higgins
02:00 and then Jamar Chase in the future,
02:02 I think this is sustainable.
02:04 If you lose a Tee Higgins,
02:06 you then gotta go back to the drawing board
02:08 and count on, can we draft properly?
02:10 Can we take the Chiefs model?
02:12 Because they've already kind of done that at tight end,
02:14 right, they let Hayden Hurst walk.
02:15 Irv Smith Jr. comes in.
02:17 Hayden Hurst was a solid player.
02:19 He's not an all-star,
02:20 but Joe Burrow made him look pretty good.
02:22 So when you have an elite quarterback,
02:24 he can elevate everyone in the organization.
02:27 And they've already changed.
02:29 They finally got a ring of honor.
02:31 Their social media engagement has been so much better.
02:34 They changed the uniforms.
02:35 They've upgraded the stadium.
02:37 There has been this organizational shift
02:39 since Joe Burrow and Zach Taylor arrived in Cincinnati
02:42 that they are doing things that they haven't done
02:44 in their team's history,
02:45 which would include trying to find ways
02:47 to give these guys a lot of money.
02:49 - I gotta tell you, Higgins,
02:50 I think I've told you this before.
02:52 He's my favorite player on the team.
02:54 And he climbs that tree,
02:55 and my man comes down with the dinner.
02:58 All I know is that guy,
03:00 if they would have thrown to him on third and fourth down
03:02 in the Super Bowl, they would have won a ring.
03:04 Instead, I'll never forgive him for that.
03:07 I thought that was the worst.
03:09 The guy made the only two plays in the game for him,
03:11 and they don't go to him when it mattered most.
03:13 And he catches everything.
03:15 Makes me sick.
03:16 (upbeat music)
03:18 (upbeat music)