The big news out of the NFL this morning is that Bengals QB Joe Burrow is expected to miss around 3 months with a turf toe injury. Burrow is one of the best QBs in the NFL and has single handedly kept the Bengals from regaining their throne as the worst organization in football. How do they repay him for this Herculean effort? By giving him one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. Well, at least his receivers are racing Lambos.
Joe Burrow is properly compensated as the 2nd highest paid QB in football (or 3rd, depending on how you look at it). Only 3 QBs have beaten Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs, and he’s one of them.1 The good business decisions of the Bengals begin and end with him.2
The Receivers
I wasn’t kidding about the Lambos earlier. The Bengals extended their top receivers, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins this summer and both bought Lamborghinis and raced them around Miami right after. I’m not bashing the WRs for getting paid, I’m bashing the Bengals for giving out both deals the way they did.
Tee Higgins has been a solid #2 receiver since he came into the league as a 2nd round pick in 2020. For his efforts, he has ZERO Pro Bowls and ZERO awards voting of any kind. Again, solid but not special. That didn’t stop the Bengals from completely botching his free agency. Not only did they not extend him early, but they waited so long that they gave him a franchise tag last season which cost $22m in cash and cap last season. When they couldn’t come to a contract agreement this offseason, they franchised him AGAIN! A 2nd tag meant a 1 year $26m deal. Finally, the sides came to an agreement for 4/$115m. What??? Higgins is the 11th highest paid receiver in football and 21st highest paid non-QB in the league (the Bengals have 3 of those 21 btw). When they couldn’t work out a deal with him after his 3rd year, they should have traded him plain and simple, not unlike the Titans trading AJ Brown. The big difference there is that AJ Brown was a clear WR1 while Higgins is a clear WR2 that someone would have paid handsomely for. Spending almost $30m per season on a WR2 when you have one of the best QBs in the league is a terrible use of resources. With Chase on one side, WR2 and WR3 should be drafted and traded every 2-3 years.
As for Ja’Marr Chase, I am not saying he isn’t incredible. He is probably the best receiver in football, is good friends with Burrow, and deserves to be the highest paid receiver. The problem is two-fold though. First, they extended him a year later than they should have, likely making his contract cost about $5m per season more than it could be. Justin Jefferson became the highest paid receiver the year before at 4/$140m. By waiting a year, Chase received 4/$161m. Even if they had paid him that same amount the year before, by waiting they missed the opportunity to spread his signing bonus over an extra season. That’s just silly for cap purposes and bad business. Second, they drafted Chase over all-pro LT Penei Sewell who went 2 picks later.
The Offensive Line
I understand wanting to draft Burrow’s good friend in the 2021 draft over a lock at LT, but Jimmy Kempski put it best in his stick figure graphic…that I can’t find right now. Damnit. Basically, drafting a great lineman allows Burrow to throw to anyone, but if he gets clobbered, he can’t throw to his great WR. Just how bad is this line? Terrible.
Going into the season, PFF ranked their line 31 out of 32 in the league with their tackle situation being particularly abysmal. So far this season, last year’s free agent pick up, Orlando Brown, has been better, but he still isn’t good. They invested a first-round pick in the 2024 draft in project tackle Amarius Mims out of Georgia, but he seems lost so far as a pro. A pick like Mims shouldn’t have been expected to start as a rookie, but he has been thrown into the fire to start his career. The interior line has been awful so far. Guard Dylan Fairchild is a 3rd round pick out of Georgia who was also thrown into the fire (there’s a theme here). He’s still been better than his journeyman counterpart Dalton Risner who was found in the bargain bin for just over $1m. 32-year-old center Ted Karras has bounced around the league for reasons that are pretty obvious. He’s not any good.
All in all, the Bengals have invested $28.84m in their offensive line by AAV. That’s damn near the same amount as Tee Higgins at $28.75m! Insanity. The team is at least trying to draft offensive linemen now as we can see by the Mims and Fairchild picks, but they have no idea how to develop them.
So now Burrow is hurt and even though they are 2-0, they are effectively dead. Their 2 wins were over the Browns and the Jags who both stink. Next up is the Vikings, Broncos, Lions, and Packers. They will be 2-4 before you know it and still have to play the Ravens twice and the Bills. Without Burrow, they are toast. Good job guys.
The Eagles
I’m a homer, but it’s not subjective to say the Eagles have the best offensive line and roster building in football. They have always built along the lines and have locked up players to large extensions early to save money in the long run. Just for comparison’s sake, let’s take a look at how they’ve done at receiver and the offensive line.
AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith are the equals of Higgins and Chase in both talent and production for the most part. While the Bengals duo counts for $69m in AAV and $47.5m in cap hit, the Eagles are paying Brown and Smith $57m in AAV and $25m in cap this season. Do you think that $22.5m in cap could have been used on someone to protect the QB???
Speaking of which, the Eagles are paying their offensive line an AAV of $90.75m this season. That’s more than triple that of the Bengals! It seems like a lot, but Jalen Hurts was also just named the MVP of the Super Bowl, Saquon Barkley had a 2000-yard season, and no Eagles QB or RB has a turnover so far this season. It was worth it. I know you have to have the talent before you pay it, but the difference in investment is staggering.
All stats courtesy of ProFootballReference.com; all contract details courtesy of Spotrac.com
Philly Front Office 
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