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Bengals director of player personnel and de facto general manager Duke Tobin is hell-bent on making former LSU standout Ja’Marr Chase the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL as he enters the prime of his career in Cincinnati.
Tobin told WLWT in Cincinnati the following about the negotiations with Chase:
He is going to end up being the number-one paid non-quarterback in the league. We are there. Let’s get it done. The earlier we can do some of this stuff the more freer it gives us to build the rest of the team.
Chase’s stardom translated immediately from Baton Rouge to Cincinnati. Chase was the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and was even a second-team All-Pro in 2021.
Chase has been named to the Pro Bowl in each of his first 4 seasons playing alongside former LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, who he helped win a national championship for the Tigers in 2019. Chase was named a first-team All-Pro for the Bengals this past season, catching a whopping 127 passes for 1,708 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Chase, who was the fifth overall pick in the 2021 draft, played on the fourth year of his rookie deal last season that paid him $6 million between his signing bonus proration and base salary. The Bengals had picked up his club option for 2025, which would deliver him $21.8 million in 2025 if there is no long-term deal done.
Chase took out an insurance policy worth $50 million before the 2024 season to protect himself against injury.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
