The NFL playoffs were a tricky business, as suggested by Deroits Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown back in January 2025. How could one’s loss lead to another’s win? And how could one’s win eliminate a third team?
Anyway, the Cincinnati Bengals were off the playoffs because of the Denver Broncos’ 38-0 win against the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2024 NFL season. To get into the No. 7 seed, the Bengals had the Chiefs to defeat the Broncos and the Jets to defeat the Dolphins. But alas, none of it happened back then.
Past the playoff dismissal, the Bengals had entered their offseason. The offseason was expected to have drastic changes - retaining triple crown star, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase over WR Tee Higgins. The quarterback Joe Burrow’s ‘triumvirate dream’ could have remained unfulfilled by the Bengals, back in January 2025.


Media inquired,
“How much do you think Ja’Marr, about running it back with you, Tee, and Joe just one more season if you could? Do you think about it at all?”
Ja’Marr responded,
“I do think about it sometimes. It runs my mind. But I try not to think too much of it…that’s really out of my control, I wish I could sign Tee myself and have them with me for eternity. It’s 100% possible… it’s just playing chess at this point.”

Ja’Marr would stay back with the Cincinnati Bengals after the 2024 NFL season. His success in 2024 NFL season had been beyond the roof, and so the Bengals would re-sign him with a hefty price tag.
The amount that Ja’Marr’s contract would read may be around 180 million dollars! All thanks to his stupefying performance. He broke the NFL record and became the first NFL player in history to have 1700 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns in a season, and finished with 1708 yards. He’s also counted No. 5 in the league for catches, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns.


Joe wanted his triumvirate dream to come true for the next season. His triumvirate dream consisted of Tee Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase, and him. He’s most comfortable with these two. On the talk show with Kay Adams,
Kay questioned Joe,
“Is there a level that I’ve seen you and Chase not get to?”
Joe answered,
“You know, we know what Ja’Marr is going to do on the field when he comes back…the chemistry that we have, but a lot of guys that we’re getting reps with right now, we haven’t, we don’t have those reps invested like me and Ja’Marr do.
So, it’s nice to build that chemistry; create that dialogue with those guys. And for those guys to continue to grow and improve is fun to watch.”

At a press conference in January 2025, Bengals QB Burrow makes a stab at the owners of the Cincinnati Bengals regarding WR Tee Higgins.

The $275 million franchise quarterback, Joe Burrow said,
“Number one, we started this whole thing together. We came in together. And we’ve built this thing from the ground up, and you don’t wanna make a habit of letting great players get out of the building, just like I said earlier in the week.
He’s a great player and, a guy that does everything the right way and works really hard for it. When you have a guy like that, you, just can’t let him out of the building. He’s a one-of-a-kind person, one-of-a-kind player, and one that we really count on and is an integral part of what we do around here, so hopefully, we can make that happen.”


The probability of WR Tee Higgins returning to the Cincinnati Bengals was 50-50 in Janaury 2025. The pressure was on the owners of the Cincinnati Bengals to keep the dream triumvirate with them! And guess what happened just 2 days ago? The Cincinnati Bengals signed wide receiver Tee Higgins for the second time! The Bengals heard Joe Burrow’s cries to retain Higgins and have applied a franchise tag on Tee Higgins! The Bengals announced this on March 3, 2025! Just days before the trade deadline - March 12, 2025. Phew!
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