Welcome to the St. Patrick’s Day edition of the Pick Six newsletter! Apparently, everyone in the NFL got the memo that today is St. Patrick’s Day because every NFL owner is handing out pots of gold. OK, well not every owner, but Bengals owner Mike Brown and Texans owner Cal McNair have been feeling very generous over the past 24 hours.
In Cincinnati, Brown handed out a total of $276 million in new contract money to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. In Houston, McNair made Derek Stingley Jr. the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history.
We’ll be covering all three of those deals today, plus more, so let’s get to the rundown.
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Bengals break the bank to keep Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins:
The Bengals have long had a reputation for being cheap, but no one is going to be using that word to describe them anymore after what they did on Sunday night. Bengals owner Mike Brown opened up his pocketbook and handed out a total of $276 million in contract money to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.- Ja’Marr Chase is now the highest-paid non-QB in the NFL with a four-year, $162 million extension, averaging $40.25 million per year.
- Tee Higgins secured a four-year, $115 million contract, now the highest-paid No. 2 receiver at $28.75 million per year.
- Salary cap implications set their combined cap number for 2025 significantly lower than the expected payouts, leaving the Bengals with about $35 million in cap space.
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Derek Stingley Jr. lands record-setting deal from Texans:
The Texans extended Stingley with a three-year, $90 million contract, making him the highest-paid corner in NFL history with $89 million guaranteed. -
Biggest remaining need for each NFL team after one week of free agency:
Teams continue to evaluate their needs, with notable mentions for quarterbacks in the Browns, offensive tackles for the Patriots, and defensive tackle for the Bears.
For more coverage on the transactions and implications, be sure to check out the full stories linked in this article.
