Bengals Agree to Terms With Burrow; Sign Higgins

Once Joe Burrow inks his contract, the Bengals will have signed every member of their 2020 draft class.

July 28, 2020 – Bradley Charles – Bluegrass Sports Nation

News broke today that the Bengals have unofficially agreed to terms with No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow and have signed second-round wide receiver Tee Higgins. Burrow, a native of Ohio, will sign a fully guaranteed four-year contract worth $36.2 million, which includes a signing bonus of $23.9 million and a fifth-year team option. He will receive the entire signing bonus within 15 days of the official contract signing. Higgins was signed to a four-year deal worth approximately $8.7 million with a signing bonus of $3.9 million.

This news breaks at a fortunate time for Bengals fans as concerns of Burrow’s lack of a contract had been beginning to grow throughout the fan base during the past few weeks. Part of the confusion was because of the fact that the length and amount of a rookie’s contract is pre-determined due to the NFL’s rookie wage scale. Despite this, there are other areas of the contract that each side must agree upon.

Despite not being under contract to this point, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner has been participating in Zoom meetings with the coaching staff throughout the summer and has held multiple unofficial workouts with his teammates in Southeast Ohio. The rookie quarterback has even been assigned his locker, and it’s the same one that was used by both Carson Palmer and Andy Dalton.

As for Tee Higgins, he tweeted a picture of himself signing his contract this afternoon. In the Tweet, he wrote, “I’ve been dreaming about this moment for years.”

Due to the on-going pandemic, the NFL preseason was cancelled last week. This will make things a lot harder for all rookies, including Burrow and Higgins. But either way, Bengals fans are looking forward to watching the collegiate standouts.