The Bengals made a rare contract exception for Chase -- and Tee Higgins -- by giving both traditional salary guarantees

The Cincinnati Bengals waited until Myles Garrett got paid to make Ja'Marr Chase the sport's highest-paid non-quarterback.

Chase was always going to go up over $40 million per year after the team missed a chance to get him around the $35 million per-year mark last summer. Higgins could've generated around $30 million in free agency, while the tag gave him a lump sum of $26 million, so around $28 million would be an interesting compromise.