Joe Burrow’s Dream Team, Brandon Graham’s Philly Legacy, Plus a Potential Draft-Day Steal | 4 Downs

Bengals Go All In, Brandon Graham calls it a career, and way-too-early power rankings

Just 31 days away from the 2025 NFL Draft, teams and with many of the big names and big money contracts of free agency’s first wave secured, most teams are turning their attention to building their boards, as the hard work of building out the roster with the next crop of incoming rookies intensifies.

However, before we look too far ahead to next season—including my extremely too-early power rankings at the end of this column—or shift focus to this year’s draft with a profile of one of the most fascinating running backs in this class in ‘Third Down,’ let’s first look back.

We’ll examine the career of a legend, a franchise that went against the grain to keep two of its cornerstones in place, and the impact of those historic signings.

First Down: Cincinnati Bengals Take Care of Their Own

The Cincinnati Bengals’ two-year-long nightmare is over, and Joe Burrow’s Dream Team remains intact for the foreseeable future.

After two acrimonious years of negotiations with elite wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, the Bengals last week made history by signing Chase to a record-setting $160 million extension and making Higgins the highest-paid No. 2 wide receiver ever, on a three-year pact worth $115 million after slapping him with the franchise tag each of the past two offseasons.

It might be an unconventional way of doing business—committing $275 million over the next four seasons to a pair of wide receivers—but this is an unconventional offense where Higgins makes an outsized impact on Burrow’s performance and the Bengals’ championship aspirations.

Since entering the league in 2020, Higgins has racked up 4,595 yards and 34 touchdowns, forming one of the NFL’s most lethal pass-catching duos alongside Chase.

“They have that chemistry,” legendary former Bengals receiver Carl Pickens said during an appearance on the Between The Hashmarks Podcast, of Cincinnati’s trio of Burrow, Higgins, and Chase. “If you have two great receivers, you can't double-team, you can't shade your coverage to one or the other.

“So, that being said, Joe has options. If Ja’Marr is not where he needs to be, Tee Higgins will be, and vice versa. Those guys play off of one another. And I think the main thing is they actually enjoy playing with each other.”

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