CINCINNATI -- For two seasons, the Cincinnati Bengals were playing on one of the biggest Sundays in pro sports: NFL championship Sunday.
In 2021 and 2022, Cincinnati made back-to-back trips to the AFC Championship Game, both road visits to Kansas City. The Bengals won the first matchup, making their first Super Bowl appearance in 33 seasons. They lost the rematch.
The day after this year's conference championships, Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor was sitting at the team's facility, introducing new defensive coordinator Al Golden. Being a spectator didn't add to his personal ambition to push the Bengals back into title contention.
"I didn't need that motivation," Taylor said last Monday. "But it's not fun watching that. That's as simple as I can put it."
But taking note of one of those teams could serve the Bengals well. The Philadelphia Eagles have key similarities to Cincinnati. Both drafted a quarterback in 2020 who was rewarded with sizable contract extensions. Each have two high-end receivers, including a respective first-round selection in 2021. The Eagles are playing for their second Super Bowl in three years.
This offseason, Cincinnati will have key decisions to make on its young receivers, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. But how did the Eagles make it work? Answering that question will be pivotal for Cincinnati.
Low salary cap hits for Hurts, Smith
In 2020, the Eagles and Bengals found their franchise quarterbacks. Cincinnati drafted Joe Burrow with the first pick, while the Eagles nabbed Jalen Hurts in the second round, 52 picks after Burrow.
And in 2023, the first year each player was eligible for a contract extension, they landed new deals. But while Burrow's contract structure shares similarities to Hurts' structure, there are key differences, according to Roster Management System.
Even though there is a $20 million difference in the value of both five-year extensions, which is less than 8% of the total contract value, the salary cap hits are vastly different. This year, Hurts cost $13.56 million against the Eagles' salary cap, which was 7.3% of the team's total cap space. Burrow, meanwhile, carried a cap charge of $29.7 million, taking up 12.23% of cap room. The cap differences can be attributed to the cash distributed in the first two years of the extension -- $62.1 million for Hurts compared to $111.2 million for Burrow, per OverTheCap.com.
Last year, the Eagles also gave wide receiver DeVonta Smith a contract extension -- three years for $75 million, with nearly $70 million of that guaranteed. However, he also carried a low cap charge in 2024 ($8.12 million, 4.4% of cap space) and received $33.9 million in cash in the first two years.
The combined cap hits for Hurts and Smith equals $21.7 million -- $130,000 cheaper than Tee Higgins' one-year franchise tag that counted against the cap in 2024.
A defense balling on a budget
Having a low-cost defense filled with high-performing rookies is the ideal scenario for a team that has invested heavily in its offense, such as the Eagles.
And virtually every metric puts Philadelphia's defense near the top of the league this season. The Eagles were second in opposing scoring per game (17.8), third in defensive expected points added and second in points allowed per drive (1.63).
Philadelphia is doing that with a lot of homegrown, inexpensive talent. In the 55-23 win over the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game, six of the 11 defensive starters were drafted by the Eagles. Four of them were first-round picks. And that doesn't include safety Reed Blankenship, an undrafted free agent in 2022 who is a two-year starter.
Cincinnati has tried a similar approach. Since 2021, nine of the 13 Bengals draft selections taken within the first 100 picks have been on defense. However, the unit struggled for a second straight year, which led the Bengals to replace Lou Anarumo with Golden, who was previously Notre Dame's defensive coordinator.
Getting more out of young players will be a priority.
"That's something that we can improve this year -- making sure those first-year players hit the ground running," Taylor said Jan. 6.
What's next for the Bengals
Cincinnati will have big decisions to make. Not only are Chase and Higgins eligible for extensions, but defensive end Trey Hendrickson is also eyeing a contract extension after a mammoth season. Hendrickson led the NFL in sacks in 2024 with 17.5 and is a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year.
Chase is a finalist for Offensive Player of the Year. Higgins was 10th in receiving yards per game among qualifying players. That creates a conundrum for director of player personnel Duke Tobin and Cincinnati's front office.
"We can't have guys at the top of the payroll in every position, right?" the executive told the Cincinnati Enquirer at the Senior Bowl last week. "We'll do what we can. We'll do what we what we feel is right, and we will try to get Trey re-signed."
Making it difficult to build around premium players is why the salary cap exists. But as the Eagles have proved, just because a team has great players on veteran deals doesn't mean it's impossible to get to a Super Bowl.