The Cincinnati Bengals were improbably the victims of the biggest upset in the NFL during Week 1 when they fell at home to the presumably tanking New England Patriots. And Stephen A. Smith blames one man – Bengals owner Mike Brown.
Smith laid into the franchise and their notoriously frugal owner during Thursday’s episode of First Take over their inability to get a new contract extension done with star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase. In spite of being able to get Joe Burrow to sign a hefty extension to remain with his home state team, the franchise has not found the same success in dealing with his top weapons – Chase and Tee Higgins.
While Higgins is playing this season on a one-year franchise tag, Chase was in negotiations throughout training camp for a new deal before failing to come to an agreement. With his lineup status in doubt almost all the way until kickoff, Chase did play on Sunday, but the Bengals offense looked like a shell of themselves in the stunning loss.
And all of it drew the ire of Stephen A. on First Take.
Stephen A. Smith lays into the Bengals and owner Mike Brown for not paying Ja’Marr Chase.
“I hope that the Cincinnati Bengals fall flat on their damn face. That organization makes me sick.” pic.twitter.com/vEhlQHrnAl
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 12, 2024
“I hope that the Cincinnati Bengals fall flat on their damn face. That organization makes me sick,” Smith proclaimed. “This man Mike Brown… you’ve got Joe Burrow who is an all-world quarterback… all he does is go to back-to-back AFC Championship games. This is an organization that spent years having fans wear bags over their heads. This is how horrid they were with his notoriously cheap @$$ self.”
“He was considered the damn Donald Sterling of the National Football League. And here you are, you luck up, you get a guy like Joe Burrow on your squad who flat out balls, it doesn’t matter who he goes up against. You pay him his money, but then going to give a problem to the people that he utilizes as his primary weapons.”
What Smith didn’t say is that the NFL’s salary cap might play a factor in making it much easier said than done to keep a nucleus of young stars together. However, Chase, Higgins, and Burrow should form the core of a Cincinnati offense that should be a perennial contender no matter who else fills out the roster. It simply has to get done. And if it really is archaic signing bonus policies that is preventing these deals, particularly the one for Chase, from getting locked down, then the Bengals are needlessly bringing all of this drama on themselves.
So instead of starting the season showing why they should be considered as a Super Bowl contender, the Bengals are 0-1 traveling to Kansas City with off-field drama hovering over the franchise. Yikes. Stephen A. Smith will probably have something more to cheer about on Sunday.
