Executive Snapshot
In March 2025 Ja'Marr Chase signed a four-year, $161 million extension with the Cincinnati Bengals: $40.25 million a year, the highest average ever paid to a wide receiver, and $112 million in total guarantees. Both figures beat Justin Jefferson's four-year, $140 million deal.
One number went the other way, and it is the one this page is about. Chase locked $73.9 million fully guaranteed at signature — 45.9 percent of his total. Jefferson locked $88.743 million, or 63.4 percent of his. Chase took 17.5 percentage points less certainty in exchange for the headline. The injury guarantees are nearly identical between the two deals, at $109.8 million and $110 million. The entire difference is in when injury protection converts to full protection.
The Rolling Conversion, in Dollars
| Trigger | What converts | Amount | Cumulative full guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|
| At signing (March 2025) | Fully guaranteed at execution | $73.9M | $73.9M |
| 5th day of the 2026 league year — vested | 2027 compensation: $23.9M base plus a $5M option bonus, both injury-guaranteed at signing; plus $1.1M of 2026 | $28.9M (some reporting rounds to $30M) | $103.9M |
| 5th day of the 2027 league year — next live trigger | Portion of the 2028 salary of $31.9M | $7M | $112M |
The mechanic that matters is visible in the last row and it is smaller than readers expect. Only $7 million of Chase's guarantee is still contingent. Nearly all of the conversion happened on one morning in March 2026, and the remaining trigger touches a modest slice of a $31.9 million salary. Structurally this is a conventional non-quarterback deal with a generous first year, not a quarterback-style contract. It is the best non-quarterback receiver deal in the sport and it is still recognizably a different instrument from what a starting quarterback signs.
What Chase Actually Traded
Reporting at the time of signing identified the holdup in negotiations as precisely this question: not how much, but when. That is the correct thing to have argued about, and Chase's side eventually took the average.
The Institute does not read this as a negotiating failure. A player who believes he will be healthy and productive in year two is trading something he expects to receive anyway for a number that resets the market at his position and lifts every subsequent receiver contract, including his own next one. It is a defensible trade made with open eyes. But it should be described accurately, and the accurate description is that Chase bought the record with certainty, and the price was 17.5 points of at-signing guarantee.
The 2026 cap charge is $26.17 million, comprising a $17.73 million base, a $15 million option and signing bonus component and a $100,000 workout bonus, with scheduled charges rising to approximately $33 million, $41 million and $53 million in the following three years.
Off the Field
Endorsements. No named-outlet figure. This page does not estimate one.
Foundation. None found. No Form 990 exists for any charitable entity in Chase's name. The Institute states this explicitly because an entity called the Chase the Dream Foundation circulates widely on aggregator and machine-generated sites and has no IRS filing behind it. It is not carried here.
Tax. Ohio moved to a flat 2.75 percent individual rate on nonbusiness income above $26,050 effective January 1, 2026, one of the largest single-year improvements in home-state treatment for any player in this section. Cincinnati levies a municipal earnings tax on top; the Institute has not verified the current rate and publishes no combined figure.
Read this against
Read against Matthew Stafford, the quarterback regime at its purest, and against Micah Parsons, the strongest non-quarterback result in the section. Team altitude sits in the Cincinnati Bengals franchise case.
Sources & Attribution
Contract terms from Spotrac and Over The Cap. Vesting mechanics and the Jefferson comparison from NBC Sports Pro Football Talk and Cincy Jungle. Ohio rate from the Tax Foundation. Foundation status checked against IRS filings via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer.
Contract terms are as reported by Spotrac and Over The Cap and by the original reporting of the signing. Where trackers disagree on a cap or dead-money figure, the disagreement is stated on the page rather than resolved silently. Endorsement figures are carried only where a named outlet — Sportico or Forbes — has published one; where no such figure exists this page says so instead of estimating. Foundation entities are confirmed against IRS Form 990 filings via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer; where no filing exists, the page does not assert a foundation. The Baratelli Institute is a publisher. Nothing here is investment, tax, or legal advice.