Have the Bengals really changed?

They wisely refused the overtures of the Dolphins for the ability to draft Joe Burrow. And, once it became clear that Mike Brown’s stubbornness had given them a keep, they seemed to accept that, to get the most out of their franchise quarterbacks, things had to change.

They seemingly did. After years of intransigence, Brown sold the naming rights to the stadium that had been named for his father, the legendary Paul Brown. Then, after Burrow completed only three NFL seasons, the Bengals busted the juke-a-box, giving Burrow a market-level contract.

So they’ve changed, right? Right?

Maybe not. And we’ve got three (likely soon to be four) reasons for it.

First, safety Jessie Bates III. They drafted him, developed him, tagged him, and intended to replace him with first-rounder Dax Hill. The problem is that: (1) Bates has gotten even better in Atlanta; and (2) Hill has struggled to fill Bates’s shoes, to the point where he’s already been moved to a new position. And they did it because they didn’t want to pay Bates what he deserved.

Second, running back Joe Mixon. Like the Giants, the Bengals underappreciated their workhorse tailback. They were going to cut him. They ended up trading him (the existence of trade interest should have been a clue/warning). He’s performing very well in Houston. And the Bengals don’t have the rushing attack to complement Burrow and the passing game.

Third, receiver Ja’Marr Chase. They’ll eventually give him a market-level deal. But they wanted to kick the can to 2025, because that meant paying one of the best receivers in football a measly $4.8 million in 2024. And while the structure of his rookie deal kept him from holding out ($3.8 million was paid in the form of a roster bonus due early in camp), the failure to give him a new contract prompted him to hold in, to miss most of camp and all of the preseason, and to seriously contemplate not playing in Week 1. Behind the scenes, it was uglier than anyone realizes, with fights over fines and a belief by Chase that they’d broken their promise to pay him by offering a contract that looked good on the surface but that had a very bad structure.

Look at how Chase played on Thursday night. What would he have done in Week 1 against the Patriots and Week 2 against the Chiefs if he’d been fully prepared and committed and ready to roll?

Fourth, receiver Tee Higgins. They’re continuing their proven habit of using the franchise tag for one year before letting the player walk away. (The only player whom the Bengals tagged and then gave a multi-year deal was Carl Pickens, and then they cut him after the first year of it.) And Higgins has missed five of 10 games due to injury. The injuries are real, but he has no reason to play at anything less than 100 percent when he has no financial security beyond this year, because the Bengals used their CBA-guaranteed mechanism for keeping him from getting fair value on the open market.

Next year, he will. And Andrei Iosivas will become the new Higgins. Four years, maybe a fifth, and out the door.

Lather, rinse, repeat. The way they’ve always done it.

So, yes, they’ve changed as to Burrow. Otherwise, they haven’t. And there’s nothing Burrow can do about it until 2030, at the earliest.