Philly is certainly a top-heavy roster with Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Lane Johnson and others on big-money deals. Heck, Bryce Huff signed a three-year, $51 million contract and was hardly used.

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman built a star-caliber roster by finding steals and deals — All-Pro Zack Baun, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson — and nailing his draft picks, particularly on defense. Philly had two stud rookie corners who tremendously aided their Super Bowl run. Unfortunately for Burrow, Cincinnati’s attempts to stockpile DBs through the draft have mostly been swings and misses in recent years.

For Cincinnati to pay all its star players realistically, they’d likely have to deal with Burrow’s contract. Averaging $55 million over two years, the Bengals QB is the second-highest-paid signal-caller in the NFL. His cap number for 2025 is $46.25 million.

Burrow has some suggestions on how to handle his contract.

“You could convert some of the money to a signing bonus, which will lower the cap hit,” Burrow said. “You can push some of the money to the back end of the contract. That lowers the cap hit. … And then when you get to the back end of the contract, you can restructure it and convert it to a signing bonus.”

Those are all valid options. The question is whether Cincinnati, which isn’t generally a can-kicking club, might take any of those avenues to appease its star quarterback.