The Cincinnati Bengals’ wide receiver pairing of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are the gold standard for what a modern NFL passing attack should look like.
Chase is coming off a historic 127-catch, 1,700-plus yard, 17-touchdown season — production that has him openly expressing his realistic desire to become the NFL’s first 2,000-yard receiver.
On the other side, Higgins continues to remind the NFL that he’s far more than a “WR2” label. Despite missing five games last year, he still stacked 911 yards and 10 touchdowns.
The simple idea that one offense can now house two dominant wideouts isn’t new — but Cincinnati has taken it to another level. Those weapons in a Joe Burrow-led Bengals scheme has provided a model that nearly every contender has studied, and tried to emulate in 2025.
This offseason, the Dallas Cowboys made it a serious point to catch up to their rivals in the NFC — adding an elite complementary target in George Pickens next to CeeDee Lamb.
Cowboys Are Not Far Away From Bengals’ Blueprint
Dak Prescott enters his 10th NFL campaign after a year marred by injuries that limited him to just seven starts. He made it to November 2024 before he was shut down for the season with a torn hamstring.
But when he’s healthy, there’s very little doubt in his ability to put up big numbers for the Cowboys offense.
Lamb is right up there with Chase as one of the best route-runners and all-around wideouts in football. His dominance on routes, contested catches and YAC (537) has made him the most valuable option for Dallas. And so far in camp, he’s been nearly flawless, as the four-time Pro Bowler believes it should be.
“That’s my plan,” he said on July 31, per The Athletic’s Jon Machota. “Catch everything and we’ll see what happens after that. I’ve always been thinking it, but it’s like moving with intent. It’s a little different than it just being a thought (when) you have it on paper, you see it every day. And then when you go to practice you switch that mindset. You turn it on. You remember.”
Pickens can relate. With the Pittsburgh Steelers, he often shouldered a high-pressure role as the primary downfield threat, drawing the toughest coverage each week of the regular season with inconsistent QB play for over three years.
Schottenheimer Sees Something ‘Special’ in new WR Duo
What Pickens’ Pittsburgh tenure did give him: a polished knack for winning contested opportunities and thrive in harsh conditions — traits that Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer calls “special.”
“I talk about it all the time, but the relationship that [Pickens] and CeeDee have is special,” Schottenheimer said, per Garrett Podell of CBS Sports.”(Wide receivers coach) Junior Adams has done an amazing job of building the culture of his room, and that’s something to be talked about. … Superstars sometimes don’t get along. … Junior has built an amazing culture in that room where guys just want to win and have success, and they don’t really care who gets the credit.”
The Cowboys have two star wide receivers who have embraced each other, embraced putting the work in throughout camp, and are now ready to take the NFL by storm.
Just as Chase and Higgins have done with the Bengals.
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