by Wide receiver Tee Higgins and the Bengals failed to reach a long-term deal before the extension deadline of Monday at 4 p.m. This means that Higgins will play in the 2024 season on a franchise tag with a salary of $21.8 million.
Higgins will have to wait until the end of the season to get back into the long-term deal negotiations. At that point, Higgins will have to decide: signing a long-term deal with the Bengals, or test the free agency market and find a new team for the 2025 season. There is a third option: the Bengals can choose to use the franchise tag for the second year in a row, keeping Higgins in Cincinnati for a year, and hoping to get a long-term deal the following season.
Since the franchise tag was placed on Higgins in February, Higgins has given the Bengals mixed signals about his intention to stay or not to stay in Cincinnati. Shortly after the franchise tag was placed on him, Higgins reportedly requested a trade from the Bengals, per Adam Schefter.
About a month after he requested a trade from the Bengals, Higgins showed that he was excited to play in Cincinnati and also said that he was “looking forward to it.” Shortly after these comments were made by Higgins, he decided to sign the franchise tender with the Bengals.
Although Tee Higgins came up short in terms of getting a long-term deal done, he has been a vital piece to the Bengal’s offense and a valuable weapon for Joe Burrow over the last few years, especially during their Super Bowl run. Although 2023 was a down year and also plagued with injury, ending the year with 656 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns in 12 games, Higgins was coming off back-to-back seasons with more than 1,000 receiving in 2021 and 2022.
Having Tee Higgins on the field is crucial to the success of the Cincinnati Bengals for the 2024 season. If Higgins can stay on the field, Burrow will be able to have two great options at receiver in Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase, along with the hopeful rookie Jermaine Burton. It will also make Burrow’s life easier as he is recovering from a wrist injury that kept him out of 10 games last year.
If the core of the Bengals offense can remain healthy, I am confident in saying that the Bengals could be the top offense in the league and potentially have another run at the Super Bowl.
