NFL Trade Rumors
Bengals WR Tee Higgins played the 2024 season on the franchise tag after he couldn’t agree to a long-term deal to remain in Cincinnati.
With WR Ja’Marr Chase entering the final year of his deal, the Bengals have two elite receivers who need contracts this offseason. Although QB Joe Burrow has been adamant about his desire to keep Higgins, it seems unlikely both will fit into the team’s budget going forward.
At the Senior Bowl, Bengals Director of Player Personnel Duke Tobin admitted the difficulties in retaining Higgins at a price everyone is okay with. Tobin expressed his desire to keep Higgins but wouldn’t ignore the complications of giving him a substantial raise.
“It’s going to be hard,” Tobin said, via Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “We feel like we have the resources to do it, but it all depends on how the negotiation goes and whether they’re willing to accept wanting to come back at a number that makes sense for everybody. And you know what we do with Tee going forward, I’ve always been very upfront in my desire to have Tee Higgins on our team. I’ve never not been upfront about that, and that desire continues, but we have to be able to come together with his representation on what that means and what the right number is for his experience, for his play time, for his production.”
Higgins, 25, is a former second-round pick by the Bengals in the 2020 NFL Draft out of Clemson. He finished the final year of a four-year, $8,686,785 rookie contract and made a base salary of $2,993,000 in 2023.
He was set to be an unrestricted free agent in 2024 when the Bengals placed the franchise tag on him, which cost the team around $21.8 million fully guaranteed for the 2024 season.
In 2024, Higgins appeared in 12 games for the Bengals and recorded 73 receptions on 109 targets for 911 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns.
We have him included in our Top 100 2025 NFL Free Agents list.
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