Per SI.com’s James Rapien, the Bengals are planning to use the franchise tag on WR Tee Higgins for the second straight year.
Rapien adds Cincinnati plans to sign Higgins to a long-term deal this time, but they don’t want him hitting the open market in free agency.
The franchise tag would cost 120 percent of his salary last year and come to $26.17 million, per Rapien. If they agree to a long-term deal, his base salary for 2025 would decrease from that number.
Ideally, Rapien says they would get a long-term contract done before the March 4th deadline, but they will use the non-exclusive franchise tag again if they do not. Teams would be able to negotiate a deal with Higgins but it would cost them two first-round picks if the Bengals did not match the contract.
Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic brought up how it’s unlikely that the Bengals would force Higgins to play on the franchise tag again because of the damage it would cause to their relationship.
“I’ve gotten the sense neither side has interest in forcing Higgins to play on the franchise tag again,” Dehner said. “It’s within the Bengals’ right, of course, but I think trying to force him to do it again would cause irreparable harm to the culture and dynamics of the team. I think everyone is aware of that.”
Higgins recently expressed his desire to remain with the Bengals but said it’s not in his control whether they will agree on a deal.
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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