Tee Higgins will likely be back in Cincinnati for the 2024 season. The Bengals are expected to franchise tag their star receiver ahead of free agency if the two sides are unable to agree on a long-term extension, according to The Athletic. The Bengals have until March 5 to tag Higgins, who, if tagged, would make $20.7 million for the upcoming season.
According to the report, it seems like a forgone conclusion that Higgins will be tagged sooner rather than later. This would give the Bengals two viable options regarding Higgins moving forward. Tagging him early would give other teams the opportunity to submit tag-and-trade offers, but this would mean that the Bengals are willing to part with Higgins, which seems unlikely. The more likely scenario is the two sides continue to work toward getting a long-term deal done before the July 15 deadline, and if one isn’t reached the wideout would get tagged.
Historically, the Bengals have parted ways with players they’ve tagged a year after tagging them. That was the case with wideout A.J. Green in 2020 and safety Jessie Bates III in 2022.
Will Higgins follow suit? It’s hard to say, given that he hasn’t even been tagged yet for the upcoming season. A lot can happen between now and the season, assuming that Higgins is tagged. It’ll largely depend on how much the Bengals want to invest in both Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase, who is entering the final year of his rookie deal.
Chase will have his fifth-year option picked up by the club this offseason, and will surely get his long-term deal next offseason. Given his production, Chase will receive a contract that will most likely make him one of the league’s highest-paid wideouts. The Bengals already employ the NFL’s highest-paid player in quarterback Joe Burrow, who got his deal done before the start of this past season.
Given the receiver market, $20 million is likely the floor for Higgins to make on an annual basis. Assuming Chase receives a deal that pays him at least $25 million a season, that would mean that the Bengals are spending at least $45 million annually on two receivers should they also choose to re-sign Higgins. That would represent roughly 19 percent of the team’s salary cap assuming the cap is at least $240 million in 2025 (it should be higher).
The Bengals have the money to get both deals done. Again, it just comes down to how much they want to invest in two…
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