Tee Higgins

The Cincinnati Bengals used the franchise tag on wide receiver Tee Higgins on Monday, but that doesn't mean he'll be on the roster for the 2024 season.

A trade remains a possibility, and the team's director of player personnel, Duke Tobin, didn't fully rule it out while speaking to reporters Tuesday:

The message is: We really like Tee, and we're a better team with Tee. In terms of our intentions going forward, and answering hypotheticals of what could and couldn't come about, I won't get into that. But we feel like we're a better team with him. The reason we franchised him is because we would like to have him. He's not under contract, and it's hard for me to predict all the different scenarios that could happen. But we feel strongly about Tee Higgins and his fit with us.

Tobin struck a far different chord when asked about possibly trading Higgins last offseason.

"I'm in the business of making the Cincinnati Bengals better, and so trading Tee Higgins is not on my mind," he told reporters in Feb. 2023. "That's their problem. [If] they want a receiver, go find your own."

What difference does a year make?

Well, for one, Joe Burrow's massive five-year, $275 million extension kicks in for the 2024 season. And Ja'Marr Chase is going to get a huge extension in the near future, too, calling into question just how much of the salary cap the team will be willing to commit to the receiver position.

Tobin acknowledged the challenges of roster-building within the constraints of the NFL's salary cap while discussing Higgins:

It's always a priority when you think about premier-type players and how long you want them. We work within the confines of the CBA [Collective Bargaining Agreement] like every other team does, and sometimes things come together on a long-term basis; sometimes they don't. So, we use the resources we have, but we're always thinking about the future of players and who's coming up and who we want to have long-term relationships with. It's a never-ending puzzle. Just when you put a piece in, someone reaches over and takes a piece out. So, we're trying to fit more pieces in than they're taking out.

As for keeping Higgins on the franchise tag, it was a win on several fronts for the organization.

It keeps him off the free-agent market, ensuring at least one more season of team control; it buys the Bengals time to work out a long-term extension if they choose to go that route; and it gives them the option to still trade him if negotiations go sour or a team blows them away with an offer.

"It's really simple: He's a good player. We want to keep him, and we have resources to do that, so we decided early to do it, and that's where we are," Tobin said. "We like Tee. We're a better team with Tee. With the way that we've managed our cap, we had the ability to put the franchise tag on him, and we did."

But the franchise tag is a temporary solution. At some point, the team will need to decide whether he's a part of its long-term plans.

The Cincinnati Bengals could recoup a significant asset if they were to trade wide receiver Tee Higgins, according to Ari Merov of The 33rd Team.

Merov reported there's a sense the Bengals might be able to land a first-round pick or early second-rounder for the 25-year-old.

Cincinnati announced Monday it applied the franchise tag to Higgins, but that provides few assurances as to his short-term future with the team.

To offer some comparisons in the event Higgins is dealt, the Kansas City Chiefs got five picks, including the No. 29 overall selection in 2022, when they traded Tyreek Hill. The Green Bay Packers received first- and second-rounders in 2022 in the Davante Adams swap. Likewise, the Philadelphia Eagles acquired A.J. Brown at the cost of a first-round pick.

A first-rounder or early second may not be a steep starting price from the Bengals' perspective.

With Higgins, the general question seems to be whether he leaves this offseason or next.

The 2020 second-round pick has been a reliable target for quarterback Joe Burrow, but paying him a market-level contract simply isn't feasible when Ja'Marr Chase is due for a new deal soon as well.

Spotrac values Higgins at $18.6 million annually, a total that may not reflect what he'll ultimately get considering the franchise tag is worth $21.8 million. Chase, meanwhile, has a valuation of $26.1 million.

Tying up $45 million to $50 million in Higgins and Chase on top of Burrow's $55 million salary wouldn't leave a lot to go around.

There's a clear incentive to simply let Higgins play out the 2024 season on the franchise tag because Cincinnati will have lofty ambitions. Trading him could be an equally sensible call, especially if the Bengals get the kind of draft capital that would allow them to target a replacement.

The Cincinnati Bengals officially applied the franchise tag to wide receiver Tee Higgins on Monday.

"Tee has done an outstanding job for us since we drafted him in 2020," said Bengals head coach Zac Taylor. "I'm glad that he'll continue to be a big part of our offense and our team."

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport first reported the news.

Higgins can earn $21.8 million from the one-year tender. This buys the Bengals some time to negotiate a long-term extension or at the very least have him under contract for the 2024 season before he'd hit free agency.

Applying the franchise tag to the talented wideout doesn't preclude a trade or protracted holdout, though, so plenty of drama could unfold.

Higgins, 25, has emerged as an extremely solid option for the Bengals as the No. 2 receiver behind Ja'Marr Chase. He registered 1,000-yard seasons in both 2021 and 2022, caught 74 passes in each of those campaigns and totaled 13 touchdowns in that time.

Injuries limited him to just 12 games last year and those absences—combined with Joe Burrow's own injury issues—led to a down year, as Higgins caught 42 passes for 656 yards and five touchdowns.

Still, he would have been one of the top receivers to hit free agency had he not received the franchise tag, joining players like Mike Evans, Michael Pittman Jr. and Calvin Ridley. More than a few teams were surely disappointed to see him come off the market.

The question will be whether the Bengals can afford to keep him beyond this season, with Chase's own eventual long-term extension on the horizon. Keeping Higgins would require a major allocation of salary cap space to the wide receiver position, while Joe Burrow's massive five-year, $275 million extension kicks in for the 2025 season.

So it's possible that Higgins won't be with the team for more than another year. One last season with him opposite Chase makes the Bengals a major threat in the AFC in 2024, however.

The Cincinnati Bengals positioned themselves to retain one of Joe Burrow's favorite targets after applying the franchise tag to wide receiver Tee Higgins, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, who provided more information:

Higgins was limited to 12 games in 2023 but remained an effective target in the passing game. He caught 42 passes for 656 yards and five touchdowns, his 15.6 yards per reception a career high.

After the season drew to a close, Burrow and head coach Zac Taylor both spoke highly of Higgins and said they hoped he'd stick around in Cincinnati:

The feeling was mutual for Higgins.

"Them telling me that they want me to come back, man, it's family," he said to Bleacher Report's Scott Polacek. "We've been playing together for three or four years now, and I personally would love to be back playing with those guys. It's not in my hands now, but when the time comes and Cincinnati is there, that's the number one option right now."

The situation was far from straightforward, though.

Burrow's record-setting five-year, $275 million extension was both a necessary move and one that tied the hands of the front office a bit. It's the same issue that hinders any team paying the market rate for an elite quarterback.

Director of player personnel Duke Tobin, who's ostensibly the Bengals general manager, had to consider another major factor.

Ja'Marr Chase is eligible for free agency in 2026, and his next contract is all but guaranteed to make him one of the highest-paid wide receivers in the league. That could mean $30 million or more depending on how much Justin Jefferson manages to get from the Minnesota Vikings or a rival franchise.

Retaining Chase and Higgins was obviously the optimal solution for the offense and to keep Burrow happy, but it's worth asking whether devoting upwards of $50 million or $60 million at a position that isn't quarterback is the best allocation of resources.

It was almost impossible not to see this as a choice for Cincinnati between the two, at least within a long-term context. And you're always going to pick the three-time Pro Bowler over the one who's probably a top-20 player at the position.

Perhaps the Bengals will actually prefer Higgins in the end given his lower cost and the fact he's only one year older than Chase. It could be easier to build around a Burrow/Higgins tandem than Burrow/Chase.

With Higgins now locked down, the focus will inevitably shift to Chase, who has said he's willing to be patient before he signs a multiyear pact. He responded affirmatively when asked specifically if he'd prefer Jefferson to set the market first.

This past offseason, the price tag for Burrow continued to climb as Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert all got massive pay raises from their respective teams. The same thing could happen to the Bengals again with Chase.

The Cincinnati Bengals are reportedly expected to use the franchise tag on wide receiver Tee Higgins before the start of free agency.

Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic reported the "writing is on the wall and all expectations" are for the Bengals to use their tag on Higgins, and the team baked in the tag when negotiating Joe Burrow's contract. Burrow's cap number for the 2024 season is just $29.7 million, the same as his fifth-year option. His number will go up to $46.3 million in 2025.

The franchise tag for wide receivers is projected at $21.7 million.

It seems likely the Bengals' tag solution for Higgins will only last one season. Not only is Burrow's number set to skyrocket, Ja'Marr Chase is also due a long-term contract extension sooner rather than later. The Bengals will likely opt into Chase's fifth-year option in his contract this offseason, guaranteeing him around $22 million in 2025, but will almost certainly negotiate an extension that will make the LSU product one of the NFL's highest-paid receivers.

Higgins will likely be the odd man out in the cap crunch. He's coming off an injury-riddled 2023 campaign that saw him set career lows in catches (42), yards (656) and touchdowns (five) while only appearing in 12 games.

Chase has also never topped 1,110 yards or caught more than seven touchdown passes in a season, making him more of a WR2 than Chase's WR1 status. When you're paying a quarterback as much as the Bengals are Burrow, something has to give. Running back Joe Mixon could become the first core player to exit this offseason if the Bengals decide his $8.5 million cap number is too high.

Barring a contract agreement below his market value, Higgins will likely become the next—just not until the 2025 offseason. Look for the Bengals to be active in the draft in hopes of finding replacements for Mixon and Higgins on rookie deals.