Tee Higgins

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins will return to play Monday night against the Jacksonville Jaguars after missing the past three games with a hamstring injury, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Higgins suffered the injury during practice on the heels of his best performance of the season in Week 9 against the Buffalo Bills when he made eight catches for 110 yards.

The Bengals have fallen into disarray during Higgins absence, as they lost superstar quarterback Joe Burrow to a season-ending wrist injury in Week 11 against the Baltimore Ravens.

Even when Burrow was in the lineup, Higgins was having a down year, especially when compared to what he did over the first three years of his NFL career.

The 2020 second-round draft pick out of Clemson was productive right out of the gates with 67 receptions for 908 yards and six touchdowns as a rookie, followed by 74 grabs for 1,091 yards and six touchdowns in 2021, and 74 catches for 1,029 yards and seven scores last season.

In seven games this season, Higgins has just 27 receptions for 328 yards and two touchdowns, and barring massive numbers down the stretch, 2023 will prove to be his worst NFL season thus far by a significant margin.

The 24-year-old wideout's only 100-yard game this season came against Buffalo, and he has not scored a touchdown in any game aside from a two-TD performance against the Ravens in September.

With Burrow on the shelf, Jake Browning will be Higgins' quarterback on Monday, and perhaps for the rest of the season.

Prior to this season, the 27-year-old Browning had never thrown an NFL regular-season pass, and he made his first career start last weekend in a 16-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Browning wasn't bad in the game, going 19-of-26 for 227 yards with one touchdown and one interception, but the offense clearly lacked the explosiveness it has when Burrow is under center.

While he is more of a game manager than a game winner like Burrow, Browning could benefit significantly from the return of Higgins since he will have one of the best wide receiver tandems in the NFL at his disposal in Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase.

At 5-6, the Bengals are in a position where they can ill afford to lose more than one game for the rest of the season, and while that seems unlikely, a full complement of offensive weapons at least gives Browning and the Bengals a fighting chance.

It seems like the Cincinnati Bengals will be without one of their best offensive weapons for Thursday's critical AFC North showdown against the Baltimore Ravens.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported "it's considered unlikely" that wide receiver Tee Higgins will be on the field thanks to the hamstring injury that also kept him sidelined for Sunday's loss against the Houston Texans.

The timing of the setback was unfortunate for Higgins for multiple reasons.

Not only did it sideline him for important games against fellow AFC contenders in the Texans and Ravens, but it also came right after his best showing of the season. He tallied eight catches for 110 yards in the Week 9 win over the Buffalo Bills.

It was the first time since he had 89 receiving yards and two touchdowns in Week 2 against the Ravens that he even reached the 70-yard mark for a game and seemed to indicate he was turning the corner ahead of the stretch run.

Now there are questions about his health, as well as that of other key players on the Bengals roster in pass-rushers Sam Hubbard (ankle) and Trey Hendrickson (knee) ahead of one of the biggest games of the year.

While Joe Burrow still threw for 347 yards and two touchdowns against the Texans without Higgins thanks in large part to the presence of wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd, he also had two interceptions and was outplayed by rookie C.J. Stroud for stretches.

Keeping up with Lamar Jackson and Baltimore on the road without Higgins will not be easy.

Cincinnati was a presumed Super Bowl contender coming into the season, but it is on the outside of the AFC playoff picture at 5-4 with upcoming road games against the Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars.

A postseason spot is anything but a guarantee at this point, especially if Higgins and others are going to be sidelined by different physical ailments. For now, it will be up to Chase, Boyd and Burrow to keep the passing attack afloat.

The Carolina Panthers hope they have their franchise quarterback in Bryce Young, and they reportedly attempted to land him significant help at wide receiver ahead of this year's NFL trade deadline.

According to ESPN's David Newton, the NFC South team "went after" both Davante Adams of the Las Vegas Raiders and Tee Higgins of the Cincinnati Bengals. However, the two AFC teams were apparently unwilling to move either pass-catcher.

That Carolina would want to add around Young comes as no surprise.

After all, it didn't just select the Alabama product with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 draft. It also traded plenty to get him by sending the Nos. 9 and 61 overall picks of the 2023 draft, its 2024 first-rounder, and star wide receiver DJ Moore to the Chicago Bears for that top selection.

Giving up so much and the impressive play of No. 2 overall pick C.J. Stroud with the Houston Texans has only served to amplify Young's struggles in his rookie season.

He has completed 62.8 percent of his passes for 1,560 yards, eight touchdowns and seven interceptions while the Panthers got off to a 1-8 start. The poor start means the Bears are in line to receive quite the valuable pick in 2024 as part of that trade.

Chicago made things worse for the Panthers with a head-to-head win in Thursday's matchup. Wide receiver Adam Thielen told reporters the offense's effort was "embarrassing," while Young expressed frustration:

Yet it's not as if Young is throwing to a loaded wide receiver group.

Thielen is the only pass-catcher with more than 229 receiving yards on the team, and he isn't on the same level as Adams or Higgins. Landing either of those options ahead of the deadline would have altered the ceiling of Carolina's offense and given Young a true No. 1 option as he grew accustomed to the NFL game.

Higgins is scheduled for free agency after this season, so perhaps the Panthers can add him during the offseason without giving anything up in a trade. Adams is under contract with the Raiders through 2026 with a potential out in 2025.

At some point, Carolina will need to surround Young with better players at the skill positions if he is going to live up to the expectations that come with being the No. 1 overall pick as a quarterback.

It attempted to do so with a trade for Higgins and Adams this year but was unsuccessful.