With large receiver Tee Higgins locked in for 2024, the Bengals ought to have much more urgency to return to the Tremendous Bowl this season.
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the four-year wideout has agreed to signal his franchise-tag tender value $21.8 million, ending a standoff with the entrance workplace.
Schefter later defined that “a long-term deal … is taken into account an extended shot.”
Earlier this offseason, Higgins demanded a commerce, however throughout an April interview, he sounded at peace with being in Cincinnati for the upcoming season.
“I’ve grown a love for Cincy that I did not suppose I’d so,” he mentioned, including, “Wanting ahead to it.”
In 2023, Higgins appeared in 12 video games with 42 receptions, 656 yards and 5 touchdowns. Per ESPN Analytics, he ranked sixth amongst large receivers in its yards-after-catch (YAC) receiving scores. He averaged a career-high 15.6 yards per reception.
Since making his NFL debut in 2020, Higgins ranks nineteenth amongst all large receivers in receiving yards (3,684) and 18th in receiving touchdowns (24).
As ESPN’s Invoice Barnwell famous, Cincinnati may apply the tag to him subsequent season, which might value $26.2 million. Contemplating what Higgins would seemingly go for on the open market, that is most likely a steal.
Nonetheless, with quarterback Joe Burrow’s contract set to balloon starting in 2025 and large receiver Ja’Marr Chase due for an enormous extension, the Bengals could be higher off spending the cash earmarked for Higgins on different positions of want, particularly if they arrive in need of their objectives this yr.
Cincinnati reached its first Tremendous Bowl for the reason that 1988 season in 2021, dropping a heartbreaker to the Rams, 23-20. After a visit to the AFC Championship Sport in 2022, the Bengals missed the playoffs final yr as Burrow’s season-ending wrist harm in Week 11 sunk the crew’s possibilities.
Chase and Higgins give Cincinnati the most effective 1-2 punches at large receiver within the league. Most groups can be envious of the expertise the entrance workplace has assembled. However with Higgins’ long-term future in Cincinnati nonetheless very a lot unsure, the Bengals cannot afford to squander what they’ve whereas they nonetheless have it.
