The Tee Higgins contract saga has reportedly come to an end. For the 2024 season at least.
Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Higgins and the Cincinnati Bengals will not reach an agreement on a long-term extension before Monday’s deadline to do so. That means the fifth-year wide receiver will play next season with the franchise and become a free agent in 2025 — unless, of course, the Bengals place another franchise on him next offseason.
That’s an unlikely scenario given the escalations built into the collective bargaining agreement for player franchises scheduled multiple times. Higgins will receive a $21.8 tag in 2024. If the Bengals tag him again in 2025, he would receive a minimum 20% raise on his $21.8 million salary, which adds up to about $26.2 million .
But for the 2024 season, Higgins’ services are secure in Cincinnati. He signed a franchise tag that exceeds the average annual value of his four-year rookie contract, which has paid him $25.9 million since joining the Bengals as a 2020 second-round draft pick.
That, at least, is good news for a Bengals team looking to bounce back from a poor season where they missed the playoffs after back-to-back trips to the AFC championship game, one of which resulted in a Super Bowl berth. The 2024 campaign will be a high-stakes season for both the Bengals and Higgins.
Higgins has been the second option at one of the best wide receivers in football while playing alongside All-Pro Ja’Marr Chase. He’s also coming off the worst season of his career, an injury-plagued campaign that saw the entire Bengals offense take several steps back as quarterback Joe Burrow battled injuries before his season ended with a wrist injury that required surgery.
After recording at least 908 yards and six touchdowns in each of his first three NFL seasons, Higgins has recorded 42 receptions for 656 yards and five touchdowns in 12 games in 2023. The Bengals are counting on a bounce-back campaign to return to the title game. containment, and Higgins is a significant part of that equation. If Higgins and the Bengals return to form, Higgins will be in line for a significant long-term payday, with some suitors potentially looking at him as a No. 1 receiving target.
The Bengals would obviously benefit from securing Higgins and Chase long-term as Burrow’s primary weapons. But Chase will get a long-term extension at the end of his rookie contract and is clearly the top priority for the front office. In a league where the contract market for wide receivers continues to skyrocket, the prospects of signing Higgins to a long-term contract in the upcoming offseason draft are even more difficult in Cincinnati.
