INDIANAPOLIS — No matter where I went at the NFL Scouting Combine this week, from the media center to the hallways to the breakfast tables and deep into the night, seemingly everyone wanted to know an answer to the same question: What’s going to happen with Tee Higgins?

As the Bengals try to make their way through a busy, challenging and potentially tumultuous offseason, the league is watching and monitoring closely.

Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin made his opinions known Tuesday, stating he’s “optimistic” the deal with Higgins will get done and they are working to also finish off extensions with Ja’Marr Chase and Trey Hendrickson.

One truth is clear, skepticism exists across the league the club will — or should — pull this off.

There were doubts from team execs that paying that amount to two wide receivers was the proper path, questioning the value in dedicating that level of money to the wide receiver positions with the need for investments in the trenches.

There were doubts from agents about the ability to make Chase, Higgins and Hendrickson happy especially considering the Bengals’ preferences for structure and low guarantees.

Before Matthew Stafford returning to the Rams, there was even chatter about how a team like Los Angeles would be monitoring Joe Burrow’s happiness with the outcome in Cincinnati with a close eye.

That doesn’t speak to the reality of a catastrophic fallout with Burrow happening, but rather the skepticism about all of it that exists around the league.

The Bengals are in a position to prove the league wrong in how they handle their stars in the coming months and many are watching with a critical eye to see if they do.

Keep in mind the traditional Bengals timing of extensions, cuts and other roster moves could be thrown off in an untraditional offseason, which could create uncomfortable stretches but the organizational urgency and pressure were undeniable. For now, all eyes are on the Higgins deal kicking things off.

• One lever the Bengals have available with Higgins is the ability to apply the franchise tag and then trade their star receiver.

The execution is a challenge with teams generally unwilling to pay Higgins and give up the early Day-2 pick it would likely take to acquire him.

Knowledge Higgins won’t be hitting free agency sent multiple receiver-needy teams looking elsewhere, the Chargers and Patriots among them. The idea of a bidding war to drum up the price doesn’t have traction.

The ideal situation for both sides will be getting the long-term extension done before the tag is necessary at 4 p.m. Tuesday, or at the very least, before free agency begins six days later. That’s a goal. Stay tuned.

• The stadium issue only adds to an all-time pressure cooker this spring. For a while, the Bengals have been negotiating an extension of the lease that expires in 2026 with the county. The club must decide if it exercises the first of five, two-year, rolling extensions on the lease by June 30.

It’s viewed as extremely problematic if the negotiations require that two-year extension and could alter the entire dynamics of the conversation.

Gov. Mike DeWine has brought forth a plan to acquire more state money through a gambling tax increase. That could help alleviate some of the pain in the process. The only issue being the Browns (and all the other pro sports teams in Ohio) are also eligible for those potential funds and they are putting more than a billion dollars of their own money into a sprawling new facility in Brook Park, a Cleveland suburb. The Bengals will only be putting in a fraction of that to a renovation nowhere near the overall cost of the Cleveland project.

These negotiations still have significant roadblocks to overcome and, on top of everything else going on with the team, the clock is ticking loudly.

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• While the Bengals’ camp might look quiet right now, under the surface the action has been churning. The only major move to this point was the expected release of defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins, but there will be more and those are lining up to jump-start the necessary reallocation of resources that’s the key to their offseason puzzle.

Others, generated from a combination of age and salary, will symbol the youth movement placed into the lap of new defensive coordinator Al Golden on defense.

The Bengals continue to beat the drum of recent first-round picks Myles Murphy and Dax Hill. The contribution has been minimal to this point, but there’s a clear bet being made the new leadership on defense will allow both to live up to expectations.

Hill showed his flash last year moving from safety to outside corner before going down with an ACL injury. He’s a candidate to kick inside to the slot, a position he played well at Michigan. He appeared to have found a home outside, but at either spot Tobin is buying every bit of what he’s seen from the 2022 first-rounder.

“He was about to really explode,” Tobin said. “He was playing well and we’re going to be talking about a very, very fine corner. Wherever Al decides to line him up. If he lines him up inside, outside, wherever we’re going to be talking about a fantastic player. He just needs to get back. And normally the second year off an ACL is a little easier than the first year, but I think he’s such a dynamic athlete that he might show us that the first year is just as good.”

Dax Hill started five games last season before his season-ending knee injury. (Tommy Gilligan / Imagn Images)

Certainly sounds like the words of an executive expected to allow Mike Hilton to go elsewhere in free agency and exercise the fifth-year option on Hill before the May 2 deadline. Hill resides in the lowest tier of fifth-year option status with no Pro Bowls or sustained snap counts over multiple seasons to hit the escalators. It will only cost about $13 million to lock him up for 2026. That’s happening.

The continued messaging about Murphy, the 2023 first-round pick, is that lack of playing time is a large part of what has held him back. They want him to play. New defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery will be tasked with teaching Murphy how to better finish in the pass rush. Montgomery views it as one of the most under-coached skills for a young rusher because they can’t fully get after the quarterback in most practices. Again, this amplifies the fact the Murphy plan is for snap volume.

Betting on a player without a sack in 2024 won’t be the sole plan. Cincinnati will be poking around free-agent edge rushers and need to find answers as well as contingency plans depending on what goes down with Hendrickson. Look for the draft and free agency to supplement the resuscitation of that group in the coming months.

• Fixing guard will be another point of emphasis over the next two months. Despite optimism expressed regarding Cordell Volson from new offensive line coach Scott Peters, the free-agent guard class is being parsed through for a starting answer.

The problem being a public view of the class as being relatively deep isn’t shared by all, specifically through the lens of the pass-pro focus Cincinnati prioritizes. This could require an early, targeted approach on the few guards the Bengals view capable of providing the starting level of play desired and knocking it out early, as they did signing Alex Cappa early in the 2022 free-agent period.

If that doesn’t hit, the position shifts up the positional priority board for the draft immediately. First-round guard would not fit the club’s traditional draft and roster strategy, but will not be out of the question.

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• Changes will be coming to how the Bengals prepare for the season. Fixing the slow starts was on the mind of every Cincinnati coach and staff member roaming the halls.

Golden plans to utilize OTAs to the fullest in terms of installing his defense, but much focus is directed on what training camp looks like.

There’s a balance between the physical, live-tackling camps of teams like the Steelers and Chiefs or those Marvin Lewis utilized and those Zac Taylor’s Bengals have utilized, along with much of the league, designed specifically to keep players healthy when the season begins rather than coming off a month of live tackling practice.

They don’t want to take away the energy and late-season success of recent teams, but an admission the approach hasn’t worked as a whole due to slow starts was unanimous.

Expect an uptick in tackling during camp and playing time for starters in the preseason. Those specifics are to be determined and subject to what transpires in August, but the discussion of a faster start has never been louder.

(Top photo of Tee Higgins: Sam Greene / The Enquirer via Imagn Images)