Where Bengals and Tee Higgins stand on contract as NFL franchise tag window opens

Posted by author February 18, 2025 NFL

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The Bengals can add the franchise tag to Tee Higgins again, but it will be costly for another one-year deal.
The Bengals franchise tagged Tee Higgins last season for $21.8 million. It’ll be more this year.
Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase now work with the same agent.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins and his future is one of the most popular topics in the NFL currently and will continue to be for the next few weeks.

The window for NFL teams to place the franchise tag on players opens at 4 p.m. EST on Tuesday and the deadline to do so is March 4 at 4 p.m. EST. It’s important to note that if the Bengals do in fact place the tag on Higgins, it doesn’t necessarily mean he will play in Cincinnati next year. This simply marks the first step in what could be a long negotiation process between Higgins and the Bengals.

The Bengals will almost certainly place the franchise tag on Higgins before the deadline if the team and Higgins haven’t reached an extension by then. This prevents Higgins from hitting the market as a free agent when the new league year begins on March 12. If the Bengals didn’t tag Higgins, he would be eligible to sign with the team of his choosing and Cincinnati wouldn’t get the draft capital they likely will if they agree to a tag-and-trade with another team.

What Duke Tobin said about Tee Higgins ahead of NFL free agency

Duke Tobin answered a lot of questions about Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase and Trey Hendrickson at the Senior Bowl. Here’s what Tobin had to say about Higgins:

“Let’s find something that works for everybody, because he is a guy that we want to have here, and hopefully that can come together, but we have other guys who are trying to take big bites of the apple in other areas, and we’re going to have to balance those as we go forward,” Tobin said.

How many times can the Bengals franchise tag Tee Higgins?

NFL teams can use the franchise tag three times on the same player. When and if the Bengals tag Higgins, it be the second year in a row the team placed the franchise tag on him. Higgins played last season on the franchise tag number of $21 million. The number is expected to be $25 million for the wide receiver position this year.

By tagging Higgins, it gives the team and player more time to work on a long-term deal and if the two sides can’t come to an agreement, the Bengals then could decide to trade him to the team of their choosing based off what that team is offering from a draft pick/ player standpoint. In applying the tag, Cincinnati’s front office can control how the process plays out.

It’s unlikely Higgins would be interested in playing for the Bengals next season on the tag without a long-term deal in place and it wouldn’t make sense for the Bengals to keep paying for Higgins on a one-year basis. The more a team uses the tag on a player, the more expensive it gets (the Bengals would have to pay at least 120% of Higgins’ $21.8 million guaranteed contract last season). Cincinnati’s front office must decide if they want to keep Higgins long-term or deal him to another team because his value is at an all-time high right now.

The spirit of the franchise tag is for it to be used to help the process of a long-term extension get done.

Joe Burrow on Tee Higgins’ contract extension with the Bengals

Quarterback Joe Burrow has continued his public push for the Bengals to give Trey Hendrickson, Ja’Marr Chase and Higgins new deals to keep them in Cincinnati. Because of the star power behind these players and the uncertainty around their futures, Burrow said it’s a “big offseason” for his team.

“When (Tee is) on the field he’s a game changer for us, not only for our team, but for Ja’Marr,” Burrow said during the Super Bowl week in New Orleans. “Teams can’t just focus in on him and double him and cloud him. They have to worry about Tee Higgins on the other side of the field. We have the (cap) space that we need to keep both of those guys.”

What the Bengals front office said about Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins extension

Tobin gave an update on where things stand on keeping Higgins, Chase and Burrow together when The Enquirer spoke to him at the Senior Bowl at the end of January.

“It’s going to be hard,” Tobin said. “We feel like we have the resources to do it, but it all depends on how the negotiation goes and whether they’re willing to accept wanting to come back at a number that makes sense for everybody. And you know what we do with Tee going forward, I’ve always been very upfront in my desire to have Tee Higgins on our team. I’ve never not been upfront about that, and that desire continues, but we have to be able to come together with his representation on what that means and what the right number is for his experience, for his play time, for his production. And let’s find something that works for everybody, because he is a guy that we want to have here, and hopefully that can come together, but we have other guys who are trying to take big bites of the apple in other areas, and we’re going to have to balance those as we go forward.

In five seasons with the Bengals, Higgins has played in 70 games with 330 catches for 4,595 yards and 34 touchdowns.