The Cincinnati Bengals used their franchise tag on wide receiver Tee Higgins to keep him on the roster for the 2024 season. But if they’re going to want to keep him with the team longer than that, it’s certainly not going to be easy or cheap.
As NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated pointed out in his Monday Morning Quarterback column, Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase will also need a contract extension in the near future. And it’s unlikely he’ll accept any less than what Tee Higgins is set to make. And with Joe Burrow already signing a large contract, it will be very difficult for the Bengals to keep all three players given the salary cap.
“Higgins will be tagged at $21.816 million. That means a second tag for him will come in at $26.179 million in 2025, pushing his two-year cost towards $48 million. So it’s unlikely he would sign a long-term deal at less than $25 million per. That number then becomes the floor for what you’ll pay Ja’Marr Chase, who’s now eligible for a second contract. The question after that becomes whether or not the team can allot, say, $110 million or so per year to a quarterback and two receivers. Maybe the Bengals can. But it wouldn’t be easy,” Breer wrote for Sports Illustrated on Monday.
Obviously, this is a pretty brutal situation for the team to be in. We’ll have to see how the Bengals choose to manage the situation.
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