It’s been a pretty tumultuous offseason for Tee Higgins and the Cincinnati Bengals. After the team decided to use their franchise tag to keep him on the roster, Higgins requested a trade shortly after, claiming contract talks had not progressed. And now, details have emerged about those failed contract talks.
According to a report from Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Tee Higgins was looking to be paid comparably to Michael Pittman with the Indianapolis Colts – an average annual salary of $23 million. This is far less than the top wide receivers on the market, but Conway reports that the Bengals very much lowballed Higgins.
“The Bengals never approached the $20 million range for Higgins, sources told The Enquirer. Due to the original offer Cincinnati’s front office gave Higgins for his annual salary, the two sides never advanced to the next round of conversations which would have been about guaranteed money, sources also confirmed to The Enquirer. Any speculation that Higgins and his representation are asking for a specific amount of guaranteed money from the Bengals is not accurate,” Coway wrote for the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Obviously, it’s pretty brutal news that the Bengals are giving such a lowball offer to one of the top receivers in the league, and the NFL world had a lot to say about it on social media.
So disrespectful. #NFL https://t.co/3YQ5ALYN9V
— Blitzburgh (@Blitz_Burgh) April 30, 2024
Always a good sign for your playoff/SB hopes to have two key players pissed off about their contracts and wanting to be traded. https://t.co/K05q7s4R6u
— Mikes2start (@mikes2start) April 30, 2024
I mean that's just not gonna cut it lol https://t.co/3qFbG8TZBJ
— Tom Downey (@WhatGoingDowney) April 30, 2024
The Bengals are not a serious organization. You franchised Tee for 22 mil. But your contract offer isn't even close to 20 mil a year? Just trade him. https://t.co/S42d7z4K6x
— #FreeBuddhaMichael🇵🇷 (@BurnerBuddha) April 30, 2024
Calvin Ridley averages $23 mill a year for context https://t.co/KKdHD2vUTL
— Soapboxmox (@SoapBoxMox) April 30, 2024
Of course it didn’t. The Bengals still think the salary cap is $100M https://t.co/uIM2JVZBOT
— Tone II⚡️ (@deshields__) April 30, 2024
We’ll have to see how this situation plays out.
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