Throughout the offseason, there has been a lot of drama between the Cincinnati Bengals and star wide receiver Tee Higgins after the Bengals decided to use their franchise tag to keep him on the roster this season and he requested a trade shortly after due to frustration with his contract situation. And now, details have emerged about those contract talks.
According to a report from Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Tee Higgins was not looking to be the highest-paid receiver in the league. Instead, he was looking for a deal similar to the one Michael Pittman just signed with the Indianapolis Colts – an average annual salary of $23 million. But Conway reports that the Bengals offer never even approached $20 million.
“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, this is an insultingly low offer for Higgins given that he is widely considered one of the best wide receivers in the league and there are 18 different receivers who make more than $20 million a season.
This season, Higgins is scheduled to make $21.8 million on the one-year, fully guaranteed franchise tag. Given that total, it would make sense for that to be the starting figure for contract negotiations. But it seems the Bengals are offering less than even that.
