Bengals Take A Step Toward Keeping Tee Higgins By Applying Franchise Tag
The Cincinnati Bengals aren't going to start losing players without a fight, so on Monday afternoon they applied the franchise tag to receiver Tee Higgins as a step toward perhaps keeping the outstanding receiver for at least one more season.
Higgins broke the news of the tag on his social media feed.
Higgins Franchise Tag Sets High Cap Cost
Higgins gave no commentary on exactly how he feels about the tag. It obviously isn't what he was hoping to get – which was either a contract or a chance to test the market in free agency.
The tag immediately costs the Bengals $26.179 million against their salary cap – which they can afford because they have approximately $68.6 million in cap space.
But this doesn't solve the problem for anyone long term.
This is a bandage to a wound that has been bleeding for some time.
The reason the new tag on Higgins is so high is that it is a 20 percent raise on the tag he played under last year. So this is the second time the Bengals had to tag Higgins.
Cincinnati Bengals wide receivers Tee Higgins (5) and Ja'Marr Chase (1) celebrate a touchdown during a game on Nov. 17, 2024.
Pause So Bengals Can Address Chase
And, presumably, this is the second consecutive season in which they've kicked the can down the road while absorbing a sizable salary cap number in order to maintain rights to Higgins.
But this isn't what anyone wants.
Both parties want and say they will continue to work toward a full-blown contract. That's the way to avoid finding themselves dealing with the same issues about keeping or losing Higgins one year from now.
The Bengals would like to do a contract because the tag is only for one season, and a contract can bring the team a much lower cap cost because its money is prorated over the term of the deal – often four or five years.
Higgins would like a contract as well, because it would give him a huge sum of money in the form of guaranteed money. Yes, the franchise tag is guaranteed, but that's $26.179 million.
A contract guarantee for an outstanding No. 2 wide receiver can hover around $70 million and up. And fully guaranteed portions of such a deal can rise from $45 million on up.
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase (1), quarterback Joe Burrow (9) and wide receiver Tee Higgins (5) take the field as captains for the coin toss before the first quarter of the NFL Week 18 game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025.
Bengals Make Joe Burrow Happy
So contracts give players more security, which is what they want in a sport where careers can end in a moment.
On the bright side for the Bengals, they've done enough to perhaps appease Joe Burrow, who lobbied hard during the Super Bowl to keep all his weapons on the team.
And they've given themselves a pause in which to now address negotiations with No. 1 receiver Ja'Marr Chase. Chase wants to be the NFL's highest-paid non-quarterback and the Bengals expect to make him just that.
That's going to require a lot of cash and cap room and so setting Higgins to the side, knowing they have him on the team for next season if they wish, is some comfort.
And this: It is possible that if the situation changes, the Bengals can trade Higgins. Or they can remove the tag and let him go to free agency, knowing they'll get a compensatory pick in return in 2026.
So this was something of a win-win for the Bengals.
At a steep cap cost, of course.