Tee Higgins Receives $21.8M Franchise Tag from Bengals amid Contract Rumors

The Cincinnati Bengals officially applied the franchise tag to wide receiver Tee Higgins on Monday.

"Tee has done an outstanding job for us since we drafted him in 2020," said Bengals head coach Zac Taylor. "I'm glad that he'll continue to be a big part of our offense and our team."

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport first reported the news.

Higgins can earn $21.8 million from the one-year tender. This buys the Bengals some time to negotiate a long-term extension or at the very least have him under contract for the 2024 season before he'd hit free agency.

Applying the franchise tag to the talented wideout doesn't preclude a trade or protracted holdout, though, so plenty of drama could unfold.

Higgins, 25, has emerged as an extremely solid option for the Bengals as the No. 2 receiver behind Ja'Marr Chase. He registered 1,000-yard seasons in both 2021 and 2022, caught 74 passes in each of those campaigns and totaled 13 touchdowns in that time.

Injuries limited him to just 12 games last year and those absences—combined with Joe Burrow's own injury issues—led to a down year, as Higgins caught 42 passes for 656 yards and five touchdowns.

Still, he would have been one of the top receivers to hit free agency had he not received the franchise tag, joining players like Mike Evans, Michael Pittman Jr. and Calvin Ridley. More than a few teams were surely disappointed to see him come off the market.

The question will be whether the Bengals can afford to keep him beyond this season, with Chase's own eventual long-term extension on the horizon. Keeping Higgins would require a major allocation of salary cap space to the wide receiver position, while Joe Burrow's massive five-year, $275 million extension kicks in for the 2025 season.

So it's possible that Higgins won't be with the team for more than another year. One last season with him opposite Chase makes the Bengals a major threat in the AFC in 2024, however.