NFL Rumors: Tee Higgins, Bengals Won't Agree to Contract Extension Before Deadline

The Cincinnati Bengals and wide receiver Tee Higgins won't make a breakthrough at the eleventh hour on a multiyear contract, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

Rapoport reported, with Monday's deadline to strike a bargain fast approaching, that Higgins will play out the 2024 NFL season on his franchise tender.

This is where things have been headed for some time.

The Bengals drew a line in the sand with safety Jessie Bates III in 2022. He spent that year on the franchise tag and then bolted on a four-year, $64 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons at his earliest opportunity.

Cincinnati followed the same playbook here.

ESPN's Ben Baby reported in May that "Higgins and the Bengals haven't had negotiations for a new contract in more than a year." Before that, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reported the team had "made clear behind the scenes they have no plans to trade Higgins."

The 6'4" pass-catcher requested a trade earlier in the offseason, but that didn't change the fact Cincinnati held all of the cards once it applied the franchise tag to him. He had too much to lose by refusing to sign it and risk missing an entire season.

Higgins finally put pen to paper in June, guaranteeing himself a $21.8 million salary for 2024.

This is clearly a suboptimal situation for the 25-year-old with the receiver market currently surging. Spotrac pegs his market value at $19.7 million annually, and that's probably below what he'd earn in free agency when the Philadelphia Eagles' DeVonta Smith and Houston Texans' Nico Collins both got $24-plus million on extensions.

Still, Higgins will have to wait another year until he can cash in with the kind of payday he believes he deserves. As long as he remains healthy — and with Joe Burrow back at quarterback for Cincy — that should be the outcome next spring.