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Ben Baby
The staff director of the Cincinnati Bengals players, Duke Tobin, sat in a dance hall mostly empty in the Westin in the center of Indianapolis recently and had a family conversation.
Once again, the de facto GM of the Bengals was discussing the long -term future of Tee Higgins’s open receiver with the team. During the last three coasts, Cincinnati has had to make a great decision about one of his best offensive players. The decision taken on Monday is familiar to both sides of the negotiation.
The Bengals placed the franchise label in Higgins for the second consecutive year. It marks the last development in a very time saga with respect to Higgins and a possible long -term extension. Last year, the two parties could not reach an agreement on an extension for the fifth year receiver of Clemson.
This year, the Bengals re -label Higgins as a short -term solution or as a position marker for a more final resolution this low season.
Higgins had 10 Touchdown trapped of his career last season, and the Bengals were 8-4 in the 12 games he played in 2024, compared to 1-4 in the five he lost. Since he entered the League in 2020, Higgins has 34 reception touchdowns, tied in the 14th more in the NFL. He is one of the nine players with at least five touchdowns in each of the last five seasons.
Looking more closely, the Ben Baby Bengals reporter answers five major questions about the movement, including the way possible the possible agreements for the receptor J’mar Chase and the defensive wing Trey Hendrickson. National reporter Jeremy Fowler reveals what he is listening to in the League.
How did the Bengals and Higgins arrive at this point?
This is the third year that the Bengals and Higgins have fought for a long -term extension. After Higgins was labeled last year, he requested an exchange with the hope of obtaining a new agreement. He ended up signing the label, playing 12 games and, perhaps in particular, he changed agents before this year’s great negotiation, from David Mulugheta to Arceneaux Rocky and Caitlin Aoki by Alliance Sports Management. Arceneaux also represents the teammate of Higgins, Ja’mar Chase, who is also chasing an extension.
Higgins has been a very productive receiver when it is healthy. But with the window closed quickly, the Bengals chose to place the label in Higgins, which leaves the team with some options. — Baby
What will be the mental state of Higgins after not receiving an extension and what resource does it have in the situation?
To be clear, the two parties can still reach an agreement on an extension. That deadline is not until July 15. However, the fact that the Bengals labeled Higgins is not a great sign.
When Higgins obtained the label last year, it was a sign for him that a new agreement did not arrive. Higgins wanted to avoid noise and drama last year, so he accepted the label long before the training camp.
Higgins announced the last label with a four -characters on Monday: “Tag”. Even if the team said it wants to work for a long -term agreement, it is worth monitoring whether to be labeled again increases Higgins’s frustration on its situation in Cincinnati in the coming weeks. — Baby
What are you listening to in the League?
The Bengals want to sign Higgins for a long -term agreement, so the franchise label is a good position marker for them, not to mention that the value of the label, $ 26.1 million, is lower than its real value in the wide recipient market.
People in the league are skeptical about whether the Bengals can pay Chase, Higgins and Hendrickson, but they will try. Wait that rival teams try to attract Cincinnati with a possible commercial package prior to the Draft, especially if a team that has a lot of receiver like New England does not get what he needs in free agency. However, Cincinnati has an inclination to keep good players instead of treating them. – Fowler
What does this mean for the future of Higgins in Cincinnati?
The Bengals have always been very high in Higgins. Even in the middle of the contractual drama this year, Tobin expressed how his fondness for the second round of 2020 has evolved from the moment he was Bengal.
“My opinion about Tee has not changed,” Tobin said. “He entered the building, I’m like, ‘Yes, that’s what I thought it was. That’s what'” is.
But if the Bengals cannot reach a long -term agreement with Higgins, and the receiver does not want to play on the franchise label, then Cincinnati should firmly consider the exchange of writing capital in the hope of finding a possible replacement. — Baby
How big could this be for Higgins and the team?
This could be a considerable distraction. Keep in mind that when Higgins signed its 2024 franchise label before the start of the training camp, he said that part of the motivation was to avoid being in the headlines.
He has been loved by teammates and practically all inside the building in the last five years. That includes the Marshal Joe Burrow, who has been very vocal about keeping Higgins in Cincinnati.
If the two parties cannot agree in an extension of several years, administering the consequences with the Field Marshal of the franchise will be the biggest obstacle to face the main office of Cincinnati. — Baby
What does this mean to the Chase and Hendrickson agreements?
To begin with, this could give Chase a greater influence in its negotiation of contracts, since it seeks to become the best paid rooms in the history of the League, which is something that Tobin said he hopes to achieve.
With the future of uncertain Higgins, there is greater urgency to ensure at least one long -term objective for Burrow in the next seasons. However, if the Bengals keep Higgins on the label for the 2025 season, it will create less space for the team so that the firm Chase and Hendrickson team because the amount of the Higgins label will completely count on the next limit.
Even so, Cincinnati should have ample space to do something with its two All-PRO players, especially with the limit by increasing to $ 279.2 million in 2025. — Baby
