The Bengals’ situation with Tee Higgins is quickly becoming much like the Cowboys. With their key players Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase up for extension and their inability to pay both of them because of low cap space, Tee could be out of Cincinnati. However, who is going to make a move for a wideout who has missed considerable game time because of persistent injuries?
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As per Adam Schefter, someone is going to pay Tee regardless of injuries. In the recent episode of NFL Live on ESPN, Dan Orlovosky and Schefter got into a heated argument about Higgins and whether he deserves to get paid regardless of his injury history. Entering into the last year of his contract, Schefter asserted that Tee wouldn’t get the money this year.
However, he stated that if he gets injured like last season, it would be up to him to either play through those injuries or sit out to prevent further damage and wait to become a free agent because he knows teams will be coming for him. Disagreeing with Schefter, Orlovosky asserted that teams wouldn’t pay for him if he was not fit and healthy.
This statement made the NFL Insider a bit displeased who called former Lions QB out and claimed that whatever season Higgins has, teams would be lining up to pay him.
.@AdamSchefter was stunned by a comment @danorlovsky7 made about Tee Higgins pic.twitter.com/Dn34sQhjih
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) May 15, 2024
The Bengals wideout was franchise-tagged for $21.8 million over two months ago. Few weeks later, Higgins requested a trade, which also didn’t materialize. Cincy has till 15th July to get the contract finalized because after that Tee would play on the tag before becoming a free agent next year.
The new contract for Tee won’t be cheap and most teams who can afford that won’t mind waiting out another year, rather trading for him and giving up the draft capital.
Tee Higgins Contract Predictions
With Ja’Marr Chase firmly established as the WR1 for the Bengals, Higgins was never getting the WR1 money from the franchise because they would have to Chase too. However, this doesn’t mean Tee won’t be getting a big salary bump though the team to give him that kind of money won’t be Cincinnati.
As per Spotrac, Higgins is expected to get a 5-year contract worth, $98.5 million with an average annual salary of $19.7 million. However, this amount is expected to rise next year if he becomes a free agent and manages to stay healthy and put in another 1000-yard season.
He missed 5 games last season because of the injuries, which cut down his production to only 656 yards on just 47 receptions. He did manage to find the end zone five times.
Teams like the Patriots would be willing to pay him that amount next season or even this season for a quality receiver. However, the next season seems more probable because then the Pats would have to time see if their present receiver and rookies they drafted are good enough to be top wideout for their QB Drake Maye, who is likely to become a starter next year.
While Schefter asserted that he would get paid regardless of injuries or high production, there is a case to be made that he would have to perform and keep himself fit because the ongoing trend of drafting a new WR and slotting him into the starting role has been successful.
There was an abundance of receivers in this year’s draft and there will likely to more next year. With already a good QB in place, the rookies have been putting up numbers like 1200-1300 yards. Higgins might have to up his game.
