With just a few hours remaining until the deadline, big names continue to emerge with respect to being on the radar of interested teams. Bengals wideout Tee Higgins is drawing interest, reports ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

To no surprise, Fowler notes Cincinnati has no plans to pull off a trade which would send the former second-rounder elsewhere. Higgins’ future with the Bengals has nonetheless been a question mark for some time now, as 2023 marks the final year of his rookie contract. With free agency looming, he was the subject of trade inquiries during the Combine, though the Bengals shut down the notion of entertaining offers.

Higgins, like any number of young wideouts, will be in line for a signficant payday on the open market given the spike in the position’s value of the past few years. Talks on a Bengals extension did not come particularly close to producing an agreement, leaving 2023 as something of a prove-it year for the 24-year-old. Higgins (who has not engaged in a new round of talks during the campaign) has had a down year so far, failing to record a 100-yard game to date.

That marks a staunch difference compared to his previous three campaigns, which included outputs of 908, 1,091 and 1,029 yards. Higgins has proven to be a highly effective complement to Ja’Marr Chase, who will be eligible for an extension this offseason. While that commitment will be quite pricey, the Bengals are set to have veteran Tyler Boyd come off the books this spring, which could free up WR cap space for future seasons. Higgins could be viewed as a No. 1 option by an acquiring team, however.

It would come as a surprise if the Bengals were particularly active in any capacity before today’s deadline. After a shaky start brought on by quarterback Joe Burrow‘s calf injury, Cincinnati now sits at 4-3 on the year, giving them reason to expect at least a wild-card berth in the highly competitive AFC is attainable. Subtracting Higgins from the team’s offense would deal a notable blow to their immediate prospects, and knowing he would either be a rental or require an extension upon arrival would no doubt hinder the Clemson alum’s trade value.

Still, Higgins’ age and track record would make him an attractive option for any number of teams looking to boost their passing attacks. It will be interesting to see how much of a market develops for him, and if any interested party produces an offer the Bengals feel is too good to pass up.

A disastrous contract year for Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins appears likely to continue trending downward in the immediate future. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the fourth-year wideout suffered a rib fracture today that could hold him out for a portion of the final season of his rookie contract.

Higgins, a former second-round pick out of Clemson, has been a dominant top-two receiver in Cincinnati since being drafted in 2020. After leading the team in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns as a rookie, Higgins has delivered back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons for the Bengals while performing as WR2 behind Ja’Marr Chase. Over his first three seasons in the league, Higgins had accumulated an impressive 3,028 receiving yards for 19 touchdowns.

These accomplishments made it seem that extending Higgins, so that he might continue to provide newly paid quarterback Joe Burrow with a strong No. 2 target, would be a priority before the season began. Unfortunately, discussions towards a new contract stalled, reportedly over discrepancies on expectations for guaranteed money.

As we closed in on the start of the 2023 regular season, it became clear that Higgins and the Bengals were not close to an agreement on an extension. It was also reported that, not only were the two sides not going to reach an agreement by the start of the season, but Higgins was also not interested in discussing the extension any further in-season.

While he will now have the opportunity to hold in-season discussions about a potential extension while he allows his rib fracture to heal, he’s not necessarily in the best position to do so. Despite his stellar first three years in the NFL, Higgins’ performance so far in 2023 could put him at a disadvantage in negotiations. Up until his injury, Higgins had only caught 12 passes on 32 targets for 129 yards and two touchdowns through four games.

It’s unclear where both sides go from here. If the Bengals continue not to be competitive in the division, they may decide not to rush Higgins back, further hampering his contract-year. Higgins, who had only missed four games before this, may decide to take a lesser deal in order to stay with the team, or he may decide to test his luck on the market even without a strong final season before free agency. It will be a situation to keep an eye on, watching for how long it takes for Higgins to make a return and for when he decides to open up communications on a potential new contract again.

Receiver-needy teams will be monitoring the Bengals, who have Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd playing on expiring contracts. But this situation will be on hold for a while, as the Bengals will almost definitely not be viewed as a deadline seller.

The Bengals and Higgins could not reach an agreement on an extension before the season, with Joe Burrow and Logan Wilson being the team’s extension recipients this summer. As a result, Higgins is set to play out his contract. No in-season extension talks are coming between the Bengals and their No. 2 wideout, The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. and Dianna Russini report (subscription required).

Higgins looks to have made this call, with Dehner and Russini adding the Bengals made him an offer sources deemed low leading up to the season opener. The former second-round pick is now on track to become a free agent in 2024. That is, if Cincinnati does not apply the franchise tag by the March 5 deadline.

Burrow’s cap numbers on his landmark $275MM extension are out. The Bengals did, in fact, go to the void-years well to spread out Burrow’s cap hits. The void numbers run through 2032, though the real contract expires after the 2029 season. That could prove pertinent for Higgins’ Cincinnati future. Burrow’s 2024 cap number checks in at $29.7MM. With Ja’Marr Chase still tied to a rookie contract, the Bengals could probably find a way to cuff Higgins with a tag. Cincy is projected to carry more than $74MM in cap space in 2024. Although we are several months away from free agency, that number sits seventh in the NFL.

Chase’s price tag may not come into focus until the Vikings hammer out a Justin Jefferson extension. That is now expected to commence in 2024, continuing a decade-long trend of teams passing on Year 4 extensions for first-round wide receivers. No team has extended a first-round wideout with two seasons of rookie-deal control remaining in the fifth-year option era (2014-present). History certainly points to the Bengals keeping Chase on his rookie deal until 2025, when he will head into his fifth-year option season. While a long-term Chase-Higgins partnership may be unrealistic, retaining Higgins in 2024 — while Chase is tied to a $9.8MM salary — via the tag is an option the Bengals will surely consider.

A Higgins tag-and-trade transaction could also be an option for the Bengals, who will likely let Boyd walk next year. But VP of player personnel Duke Tobin shooting down Higgins trade rumors at this year’s Combine may still lend to the notion of the Bengals keeping him as long as they can.

The Buccaneers managed to roster both their top wideouts — Mike Evans, Chris Godwin — on upper-crust extensions while employing Tom Brady last season. They kept Godwin on a tag in 2021 and tagged him again in 2022, reaching an extension with their WR2 that year. But Brady’s Bucs contract did not exactly compare to the deal Burrow just signed. Chase will also be expected to sign a second contract north of $30MM per year.

Set to play out a five-year, $82.5MM deal, Evans is on track to hit free agency in 2024. If the Bengals do not tag Higgins, Evans would stand to be bumped down a slot in wideout-seeking teams’ priority queues next year. After this year’s free agency receiver pool featured the likes of Allen Lazard, Jakobi Meyers and JuJu Smith-Schuster as its headliners, next year’s could produce fireworks. But the Bengals having the tag option with Higgins threatens to prevent that scenario from forming.

In reaching a record-shattering Joe Burrow extension, the Bengals finally completed their top contractual goal for 2023. They also extended Logan Wilson, reaching team-friendly terms with their top linebacker. Tee Higgins, however, remains unsigned. And the team’s No. 2 wide receiver looks set to enter a contract year.

The Bengals are not close on an extension with Higgins, Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports, adding the sides have never gotten especially close on terms. Not much movement has occurred in recent weeks, per ESPN.com’s Ben Baby. Higgins is expected to remain a core piece for the Bengals this season, but his future is uncertain.

Burrow’s extension — a $55MM-per-year accord that creates distance between himself and the field — will complicate matters for Cincinnati, which used the star QB’s rookie contract to load up their roster. That said, the cap numbers for the quarterback’s landmark re-up are not yet known. It is possible the Bengals could maneuver their way to carving out room for a Higgins franchise tag.

This year’s round of QB re-ups have included lower cap hits in the first two years. Justin Herbert‘s first two years go $8.5MM and $19.3MM, while Lamar Jackson‘s sit at $22.15MM and $32.4MM. Jalen Hurts: $6.2MM, $13.6MM. Though, the Ravens and Eagles used void years for cap purposes from the start. The Bengals operate in a more traditional fashion, which could make them reluctant to include the increasingly popular space-creating mechanism this early in Burrow’s deal. But Burrow’s 2024 cap hit will be pertinent regarding the prospect of a Higgins franchise tag.

A 2024 Higgins tag will run the Bengals more than $20MM, and while Ja’Marr Chase is a clear-cut candidate to become the NFL’s highest-paid receiver in the not-too-distant future, the star wideout can be kept on his rookie deal through 2025 (via the fifth-year option). While the Vikings are working on a deal with Justin Jefferson, no team has signed a first-round wide receiver with two years of control remaining on his rookie contract in the fifth-year option era (2014-present). With Chase attached to a $9.8MM cap hit in 2024, a lower Burrow cap hit opens the door to the Bengals keeping their Chase-Higgins setup going for at least one more year. But that is not a lock, Conway adds, writing a Higgins tag would be unlikely.

That said, Bengals VP of player personnel Duke Tobin emphatically shut down Higgins trade inquiries at the Combine. It would seem the Bengals will have a tough time parting with their ascending WR2 next year, though a tag-and-trade scenario would also be an option. If Higgins reaches free agency, he would become one of the most coveted options available. While we are a ways away from knowing which receivers will hit the market, Higgins and Mike Evans — whom the Bucs are not planning to extend — would mark a considerable improvement from this year’s class. Tyler Boyd, who is almost certain to play out his Bengals deal and hit free agency in 2024, will likely fare decently as a first-time UFA as well.

“I have no clue,” Higgins said (via Baby) about his extension status. “My job is to come in every day and do what I do best — work and catch the ball from No. 9.”

Higgins said he has work to do and looks forward to bolstering his resume, which he added is “not as good as the greats,” via the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Charlie Goldsmith. The former second-round pick sits as one of the NFL’s top No. 2 options, topping 900 receiving yards in each of his three seasons and eclipsing 1,000 in 2021 and ’22.

The countdown to training camp is nearly up, but the Bengals still have plenty of work to do on the extension front. New deals for several players have yet to be worked out, leaving a number of unanswered questions for the team’s financial outlook.

Wideout Tee Higgins is set to enter the final year of his rookie contract, but he represents an obvious candidate for a multi-year deal. The need for new contracts on the part of quarterback Joe Burrow and, to a lesser extent, linebacker Logan Wilson led to trade speculation for Higgins this offseason, however. Cincinnati has made it clear the latter will not be on the move, and he has expressed a desire to remain with the team for years to come.

Those sentiments may not yield a smooth negotiating process, though. Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic notes that the matter of guranteed money on a new Higgins pact could become an issue during talks between the Bengals and agent David Mulugheta (subscription required). Plenty of recent precedent already exists regarding term and total dollar amounts on receiver deals, with extensions given to the likes of A.J. Brown, DK Metcalf, Deebo Samuel and Terry McLaurin playing a role in the unprecedented heights the position reached last offseason.

As Dehner notes, those four comparable pacts contain between $41MM and $58MM in guarantees, and the Bengals do not have a history of making such signficant long-term commitments. The pact for left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. – which included an historic $31.1MM signing bonus – and, no doubt, the one Burrow will sign at some point, represent exceptions to that general rule, though. A market-value deal for Higgins will require not only an AAV north of $20MM, but also a lucrative package of guranteed money.

The Bengals found themselves in troublesome extension talks last offseason with safety Jessie Bates, also a Mulugheta client. Bates ultimately played on the franchise tag in 2022, then landed a four-year, $64MM contract with the Falcons in free agency. A repeat of that situation could threaten the team’s ability to maintain its Burrow-Higgins-Ja’Marr Chase triumvirate over the long haul, making the team’s approach with Higgins a key storyline to follow for the rest of the offseason.

The Bengals have rolled out one of the NFL’s best position groups over the past two years, teaming Ja’Marr Chase with Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd. But Cincinnati’s wide receiver situation becomes more complicated this year. Higgins is now extension-eligible, during the same offseason in which Joe Burrow is expected to sign a potentially record-setting re-up.

One year remains on Higgins’ contract, and the prospect of a big Chase payday has invited speculation about the Bengals’ high-profile No. 2 wideout’s future. Bengals VP of player personnel Duke Tobin emphatically shot down the notion Higgins is available.

“I’m in the business of making the Cincinnati Bengals better, so trading Tee Higgins is not on my mind,” Tobin said Tuesday. “That’s their problem. They want a receiver? Go find your own. In my opinion, Tee Higgins is a good piece for the Cincinnati Bengals. The trade stuff is a little ridiculous right now.”

The contractual futures of Burrow, Chase and Higgins does invite questions about the Bengals keeping the trio long-term. Burrow will obviously be the team’s top priority, but Higgins has been a significant factor in the star quarterback’s rapid rise. The 2020 second-round pick has put together three straight 900-plus-yard seasons, with the 2021 and ’22 campaigns ending with the Clemson product surpassing the 1,000-yard barrier.

With Chase looming as a candidate to sign for more than $30MM annually, when that time comes, the Bengals keeping Higgins will be challenging. The team does have a 2024 franchise tag to use, in the event Higgins plays out his rookie deal in 2023, and Chase can be kept on his rookie deal through 2025 — via his fifth-year option. Chosen 33rd overall, Higgins escaped the fifth-year option range by one slot. Chase’s contract year not coming until 2025 would give the Bengals some options to keep their high-end aerial crew together, and the salary cap’s rise will boost the franchise’s hopes on this front.

Still, Higgins will command a lucrative deal. The Chargers faced this issue last year, though their equation is a bit different. The Bolts re-signed Mike Williams to a $20MM-per-year deal, pairing with Keenan Allen‘s $20MM-AAV pact. They gave Williams a three-year contract, and Allen is going into his age-31 season. Justin Herbert‘s extension will likely not overlap long with Allen’s on the Bolts’ books. Higgins is just 24; Chase will turn 23 on Wednesday. Cincinnati’s issue will be keeping three young talents together. Aside from the Chargers, no other team has two wideouts earning more than $18MM per annum.

Higgins hopes his second contract will come from the Bengals. A trade would net Cincinnati considerable value, especially given this modest wideout market expected in free agency. But the Bengals are also aiming to stay on the Super Bowl contender tier. Higgins will be a key part of the revitalized team doing that.