Higgins has a short window of time to sign a long-term contract with Cincinnati.
Tee Higgins, a standout wide receiver, has a limited amount of time left to negotiate a contract extension with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Higgins is set to play the next 2024 season with the franchise tag after spending the first four seasons of his career with the Bengals. But because the team hasn’t made a long-term commitment, Higgins asked for a trade out of Cincinnati earlier this year. If he doesn’t receive one soon, the ’24 season will probably be his last with the Bengals.
The deadline of July 15th is drawing near.
The date for deciding Higgins’ future with the Bengals is quickly approaching—July 15th. That is the last day for designated franchise players, such as Higgins, to consent to a long-term contract extension. If a deal cannot be reached, Higgins will be eligible for free agency the following summer, and considering the value wide receivers now command in the NFL, he should have no trouble finding suitors.
Will an agreement be reached, then? Most likely not.
It doesn’t appear realistic that the Bengals will reconsider their reluctance to provide Higgins a long-term contract in the near future. The team’s reluctance to sign Higgins is probably mostly due to the massive deal that fellow star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase is about to get. If this were to happen, two receivers would earn a significant amount of cap room, maybe at the expense of other positions.
The Bengals seem ready to let Higgins go in free agency the following season. Considering that Higgins could leave, their decision to choose Jermaine Burton in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft may have been preemptive.
Maybe in the end, the Bengals will choose a different route. Perhaps the Bengals will pay both Chase and Higgins, like the Philadelphia Eagles, for instance, just awarded large sums of money to two receivers, A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, this summer. Even stranger things have occurred.
