For Cincinnati Bengals fans, the situation with star wideout Tee Higgins has been as predictable and simple as it gets.
Most could tell onlookers the story now: Higgins will, at a minimum, receive the franchise tag and play at least one more year in Cincinnati. Or, he’ll get an extension. If not, after that one year, he might leave — same thing as Jessie Bates before him.
Keeping in line with this trajectory, Sportskeeda’s Tony Pauline recently noted that the Bengals continue to seek an extension with Higgins:
Media reports say the Bengals are expected to place the franchise tag on Higgins to keep him with the team in 2024. But I’ve been told the team wants him longer than just next season.
Sources close to the Bengals tell me the team is trying to negotiate a contract extension with Higgins to lock him up for the next several years.
No great shock here — the Bengals tried last year, too, before time ran out. And they’ll have until March 5 to keep working on this before the deadline to apply a tag. And after doing so, if necessary, they will then have until a July 15 deadline to reach an extension before Higgins would have to play next season on the tag.
As such, the Bengals aren’t in a rush to apply a tag right now. They might, however, be freer to do an extension now that they’re big winners of the surprise salary cap increase.
