Bengals coach Zac Taylor never 'stressed' about keeping Tee Higgins

Bengals coach Zac Taylor certainly is confident that he’ll have Tee Higgins for his offense this fall.

Cincinnati will use the franchise tag on the receiver. But the Bengals are signaling they don’t have plans to trade him. The Cincy coach spoke about the talented receiver this week as the NFL Combine gets rolling in Indianapolis.

“I wasn’t too stressed about not having Tee next year,” Taylor said during an interview with PFT Live. “Internally, when you have those conversations, there wasn’t a whole lot for me to stress about. He’s a huge part of what we do. He works his tail off to put himself in position to be where he’s at. So he needs to be a part of what we’re doing.”

The Bengals announced Monday that they were using the franchise tag on Higgins. The timing of the tag was the unusual aspect of it. Cincinnati was the first team in the league to confirm their tag news. However, each team has until March 5 to decide whether to use the tag on one player.

There was a ton of speculation as to how the Bengals could keep Higgins financially happy along with quarterback Joe Burrow and receiver Ja’Marr Chase. That’s where the trade speculation started. Plus, Higgins said in an interview that he would not mind heading home to Tennessee to play for the Titans.

The Bengals will pick up Chase’s fifth-year option of his rookie contract. That means he’ll earn $21.8 million this season. It could be more if the Bengals and Chase agree to a longer term extension.

Coincidentally, that’s about the same as what Higgins will make under the franchise tag. Higgins salary of $21.816 million is fully guaranteed. If he signs the offer, he’ll have until July 15 to work out a long-term deal with the Bengals. Otherwise, If that doesn’t happen, then he’ll go into the season under his one-year deal and then will be a free agent.

The Bengals dealt with Burrow last season, signing him to a record-breaking, five-year deal that’s worth an average of $55 million a year. The extension made Burrow the highest-paid player in NFL history.

Burrow is recovering from wrist surgery that ended his season last fall. He is expected to make a full recovery.

Meanwhile, Higgins also should be healthy. He dealt with a hamstring injury last season. As a result, his production slipped. He had posted consecutive 1,000 seasons, but dropped to 651 yards last fall.