Tee Higgins anticipates remaining with Bengals despite requesting trade

As minicamps begin across the league, there are still a couple of players stuck on franchise tag deals who would prefer to sign long-term deals before the start of the new season. Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins is one of those two players. After requesting a trade from the team last month, however, Higgins now appears resigned to play for Cincinnati, at least for one more season.

“I do anticipate it,” Higgins told WLWT at a youth football camp about playing for the Bengals in 2024. “I’ve grown a love for Cincy that I didn’t think I would, but, you know, man, looking forward to it.”

If Higgins were to stay with the Bengals and play on the franchise tag for the 2024 season, they would owe him $21.8 million in fully guaranteed money. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor addressed the wideout’s status with the team at the NFL Scouting Combine.

“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.”

Nearly all of the franchise-tagged players have signed extensions this offseason, except for Higgins and one other player. Buccaneers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. is also waiting on a new deal, which he is reportedly hopeful about before the start of OTAs.

The Bengals snagged Higgins with a second-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft out of Clemson. Higgins put up 908 yards as a rookie, then 1,400 yards on the nose between the regular season and Super Bowl run in 2021-22. He then posted over 1,200 combined in 2022-23 with just 656 yards in an injury-limited season in 2023. He also has 27 total career touchdowns with two of those coming in the 2022 Super Bowl.

More on the 2024 NFL offseason, free agency

The NFL 2024 calendar year began at 4 p.m. ET on March 13. At that time, contracts running through 2023 officially ran out, making those players free agents.

In addition to NFL free agency, the new year also marks the beginning of all trades being made official by the league office. April 19 marks the deadline to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets. On April 24, the deadline for teams to match restricted free agent offers sheets hits. Following the restricted free agent deadline follows the 2024 NFL Draft, which runs from April 25-27.