Tee Higgins has but to signal his franchise tender and doesn’t intend to. In keeping with ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Bengals large receiver isn’t anticipated to signal the tender by subsequent week, which means he gained’t have the ability to take part within the group’s upcoming OTAs.
Higgins can’t be a part of the group till he indicators the tender, the lone leverage he has throughout his ongoing quest for a brand new contract. The 2 sides have till July 15 to conform to a brand new deal. In any other case, Higgins could be linked to the $21.82M wage for the 2024 marketing campaign.
After getting slapped with the franchise tag, Higgins requested a commerce out of Cincinnati. The receiver later admitted that he’d doubtless play out the 2024 marketing campaign with the Bengals, though that was largely resulting from his lack of options vs. any progress in contract talks.
Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow extension and its plans for a Ja’Marr Chase payday — its high WR precedence — have led many to imagine {that a} Higgins extension is untenable. We heard final month that the Bengals didn’t strategy a $20M common annual worth of their newest provide to Higgins, reducing off the talks comparatively shortly. The 2 sides didn’t talk about ensures, though that was reportedly an subject between the events final summer season.
As Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic factors out, the present Higgins holdout is an “actual reproduction” of Jessie Bates‘ standoff with the Bengals in 2022. Bates ended up holding out till August, proper earlier than the signing deadline for franchise tenders. The protection performed out the 2022 marketing campaign on his franchise worth earlier than getting a payday from the Falcons in free company.
It’s beforehand been instructed that the Bengals might deal with Higgins equally. This route would include the understanding that Higgins could be a “rental” for the 2024 season, and the 2 sides would doubtless half methods when the receiver hits free company subsequent offseason.
