CINCINNATI — Bengals head coach Zac Taylor is ready to keep coaching Tee Higgins in Cincinnati. He dove into his excitement about making sure they kept their second-best weapon, barring a trade this offseason.
Higgins was the first NFL player to get franchise tagged this cycle.
“It’s a process you follow and you hope that the relationships you’ve built over four years with guys that we’ve done this before with, carry you through this time, and we’ve got a great relationship with Tee,” Taylor said at the NFL Combine about the ongoing negotiations. “I think Troy Walters, Brad Kragthorpe has spent a ton of time with him over the years, myself included, and we think the world of Tee and he’s in this position because of the work that he’s put in for us and the value he has for us and we want to make sure we don’t lose him. And so that’s just the business part we’re in right now. And we’ll continue to work through that, but fortunately, I think we’ve got a great relationship with Tee and that’ll carry us through the offseason.”
Cincinnati has until mid-July to strike a deal with Higgins or he will have to play the 2024 season on the tag if he wants to suit up. It could make sense to tag him again in 2025 and accept the 20% jump in salary to retain his elite talents.
That would essentially play out the years of guarantee money he would’ve been on the team for had he signed an extension last offseason.
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