Tee’s market price

[Tomcat]

Sounds like the Bengals are going to tag him.

https://www.cincyjungle.com/2025/2/17/24367451/tee-higgins-franchise-tag-cincinnati-bengals-rumors

[Isaac Curtis: The Real #85]

(02-17-2025, 05:03 PM)Tomcat Wrote: Sounds like the Bengals are going to tag him.

https://www.cincyjungle.com/2025/2/17/24367451/tee-higgins-franchise-tag-cincinnati-bengals-rumors

Yep. No free market now. 

[BFritz21]

(02-17-2025, 05:03 PM)Tomcat Wrote: Sounds like the Bengals are going to tag him.

https://www.cincyjungle.com/2025/2/17/24367451/tee-higgins-franchise-tag-cincinnati-bengals-rumors

I'm torn about this.

I don't want to spend this much money on a guy that's injury prone, especially when we have Burrow, who can make any average receiver look as good as Tee.

I want to keep Burrow happy, and Tee is good, but I think the money would be better spent on the offensive line and the defense.

Hopefully, we find a willing team and pull a tag and trade.

I'm not happy.

[SunsetBengal]

(02-17-2025, 06:33 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: Yep. No free market now. 

On the contrary, if teams are genuinely interested in Higgins, they'll not only need to meet his financial satisfaction but also compensate the Bengals in the form of draft capital, or a worthy player. Let the negotiations begin!

[007BengalsFan]

(02-17-2025, 10:21 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: On the contrary, if teams are genuinely interested in Higgins, they'll not only need to meet his financial satisfaction but also compensate the Bengals in the form of draft capital, or a worthy player. Let the negotiations begin!

Higgins was in this exact situation last year except he was being paid less money at 21.8 million.  He and his agent could have talked to any team in the NFL they wanted.  You didnt hear of any team wanting to make a deal for Tee.  I dont see that many teams being interested in Tee this year at a higher price coming off another season where he is missing games due to injury.

[Isaac Curtis: The Real #85]

(02-17-2025, 10:21 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: On the contrary, if teams are genuinely interested in Higgins, they'll not only need to meet his financial satisfaction but also compensate the Bengals in the form of draft capital, or a worthy player. Let the negotiations begin!

Nonsense. If someone makes him a bona fide offer & we decide not to match, they owe us 2 1st round picks. Chances ANYONE does that? Next to none. 

We just put him in the cooler. 

[Ell Prez]

(02-18-2025, 01:09 AM)007BengalsFan Wrote: Higgins was in this exact situation last year except he was being paid less money at 21.8 million.  He and his agent could have talked to any team in the NFL they wanted.  You didnt hear of any team wanting to make a deal for Tee.  I dont see that many teams being interested in Tee this year at a higher price coming off another season where he is missing games due to injury.

100%. The plan has always been to keep Tee. Either on FT or a 3-4 year deal. I’ve gone back and forth and land on keeping tee is a good thing. If we just forget the position for one second, is there a free agent out there as good as Tee is, that provides as much value to the bengals as Tee does. You have to account for risk (free agent not fitting in schematically, culture, attitude, etc). I really haven’t looked at the FA list, but I don’t have to. I know the bengals won’t go get a top 3 free agent. So spending your money on Tee makes sense.

We can scream fix the trenches all we want but who is out there to get that is as good as Tee? Who would they actually outbid for on the open market? Not any of the top free agents. Sweat maybe? A guy who’s bounced around from tam to team. Been fairly good. I think that’s a fair comp. Rather have tee or sweat? Keep in mind Burrow wants not only Tee, but Gesiscki too.

[Ell Prez]

(02-17-2025, 09:20 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: I'm torn about this.

I don't want to spend this much money on a guy that's injury prone, especially when we have Burrow, who can make any average receiver look as good as Tee.

I want to keep Burrow happy, and Tee is good, but I think the money would be better spent on the offensive line and the defense.

Hopefully, we find a willing team and pull a tag and trade.

I'm not happy.

Which bengal receiver over the past 5 years has burrow turned from average to good? All of the TE he’s turned from bad to average.

Has he made Andre good? Trenton Irwin is now a good receiver? AG green his last year was good? Auden Tate? Morgan stanley?

Tom brady did not turn average players to good. There is zero proof of that. We can say eddelman wouldn't be good but we have no evidence of that.

Tom brady had great receivers: Gronk, Randy Moss, Eddelman, Wes Welker, Troy brown.

Peyton manning had: Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Demaryius Thomas.

How is Mahomes average receivers doing? Kaderiius toney went from NYG to Mahomes. Did he go from average to good? Nope

At the end of the day you either have nfl talent or you don’t. Burrow makes Chase and Higgins somewhat better because he can make more throws than other QBs. But these wide receivers gotta run the route. Let’s give credit to the receivers. QB’s need good and great receivers. Not a bunch of bottom of the roster scrubs and he’ll make an nfl offense out of them.

[jj22]

There was a time in the not so distant past that a Bengal QB would get slammed for needing to have talent around them at receiver.... Needing a perfect roster.

My how things have changed around here.

[QueenCity]

Joe Burrow has a passer rating of 106.1 with 2,620 yards, 23 touchdowns and 6 interceptions in 10 games without Tee Higgins in his career.


I'm sure this lacks a lot of context but I'd still be willing to bet that Burrow can be great without Higgins.  I do not think he can be great with a below average defense.

*10 games doesn't seem right I bet these do not include the games where Tee played for a few snaps and got hurt*

[higgy100]

(02-17-2025, 09:20 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: I'm torn about this.

I don't want to spend this much money on a guy that's injury prone, especially when we have Burrow, who can make any average receiver look as good as Tee.

I want to keep Burrow happy, and Tee is good, but I think the money would be better spent on the offensive line and the defense.

Hopefully, we find a willing team and pull a tag and trade.

I'm not happy.

I'm not torn at all as it makes the absolute most sense as we sit here today. Lose him now and you get nothing. Franchise him and you at least get 5 months to either try to negotiate a deal with him or trade him.Don't forget, whether wrong or right, Burrow is lobbying hard for the band to remain intact.

 Burrow is probably already pissed at this franchise for letting Reader/Bates go and sees the forest thru the trees and all those echoes about this FO and their dealings over the years. Last thing this team wants now is to piss Burrow off any more.

[Bengalbug]

(02-18-2025, 11:57 AM)higgy100 Wrote: I'm not torn at all as it makes the absolute most sense as we sit here today. Lose him now and you get nothing. Franchise him and you at least get 5 months to either try to negotiate a deal with him or trade him.Don't forget, whether wrong or right, Burrow is lobbying hard for the band to remain intact.

 Burrow is probably already pissed at this franchise for letting Reader/Bates go and sees the forest thru the trees and all those echoes about this FO and their dealings over the years. Last thing this team wants now is to piss Burrow off any more.

Plus, letting him walk is a big hole to our roster, as currently constructed. He has a win above replacement of .5. While that seems like an insignificant amount, it is 13th at the wide receiver position.

WR TEE HIGGINS

PFF Contract Projection: Available in PFF's free agency rankings

At long last, Higgins will get his mega-deal. While playing on the franchise tag in 2024, Higgins was sensational, recording a career-high 88.3 PFF receiving grade to rank seventh among qualified receivers. Higgins was also a top-25 receiver in yards per route run (2.05), first downs gained (48) and passer rating when targeted (125.1).

Still only 26, Higgins should easily become a top-10 receiver in average annual value and could even fetch more than $30 million per year, joining the likes of Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb and A.J. Brown. The Clemson product may not have been a true WR1 during his time in Cincinnati, but he almost assuredly will be if he lands elsewhere.

[Frank Booth]

(02-18-2025, 10:55 AM)QueenCity Wrote: Joe Burrow has a passer rating of 106.1 with 2,620 yards, 23 touchdowns and 6 interceptions in 10 games without Tee Higgins in his career.


I'm sure this lacks a lot of context but I'd still be willing to bet that Burrow can be great without Higgins.  I do not think he can be great with a below average defense.

*10 games doesn't seem right I bet these do not include the games where Tee played for a few snaps and got hurt*

I’ll say it again, I’m all for replacing Higgins with a guy who can play all 17 and can rack up at least 750 yards. It’s time to improve the trenches if you want to win the big one. It’s hard to survive the season when you have tee higgins playing 10 full games per year

[*ochocincos*]

(02-17-2025, 09:20 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: I'm torn about this.

I don't want to spend this much money on a guy that's injury prone, especially when we have Burrow, who can make any average receiver look as good as Tee.

I want to keep Burrow happy, and Tee is good, but I think the money would be better spent on the offensive line and the defense.

Hopefully, we find a willing team and pull a tag and trade.

I'm not happy.

If we assume the tag actually does get applied, Bengals have to earmark the $26 mill in their cap for this until a long-term deal is signed.
As it currently stands, Bengals would be at ~$49 mill cap, so down to ~$23 mill if factoring in the tag for Higgins.
That obviously would not be enough to fill the rest of the holes, so cuts and/or restructures to current contracts would have to be made to free up more.

[jj22]

(02-18-2025, 12:38 PM)ochocincos Wrote: As it currently stands, Bengals would be at ~$49 mill cap, so down to ~$23 mill if factoring in the tag for Higgins.

Down another 10 million for rookies....6m for injuries... 5 million roll over for Mims... 

I think I still rather them tag him if they are going to keep him instead of investing long term. 

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(02-17-2025, 09:20 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: I'm torn about this.

I don't want to spend this much money on a guy that's injury prone, especially when we have Burrow, who can make any average receiver look as good as Tee.

I want to keep Burrow happy, and Tee is good, but I think the money would be better spent on the offensive line and the defense.

Hopefully, we find a willing team and pull a tag and trade.

I'm not happy.

Don't know why you are torn about tagging Tee Brad. It makes sure that he doesn't leave for FA for nothing and gives us time to work out 
an extension for him if the team truly wants him here. We all know Joe has said he wants him here so I have to side with our QB and no, 
even the best QB like Joe cannot make any average Receiver look as good as Tee.

Tee has good hands, has great body control and a big wing span, even the best QB needs Receivers that can catch the ball.

Tag Tee and I am happy.

[Bengalbug]

(02-18-2025, 12:06 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: I’ll say it again, I’m all for replacing Higgins with a guy who can play all 17 and can rack up at least 750 yards. It’s time to improve the trenches if you want to win the big one. It’s hard to survive the season when you have tee higgins playing 10 full games per year

LOL. Do you think they would do anything different than bring in guys like Cappa, Karras, Rankins, Trent Brown? OBJ fell into their lap. Keeping tee Higgins does not stop the bengals from picking up those types of players.

We can also look to the draft, which hasn’t exactly gone swimmingly either.

It’s more likely that Higgins plays 17 games than the bengals utilizing those dollars, above and beyond what they can do already, and bringing in the right trench players.

[ERIC1]

(02-17-2025, 09:20 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: I'm torn about this.

I don't want to spend this much money on a guy that's injury prone, especially when we have Burrow, who can make any average receiver look as good as Tee.

I want to keep Burrow happy, and Tee is good, but I think the money would be better spent on the offensive line and the defense.

Hopefully, we find a willing team and pull a tag and trade.

I'm not happy.

1000%

[ERIC1]

(02-19-2025, 10:55 AM)Bengalbug Wrote: LOL.  Do you think they would do anything different than bring in guys like Cappa, Karras, Rankins, Trent Brown?  OBJ fell into their lap.  Keeping tee Higgins does not stop the bengals from picking up those types of players.  

We can also look to the draft, which hasn’t exactly gone swimmingly either.  

It’s more likely that Higgins plays 17 games than the bengals utilizing those  dollars, above and beyond what they can do already, and bringing in the right trench players.

it will be interesting...but if tee higgins plays a full season I will buy you a Popeyes Chicken Sandwich

[ERIC1]

(02-18-2025, 03:27 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Don't know why you are torn about tagging Tee Brad. It makes sure that he doesn't leave for FA for nothing and gives us time to work out 
an extension for him if the team truly wants him here. We all know Joe has said he wants him here so I have to side with our QB and no, 
even the best QB like Joe cannot make any average Receiver look as good as Tee.

Tee has good hands, has great body control and a big wing span, even the best QB needs Receivers that can catch the ball.

Tag Tee and I am happy.

tee is a great receiver..too bad he cant stay healthy and play a full season..but miracles do happen..if the team does not finally address their real needs we will go 9-8 again with higgins