Rapien - Bengals Must Tag Tee Higgins

[*ochocincos*]

James Rapien wrote an article on SI that was released this morning mentioning that the Bengals MUST franchise tag Higgins again.

The justification Rapien gives:
Tagging costs just $26 mill. (This is around what many fans are hoping Higgins would sign around for anyway, just want multiple year deal)
Other teams are very likely to offer $30+ mill.

Quote:The Patriots are expected to offer him $30+ million. The Chargers, Jaguars, Titans and Steelers are all teams that are eyeing Higgins. He will have other dark horse suitors.

I would expect Higgins to get up to $35 million per season.

Last, Rapien mentions not only is Higgins the top WR hitting FA, but the top overall FA.

This tag would accomplish three things for the Bengals - it drastically elongates the time they have to negotiate a new deal, it prevents other teams from being able to offer him anything, and it opens up the opportunity for the Bengals to try to trade him this coming Spring/Summer if the two sides cannot come to a long-term deal and he refuses to play on the tag.

Any tagged player has until July 15 to sign a multi-year deal before being forced to play on the tag.
Teams have a window of Feb 18 through March 4 to decide if and who they want to tag.

https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/gm-report/here-s-why-the-cincinnati-bengals-must-use-franchise-tag-on-tee-higgins-01jkxz63d18e

What are your thoughts? Agree with Rapien?

[Truck_1_0_1_]

We know they'll do that, then negotiate after.

[WeezyBengal]

Why is this so ***** difficult for them?

Just get the deal done. Jeesh.

[Stewy]

(02-14-2025, 11:01 AM)ochocincos Wrote: James Rapien wrote an article on SI that was released this morning mentioning that the Bengals MUST franchise tag Higgins again.

The justification Rapien gives:
Tagging costs just $26 mill. (This is around what many fans are hoping Higgins would sign around for anyway, just want multiple year deal)
Other teams are very likely to offer $30+ mill.

Last, Rapien mentions not only is Higgins the top WR hitting FA, but the top overall FA.

This tag would accomplish three things for the Bengals - it drastically elongates the time they have to negotiate a new deal, it prevents other teams from being able to offer him anything, and it opens up the opportunity for the Bengals to try to trade him this coming Spring/Summer if the two sides cannot come to a long-term deal and he refuses to play on the tag.

Any tagged player has until July 15 to sign a multi-year deal before being forced to play on the tag.
Teams have a window of Feb 18 through March 4 to decide if and who they want to tag.

https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/gm-report/here-s-why-the-cincinnati-bengals-must-use-franchise-tag-on-tee-higgins-01jkxz63d18e

What are your thoughts? Agree with Rapien?

duh - of course they will.  The time between NFL off season events really is making Rapien desperate to post the obvious as an original take.

[*ochocincos*]

(02-14-2025, 12:39 PM)Stewy Wrote: duh - of course they will.  The time between NFL off season events really is making Rapien desperate to post the obvious as an original take.

I don't think it was/is an obvious take though.

I think some/many fans have been expecting that if they don't get a deal done before FA tampering period, Higgins is hitting the market.

[jj22]

If I'm betting money I'm betting he'll be tagged. He took it well last season, and we can't lose him and get nothing out of it (for those who say a 3rd round comp pick, you must not want them to sign any FA's). At the least I'm looking for a tag and trade situation.

[Clark W Griswold]

(02-14-2025, 01:23 PM)jj22 Wrote: If I'm betting money I'm betting he'll be tagged. He took it well last season, and we can't lose him and get nothing out of it (for those who say a 3rd round comp pick, you must not want them to sign any FA's). At the least I'm looking for a tag and trade situation.

Yes it’s one thing not to be able to come to an agreement but a whole new level of stupidity would be letting him go for nothing.

It’s a win/win for Bengals tagging him. Can sign or trade him but at least you get something in return. First thing they should be doing is restructuring Burrows contract. Then they can work on Tee, Chase and Trey.

[Stewy]

(02-14-2025, 12:54 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I don't think it was/is an obvious take though.

I think some/many fans have been expecting that if they don't get a deal done before FA tampering period, Higgins is hitting the market.

Yes I have seen people say that, but FFS they should know better.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(02-14-2025, 11:01 AM)ochocincos Wrote: James Rapien wrote an article on SI that was released this morning mentioning that the Bengals MUST franchise tag Higgins again.

The justification Rapien gives:
Tagging costs just $26 mill. (This is around what many fans are hoping Higgins would sign around for anyway, just want multiple year deal)
Other teams are very likely to offer $30+ mill.

Last, Rapien mentions not only is Higgins the top WR hitting FA, but the top overall FA.

This tag would accomplish three things for the Bengals - it drastically elongates the time they have to negotiate a new deal, it prevents other teams from being able to offer him anything, and it opens up the opportunity for the Bengals to try to trade him this coming Spring/Summer if the two sides cannot come to a long-term deal and he refuses to play on the tag.

Any tagged player has until July 15 to sign a multi-year deal before being forced to play on the tag.
Teams have a window of Feb 18 through March 4 to decide if and who they want to tag.

https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/gm-report/here-s-why-the-cincinnati-bengals-must-use-franchise-tag-on-tee-higgins-01jkxz63d18e

What are your thoughts? Agree with Rapien?

Completely agree with Rapien. Either way it is a win for the Bengals and Tee still has a chance to stay here with Burrow like he says he wants to 
and he has a chance in a trade of making big money somewhere else. This is a must and like I said in the Katie thread should be our first move 
along with the Burrow restructure before extending Ja'Marr and Trey. But, we will probably start with the small extensions first, personally really 
want Gesicki back as well.

[pulses]

(02-14-2025, 12:39 PM)Stewy Wrote: duh - of course they will.  The time between NFL off season events really is making Rapien desperate to post the obvious as an original take.

Although I like Rapien he has a tendency to beat a dead horse over things. Everyone knows how the FO is.

[Isaac Curtis: The Real #85]

(02-14-2025, 11:04 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Why is this so ***** difficult for them?

Just get the deal done. Jeesh.

Because they are cheap. 

If they would have extended Chase & Hendrickson last year and inked Tee, just think how much cheaper those deals eould have been? 

No way Higgins gets $35 last year, he could have been had for $25, easy. And Chase & Trey ate gonna be at least $5 mil more each. 

That's at least $20 mil. That is a Pro Bowl/All Pro level G. Or darn close to that at DE/CB. 

[007BengalsFan]

(02-14-2025, 07:18 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: Because they are cheap. 

If they would have extended Chase & Hendrickson last year and inked Tee, just think how much cheaper those deals eould have been? 

No way Higgins gets $35 last year, he could have been had for $25, easy. And Chase & Trey ate gonna be at least $5 mil more each. 

That's at least $20 mil. That is a Pro Bowl/All Pro level G. Or darn close to that at DE/CB. 

There is no way Higgins is getting 35 million this year either.  Even tagged at 21.8 million last year nobody was wanting to trade for Tee.  Tee and his superstar agent could have negotiated with any team they liked to try to work out some kind of deal.  You didnt hear of any team interested in making a deal for Tee

[SunsetBengal]

(02-14-2025, 07:18 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: Because they are cheap. 

If they would have extended Chase & Hendrickson last year and inked Tee, just think how much cheaper those deals eould have been? 

No way Higgins gets $35 last year, he could have been had for $25, easy. And Chase & Trey ate gonna be at least $5 mil more each. 

That's at least $20 mil. That is a Pro Bowl/All Pro level G. Or darn close to that at DE/CB. 

Tee might get $30M/per because of supply and demand, but not from the Bengals. The Bengals won't cave to those sort of demands. I love Tee Higgins, but not at that sort of price. The team can easily find an 80% replacement for half of that value.

[pulses]

(02-14-2025, 03:27 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Completely agree with Rapien. Either way it is a win for the Bengals and Tee still has a chance to stay here with Burrow like he says he wants to 
and he has a chance in a trade of making big money somewhere else. This is a must and like I said in the Katie thread should be our first move 
along with the Burrow restructure before extending Ja'Marr and Trey. But, we will probably start with the small extensions first, personally really 
want Gesicki back as well.

Burrow doesn't need to restucture to get these deals one. Go watch the Joe Goodberry video on youtube and he breaks it down. Burrow already had his contract set up in advance for these signings.....Burrow made just 30 million this year.

[pulses]

(02-14-2025, 09:20 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Tee might get $30M/per because of supply and demand, but not from the Bengals. The Bengals won't cave to those sort of demands. I love Tee Higgins, but not at that sort of price. The team can easily find an 80% replacement for half of that value.

They can get Slayton for probably 12/yr and with a good QB throwing to him he'll get a 1000 yards because he doesn't miss games.

[*Synric*]

(02-15-2025, 01:14 AM)pulses Wrote: They can get Slayton for probably 12/yr and with a good QB throwing to him he'll get a 1000 yards because he doesn't miss games.

Slayton would have to play alot more X receiver in Cincy than he has anywhere else.

[ERIC1]

Why is this news..You tag higgins and trade him

[samhain]

A year ago, tagging him at 26 mil was laughable. Now he's projected to get between 28 and 32 mil on the open market.

The theme that they can't seem to wrap their minds around is that these kinds of players only increase in value as their rookie deals play out. The family is very bad at mitigating risk.

What do they have to show, from a personnel standpoint, for not extending key in-house guys?

[Joelist]

Rapien is generally good as is Liscow but both are also annoying in that they never address the real issue - cash on hand to pay the big signing bonuses and/or escrow guarantees. and those who conflate value and cash don’t understand the issue is not value overall it is cash flow. I did have a strange thought - not even sure it could be done - approach a big insurer about writing a custom policy covering the contract? It pays out to the player the unpaid balance if for any reason the player is no longer on the team and the team pays the premium. So it operates like a guarantee without the escrow issue.

[Ell Prez]

(02-14-2025, 09:20 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Tee might get $30M/per because of supply and demand, but not from the Bengals. The Bengals won't cave to those sort of demands. I love Tee Higgins, but not at that sort of price. The team can easily find an 80% replacement for half of that value.

That can be said for almost every player in the nfl. You have to pay for that extra 20% talent. It’s a game of inches.