Tee Higgins reportedly won't sign extension with Bengals before deadline, will be free agent in 2025

The Tee Higgins contract saga has reportedly reached its conclusion. For the 2024 season, at least.

Per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Higgins and the Cincinnati Bengals won't reach agreement on a long-term extension before Monday's deadline to do so. That means that the fifth-year wide receiver will play the upcoming season on the franchise tag and become a free agent in 2025 — unless, of course, the Bengals place another franchise tag on him next offseason.

That's an unlikely scenario given the escalations built into the collective bargaining agreement for players franchise tagged multiple times. Higgins is due $21.8 on the tag in 2024. Were the Bengals to tag him again in 2025, he'd be due a minimum 20% raise over his $21.8 million salary, which adds up to roughly $26.2 million.

But for the 2024 season, Higgins' services are secure in Cincinnati. He's signed the franchise tag that dwarfs the average annual value of his four-year rookie contract that's paid him $25.9 million since he joined the Bengals as a second-round draft pick in 2020.

That, at least, is good news for a Bengals team that's looking to bounce back from a down season where they missed the playoffs on the heels of consecutive trips to the AFC championship game, one of which resulted in a Super Bowl berth. The 2024 campaign will be a high-stakes season for both the Bengals and Higgins.

Higgins has been the second option in one of football's best wide receiver tandems while playing alongside game-breaking All-Pro Ja'Marr Chase. He's also coming off the worst season of his career, an injury-riddled campaign that saw the entire Bengals offense take multiple steps back as quarterback Joe Burrow struggled with injuries before his season ended with a wrist injury that required surgery.

After tallying at least 908 yards and six touchdowns in each of his first three NFL seasons, Higgins posted 42 catches for 656 yards and five touchdowns while playing in 12 games in 2023. The Bengals are counting on a bounce-back campaign to return to title contention, and Higgins is a significant part of that equation. If Higgins and the Bengals to return to form, Higgins will be in line for a significant long-term payday with some suitors potentially eyeing him as a No. 1 receiving target.

The Bengals, obviously, would benefit from securing Higgins and Chase long-term as Burrow's top weapons. But Chase will be due a long-term extension at the end of his rookie deal and is the clear top priority for the front office. In a league where the contract market for wide receivers continues to skyrocket, the prospects of signing Higgins to a long-term contract next offseason project as even more difficult in Cincinnati.