Recently, Cincinnati Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin addressed the idea of applying the franchise tag to star wideout Tee Higgins.
That has felt like the most likely scenario for a while now, especially after team and player couldn’t agree to an extension before this point.
It’s also the prediction for Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine, who projected the landing spot for the top free agent at each position:
This season was drastically impacted by Burrow’s injury. A tag-and-trade scenario is possible if Cincinnati feels it can replace Higgins through the draft, but it’s even more likely it tags him and keeps the core together for one more season.
The Bengals aren’t likely to give up at least one more year of Higgins during a contention window, even if the franchise tag checks in at roughly $21.7 million.
While the Bengals also have to think about an extension for Ja’Marr Chase and other cap-sapping measures, the team enters the offseason with more cap space to work with than most teams.
