Joe Burrow endorses Tee Higgins, who was playing through a significant injury

Burrow isn’t mincing words when it comes to how he feels about Tee Higgins

Aside from keeping their playoff hopes alive, the most enjoyable aspect of the Cincinnati Bengals‘ five-game winning streak to end the regular season has been Joe Burrow endorsing how important Tee Higgins is to this team.

Following the Bengals’ 19-17 win Saturday night over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Burrow once again sent a message to the Bengals front office as they prepare to make a major decision when it comes to their star wide receiver.

“You just can’t let him outside of the building,” said Burrow of Higgins’ impending free agency.

In addition, we found out that Higgins has been playing through a high-ankle sprain, a significant injury that often sidelines players for multiple weeks.

Burrow and Higgins were selected in the first and second rounds of the 2020 NFL Draft. They’ve been here since the beginning. They saw the Bengals at their lowest point when Burrow tore his ACL in Week 11 of the 2020 season. Both players were rookies in the 2020 season and were heavily impacted by COVID-19.

Since then, Burrow and Higgins have emerged as cornerstones of the Bengals franchise. It was Higgins who caught Burrow’s 75-yard touchdown on the first play of the second half in Super Bowl LVI. Higgins also led the Bengals in receiving yards in the AFC Championship in that memorable 2021 season.

It was also Higgins who emerged as a WR1 when Ja’Marr Chase missed four games with a hip injury in the middle of the 2022 season.

Burrow gets it. He knows Tee Higgins is a need. That sentiment has been expressed by Burrow multiple times across the Bengals’ five-game winning streak.

The question is, has the Bengals front office gotten the message?