What Bengals do with Tee Higgins tabbed as biggest storyline of NFL free agency

What sort of outcome will we see with Tee Higgins?

We are quickly approaching NFL free agency. That means there are plenty of mock signings and other offseason moves being projected, but Frank Schwab from Yahoo Sports recently wrote about the Top 10 storyline going into this phase of the offseason.

The Cincinnati Bengals plans with wide receiver Tee Higgins sit at the top of the list:

1. Will the Bengals pay Tee Higgins?

If Higgins hits free agency after the Bengals reportedly plan to franchise tag him again, he’s going to get a massive contract. Receivers of his talent level and age don’t hit the market that often. It will not be easy to pay Higgins and Chase, and perhaps Hendrickson too, but it can be done. What will the Bengals do?

Higgins is easily the top skill position free agent when you also consider he is also only 26 years old. There have been reports he could command over $30 million AAV in whatever deal he gets and would be courted by nearly every team in the NFL.

Even if the Bengals hit him with a franchise or transition tag there will be plenty of teams on the phone looking to give him a big deal as well as draft compensation.

However, things keep shaping up to look more and more like Cincinnati not only can but will keep him. The salary cap is getting boosted to either $277.5 million or $281.5 million, and the Bengals don’t exactly have a ton of in-house talent in the near future that should command a deal like Higgins.

The question is, will they extend Ja’Marr Chase, Trey Hendrickson, and also pay Higgins all in one offseason? The answer is simply they have to spend it somewhere. When your franchise quarterback Joe Burrow has listed each guy by name, it makes it easy to decide who to spend it on.

Depending on other cuts/renegotiations, Cincinnati should still have plenty of space to also add in free agency beyond those big names.

It would be a move that you would expect to change the narrative on the Bengals, but the national media would likely pivot to “Why would you put all this money in two wide receivers?”

At least Bengals fans would get to appreciate a skilled group surrounding Burrow for a while longer.