THE HIGGINS FILE
Team: Cincinnati Bengals
Position: Wide receiver
Height: 6-4
Weight: 219
40 time: 4.54
College: Tennessee
Draft: Second round, 33rd pick, 2020
Contract: Signed a rookie 4-year, $8.686,000. million deal, 2020.
WAG: Single
Children: None
Record/Accomplishments:
CFP National champion, 2018
First-team All-ACC, 2019
Second-team All-ACC, 2018
At the end of the day contracts almost always come down to money.
This is especially true in the NFL where a player’s career is limited by injury and opportunity.
A wide receiver’s career length, for example, is 2.81 years. Yep. Whether it be injury or the sheer number of athletes vying for that position, if you’re an NFL wideout, the sooner who can get guaranteed money the better.
So it must have been a bit of relief for Bengals wideout Tee Higgins, who is up for an extension, to hear these words from Cincinnati executive Duke Tobin was asked about the possibility of the Bengals losing Higgins to a wide receiver-hungry team.
"If they want a receiver, go find your own," Duke Tobin said Tuesday. "In my opinion, Tee Higgins is a good piece for the Cincinnati Bengals. The trade stuff is a little ridiculous right now."
Perhaps. Higgins said he was not worried about getting a new deal with one Cincinnati even though it might be difficult. The Bengals have to prepare for the big-money contracts that fellow WR Ja’Marr Chase and QR Joe Burrow will command. Those two deals alone might force Cincinnati into a position of not being able to offer Higgins the same money as some other teams.
But clearly the Bengals want to retain Higgins and with riddance. He and Chase combine to form one of the best receiving combos in the game. Chase with his sub 4.4 speed, is the definition of a game-breaking wideout. Higgins, with his 6-4 frame, is the epitome of a redzone receiver, able to out-fight defensive backs for jump balls.
And he’s done more than that. He’s just 92 yards short of three straight 1,000-yard seasons and has scored 19 touchdowns. And Higgins has played in 46 of 49 games over the his first three seasons.
And the end of the day, as we mentioned, it will come down to money if Higgins in the remain in Cincinnati. But the Bengals clearly know what they have in the former Clemson star. If another team is looking for a wideout, they can find their own.