CTE expert calls on Bengals to take drastic measures with Tee Higgins after second concussion
Bengals WR Tee Higgins is out for Week 15, and one expert believes he should sit out for even longer.
The Cincinnati Bengals will not have Tee Higgins this Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Head coach Zac Taylor made it official Friday afternoon preluding the Bengals’ injury report for their Week 15 matchup against Baltimore.
It was very much up in the air whether or not Higgins was going to be able to clear concussion protocol. Higgins entered the protocol for the second time in as many weeks Monday and was a limited participant in both Wednesday’s and Thursday’s practice before being held out of practice Friday.
Higgins is only guaranteed to miss Sunday’s game, but an expert on the subject wants Higgins to sit out for a lot longer than just this weekend.
Concussion & CTE Foundation co-founder believes Tee Higgins shouldn’t play another snap this season
Christopher Nowinski, who played college football at Harvard before suffering a career-ending concussion in 2003, is the co-founder and CEO of Concussion & CTE Foundation. His foundation was started back in 2007, and he’s advised the NFL Players Association on concussion and brain trauma education, policy, and research for the last 15 years.
Nowinski went to TikTok earlier this week to assess what’s going on with Higgins as he deals with his second concussion.
“Tee Higgins, great player, wish him all the best, was coming off of a concussion when he took two bad hits to the head with his head slamming off the turf,” Nowinski said. “On one of them, he actually grabs his head like it really hurts, which is a sign of concussion, but doesn’t always mean someone has concussion. He was assessed both times and returned to the game, finished the game. After the game, he was asked by reporters, did you ever think about not finishing the game? And he said, No. And they said, why? And he said, ‘I’m a team-first guy you know me, my team needed me, and I felt like they did, so I went out there and played.’
“So when you say you’re a team first guy and your team needed you, that means you’re not a me-first guy, and that’s basically an admission that he had a concussion.”
Higgins self-reported his symptoms following last Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills, which prompted Cincinnati to place him in the protocol once again.
Nowinski went on to say in his video that the Bengals should shut Higgins down for the remainder of the season.
“Luckily, the team has figured that out,” Nowinski said of Cincy identifying Higgins’ concussion. “I don’t know if they read between the lines there. I don’t know if he admitted how he was feeling, but he’s now back in the concussion protocol, and let’s hope they make a good decision on what to do with them for the rest of the year. Bengals are not in playoff contention.
“If you believe in this young man’s future, you hold him out for the rest of the year, let his brain recover.”
It sounds dramatic, but suffering multiple concussions in such a short period of time is scary business. There’s a reason why Higgins is not going to be out there this week.
Higgins may very well clear the protocol next week and would be available to play against the Miami Dolphins in Week 16, but the safe route could very well be to hold him out for the remainder of the season, especially if the Bengals are truly out of playoff contention following this week.
Higgins’ desire to fight with his teammates is admirable, but no one should blame Cincinnati for protecting Higgins from incurring more hits to his head so soon.