Bengals WR Tee Higgins has a chance to save his contract season
As far as contract years go, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins has had one to forget. Following back-to-back regular seasons going over 1,000 yards, the fourth-year playmaker hasn't even hit 500 with just three games remaining. He's played in just 10 of 14 possible games, and has touchdowns in just two of them. Drops, injuries, […]
As far as contract years go, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins has had one to forget.
Following back-to-back regular seasons going over 1,000 yards, the fourth-year playmaker hasn't even hit 500 with just three games remaining. He's played in just 10 of 14 possible games, and has touchdowns in just two of them. Drops, injuries, and general concerns have all popped up in an untimely manner.
We witnessed how quickly Higgins can make all of that an afterthought last week. He can continue to right the ship Saturday afternoon as well.
Higgins made everyone in the NFL stop what they were doing six days ago when his outstretched hand crossed the plane and confirmed one of the more impressive touchdowns in recent memory. It was his second touchdown of a productive afternoon, and what Cincinnati hopes is foreshadowing for what's to come.
When Higgins and the Bengals take on the Pittsburgh Steelers, they will be without both Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase. That hasn't happened in the three years the duo has been together in Cincinnati. Burrow has been out since the middle of November. Chase is out for this week and potentially longer.
There's a growing sample size of what the offense looks like without Burrow, and it's a lot better than practically everyone had expected. The Bengals are 3-1 with the eighth-highest EPA/play since Burrow's season-ending wrist injury with the. They had the same record with the fourth-highest EPA/play when Chase missed the same number of games in the heart of the season due to a hip fracture.
Playing without one has been manageable, but without both? No one has any idea what the offense will look like now, and there's never been a better time for Higgins to take control.
During those four Chase-less games in 2022, Higgins racked up 371 yards and two touchdowns on 33 targets. His yards per route run of 2.49 was significantly higher than his current career average of 1.87. We saw exactly what kind of receiver Higgins could be as the guy after developing in the league for over two years. The Bengals needed him to be to keep their season afloat.
It was undoubtedly a part of negotiations between Higgins' representation and the Bengals this past offseason. The 33rd overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft had undoubtedly proved to be everything the team hoped he'd turn into. Players of his talent, age, and at his position have almost always been taken care of by Bengals management.
When the two sides couldn't agree on a long-term extension, Higgins' future became dependent on what was in front of him. A season with Super Bowl aspirations with the core that came so very close to that destination not two years ago started about as bad as you could imagine.
Burrow's calf strain (remember that?) hindered Higgins and all aspects of the team's chances to thrive. Right as Burrow started heating up, Higgins did as well. The two connected for a combined 179 yards and 13 completions during the team's back-to-back victories over the San Francisco 49ers and Buffalo Bills. This was also right after Higgins recovered from a cracked rib.
All was well, and then Higgins' hamstring forced him out for three games. The Bengals lost all of them, and their quarterback.
Nothing has gone according to plan for Higgins and these Bengals, but here they are at 8-6 and in the AFC playoff picture. The next three weeks could be the last we ever see Higgins in a Bengals uniform. It can catapult him to the top of the wide receiver market when he enters free agency for the first time at the age of 25. It can convince the Bengals to never let him get there and sign him themselves.
Higgins can solidify what most in Cincinnati already know. And without Burrow and Chase alongside him, no one will be able to deny it.
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