It’s only been five games, but No. 5 on the Cincinnati Bengals, Tee Higgins, is playing like a true No. 1 wide receiver this season.

That isn’t surprising to anybody in Paycor Stadium of course.

The Bengals signed Higgins to a four-year, $115 million contract last offseason so he could keep wreaking havoc on NFL defenses alongside All-Pro wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase. Chase signed a much larger deal at the same time. There was never any question about which of the two was the top option and the most feared by opposing defenses.

The decision to pay both of them drew plenty of criticism and was polarizing across the NFL. A real conversation took place about whether Cincinnati would regret spending that kind of money on its second-best receiver.

All of that discourse seems like ancient history after the first five weeks of the 2026 season.

Tee Higgins is off to a hot start to 2026

Entering Week 6, Higgins is one of eight receivers in the NFL with at least 400 receiving yards. He has the same number of receptions as Chase (27), but he has 134 more yards to his name in the same number of games. 

That does come with some context. Chase missed most of the Bengals’ Week 4 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars with a concussion. The same game Higgins injured his groin and missed the final two drives. Still, the gap goes beyond one missed afternoon.

Chase ranks 32nd among starting receivers at 1.89 yards per route run. Higgins ranks 12th at 2.49. The latter is averaging five more yards per reception than the former, and 1.2 yards after the catch per reception. Cincinnati’s offense has simply been incredibly efficient when targeting Higgins.

Man coverage has been a mistake against Higgins

Higgins has been even more damaging whenever teams dare to play man coverage against him. He ranks first among starting receivers with an average of 5.76 yards per route run against man. He has six receptions for 121 yards on nine targets, and he’s run just 21 routes against that coverage.

The sample is small for a reason. Higgins and Chase see far more zone coverage because opposing defenses know it’s a losing battle to ask their cornerbacks to man up against both of them all game. Very few secondaries have the personnel to pull that off.

Just like very few defenses have the personnel to take both of the Bengals’ star wideouts out of a game.

Don’t forget Chase’s gravity in all of this

That’s what should be remembered while Higgins gets his praise. He would be the first to say his production owes plenty to the attention Chase draws every single week.

Defenses would much rather make Higgins beat them in favorable situations than hand those same advantages to Chase. Chase is one of the most dangerous receivers in the game, and that makes him the harder matchup to concede anything to.

That’s the idea when a team commits this kind of money to two receivers. No matter what a defense tries to do, one of Cincinnati’s star pass catchers has the chance for a big day, and eventually, a big season.

Right now, Higgins is ahead of Chase in production everywhere except touchdown receptions. Chase has four touchdown catches to Higgins’ one. Chase may very well overtake his teammate by the end of the season, like he typically does. Even so, what Higgins has done through the first month of the year only strengthens the case for why the Bengals paid him all that money in the first place.