Tag: Bengals free agency

Bengals’ Duke Tobin comments on Tee Higgins franchise tag rumors and speculation

Duke Tobin speaks on possibly franchise tagging Tee Higgins.

The Cincinnati Bengals have a tough call to make with wide receiver Tee Higgins this offseason.

Higgins, slated to be a free agent, is an obvious franchise tag candidate after player and team couldn’t agree to a long-term extension last offseason.

And while it’s easy to dismiss the whole situation as an obvious tag-and-forget situation, Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin isn’t exactly ready to confirm that it will happen.

Here’s what Tobin told Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer on that topic during an interview at the Senior Bowl:

He’s not under contract now so we’re going to have to work through how to do that and if it’s possible and we’ll have to go through the gymnastics of that. So it’s a different scenario than it was last year. Trading a high-level player that’s under contract just because the future might demand it, that’s never really on my mind. We’ll see what happens this year. I want Tee Higgins back. Everyone on our team would like to have Tee Higgins back. Again, there’s one pie and how big of a slice that takes and what else we can’t do because of it, we’ll have to determine, and we’ll see.

The vague reply isn’t a shocker from Tobin, who outside of his “get your own” comments about Higgins last year in response to illogical trade rumors, usually keeps a lid on things.

Cincinnati can place a tag on Higgins from February 5 to March 20, which will cost the team roughly $21.7 million of its ample cap space. Otherwise, he’ll head to free agency.

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has commented that he discussed the long-term plan with the team before signing his own major extension, which presumably includes plans for Higgins. Beyond the price tag though, Tobin and Co. will have to look at factors such as Higgins’ injury history and the fact they drafted multiple receivers last year, among others.

If the Bengals do tag Higgins, it’s extremely doubtful they do a tag-and-trade scenario.

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Bengals WR Tee Higgins listed as top-10 free agent

Tee Higgins ranks very high in a new top 50 list.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins is one of the biggest overall names headed to free agency this offseason.

Case in point, while ranking the top 50 free agents for ESPN, Matt Bowen slots Higgins at No. 7 overall, behind only the likes of Chris Jones and Brian Burns:

The 6-foot-4 target can produce at all three levels of the route tree, making him our top wide receiver in free agency. Higgins has 24 touchdowns over four seasons, along with two 1,000-yard seasons — despite sharing targets in the Bengals offense with Ja’Marr Chase. He has the inside/outside alignment flexibility and vertical stretch traits to post high-end numbers as a volume pass-catcher.

Three other Bengals make the list, all of them understandable: Chidobe Awuzie, Jonah Williams and DJ Reader.

As Bengals fans well understand by now, Higgins might not be on a list like this for long. If the team and his reps can’t agree to a long-term deal before the market opens, the Bengals are likely to apply the franchise tag to retain control for one more year.

That tag would check in at around $21.7 million, but it would figure to be a number the team is more than willing to meet in order to remain in win-now mode as much as possible.

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Top 25 free agent targets for the Bengals in 2024

Ranking free agents the Bengals could target this offseason.

The Cincinnati Bengals enter the offseason with a host of questions to answer and free agency possibly providing major solutions.

Granted, free agency presents some hurdles too, considering Cincinnati’s own such as Tee Higgins and Jonah Williams are currently slated to hit the open market.

Still, the cap-savvy Bengals have once again juggled the cap well and currently boast roughly $59 million in free space, the sixth-highest mark in the NFL.

Let’s rank the top free agents the Bengals could target on the open market when it opens, for now looping in all players slated for free agency before extensions and tags happen, including their own.

Tyler Boyd talks about idea he could join Steelers in free agency

Could the Bengals WR be headed to the Steelers?

Before he heads to NFL free agency, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd was announced as a member of the WPIAL Hall of Fame Class of 2024.

A massive honor for the former Clairton football and Pittsburgh Panthers star, Boyd fielded many questions about his career recently during events related to the nomination.

One of those centered on the future.

While Boyd had nothing but good things to say about a Bengals organization that took a risk on him, he also gave an expected answer when asked what he thought about possibly joining the Pittsburgh Steelers in free agency.

“You never know,” Boyd told Dominic Campbell of Pittsburgh Sports Now. “I love Coach Tomlin. He’s probably one of the realest dudes in the sport’s business. Obviously, I played at Pitt, and I had a lot of run-ins with him and talked to him just about football. His personality is more like a father figure, it’s a great connection, but who knows? Even if I don’t go after this year, I could do a one-year deal at the end of my career and maybe finish up, but who knows.”

The entire interview is very much worth a read, but Boyd leaving the Bengals to go home is something fans have speculated for a while now. There, he’d play the Bengals twice a year while forming a trio with George Pickens and Diontae Johnson.

Given the hometown connection, the Steelers have to be considered one of the likeliest landing spots for Boyd if he and the Bengals don’t find a way to work something out while the major contracts go to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

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4 Bengals free agents who could follow Brian Callahan if he leaves Cincinnati

Could Bengals free agents join Brian Callahan on another team?

This feels like the year the Cincinnati Bengals could actually lose offensive coordinator Brian Callahan to a head coaching gig with another team.

As of this writing, Callahan had contact with four different teams about head coaching vacancies just after becoming the NFL’s longest-tenured offensive coordinator.

Interestingly, this possible Callahan departure (and likely Dan Pitcher promotion) comes at a time when the Bengals also have some key offensive players heading to free agency.

That could lead to a situation where one of the following names actually joins Callahan on one of the interested teams (Chargers, Titans, Panthers and Falcons), too.

PFF wants to see Bengals chase big name TE in free agency

One expert wants to see the Bengals pursue this tight end in free agency.

The Cincinnati Bengals figre to address the tight end position this offseason once again.

Whether that comes in the form of another cost-effective deal or big resource spend like a notable draft pick is up for debate.

What isn’t, though, is who the team might be interested in during free agency.

Dalton Schultz is the name listed as the one free agent the Bengals should pursue from Pro Football Focus’ Gordon McGuinness:

The Bengals could lose both Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd, who combined to see 165 targets in 2023, this offseason. Young receivers Andrei Iosivas and Charlie Jones could step up in their places, but the Bengals adding a talented receiving tight end could help them win in the middle of the field. Schultz proved himself to be a reliable target for the Texans this year, earning a 72.2 PFF receiving grade through the wild-card round.

Schultz, going on 28 years old, appeared in 15 games last season, his first with the Houston Texans, with 635 yards and five touchdowns. That’s the third season in a row he caught at least five scores.

While the Bengals seem likely to keep Drew Sample and Tanner Hudson in some capacity, Schultz is one of those possibly cheaper options who might be able to outplay expectations.

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Bengals free agent targets to watch in playoffs this weekend

Bengals free agent targets to watch in the first round of the playoffs.

The Cincinnati Bengals sit in an unfamiliar spot as the playoffs start this year.

Those Bengals, despite going 9-8, were eliminated while the three other teams in the AFC North went to the postseason in one of the toughest divisions ever.

With that as the backdrop, the Bengals and fans are now free to take a future-minded look at the playoffs.

That means looking at players scheduled to be free agents in just a few months from teams like the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins, to name a few.

Here’s a look at some of the free agents to watch as the playoffs start.

Tee Higgins calls Bengals ‘number one option’ before free agency

Bengals fans will like these comments from Tee Higgins.

Tee Higgins has already stepped into the limelight as the biggest offseason storyline for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Some of that is due to Higgins’ teammates, of course, with Joe Burrow recently going very publicly to bat about the team re-signing the star wide receiver.

Ja’Marr Chase has been right there, too, saying he needs Higgins back and head coach Zac Taylor said similar things in his end-of-season presser this week, too.

Higgins himself has responded to the love from all involved during an interview with Bleacher Report’s Scott Polacek.

“Them telling me that they want me to come back, man, it’s family,” Higgins said. “We’ve been playing together for three or four years now, and I personally would love to be back playing with those guys. It’s not in my hands now, but when the time comes and Cincinnati is there, that’s the number one option right now.”

Higgins returning for at least one season is effectively guaranteed. The Bengals are likely to use the franchise tag to retain him if the two sides can’t reach a long-term extension before free agency opens — following the same trajectory as Jessie Bates in recent years, who happens to share an agent with Higgins.

In his comments earlier this week, Burrow pointed out that the future of the team was something discussed before he inked his own major extension last offseason.

Clearly, the No. 1 option preferred by all parties is Higgins getting back under contract in some fashion for the 2024 season, at a minimum.

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Bengals players who will be free agents in March, ranked

A look at the upcoming critical Bengals free agent class.

The Cincinnati Bengals enter a key offseason with a huge list of players scheduled to become free agents.

Fans know the big names possibly headed to the market, headlined by Tee Higgins, DJ Reader and a few others.

How the Bengals navigate this upcoming free agent class will heavily influence how the team pursues outside free agents and the overall draft strategy — directly impacting the team’s current contention window.

So here’s a look at the upcoming list of Bengals free agents, ranked by level of importance to the team’s long-term success and the order the front office should probably prioritize them this spring.

7 pending free agents who may be playing their final games with the Bengals

Tee Higgins and other Bengals free agents could be playing their final games with the team right now.

One of the bigger points of frustration to this injury-riddled campaign for the Cincinnati Bengals has been the dark cloud that is the team’s upcoming free-agent class.

Simply put, the team won’t be able to keep the gang all together again.

The Bengals have starters on both sides of the ball scheduled to hit the open market over the summer. And with Joe Burrow’s big contract on the books and thinking about the future for the likes of Ja’Marr Chase, this upcoming class has always looked like it will feature some really tough calls by the team.

Here’s a look at a handful of guys who could be playing their last games in stripes.