Tag: Tee Higgins

Bengals provide key injury updates ahead of bye week

Some small Bengals injury updates for the bye week.

It isn’t all bad on the injury front for the Cincinnati Bengals during the Week 12 bye.

The team did lose an emerging defender and immediately made a roster move to help replace him.

But beyond that — good news. Speaking with reporters during the bye, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor revealed that defensive lineman BJ Hill would emerge fine on the other side of the bye.

On the subject of Tee Higgins, the franchise-tagged wideout is just fine despite the scary-looking hit to his back during the Week 11 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Hill had been playing through a rib injury and seemed to reaggravate that issue at some point during the loss to the Chargers, so the week off certainly comes at a good time for him.

As for Higgins, he’s had different soft-tissue issues that caused him different stretches of games this year. He seems to have avoided another setback going into the break.

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Loss to Eagles highlights major Commanders’ need

Thursday’s loss to the Eagles highlighted a major need for the Commanders.

Terry McLaurin entered Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles ranked No. 3 in the NFL in receiving yards. Against the Eagles, McLaurin would finish the game with one reception for 10 yards.

After the game, the narrative was that Eagles rookie cornerback Quinyon Mitchell put the clamps on McLaurin and didn’t let go. As always, people love a good narrative. That’s not to discount Mitchell. He’s really good already. And he played a terrific game against the Commanders. In Mitchell, the Eagles found a star.

But there was more to the story. Mitchell did have some help. Philadelphia’s safeties chipped in to help limit McLaurin’s impact and force quarterback Jayden Daniels to look elsewhere.

Which brings us to this — and stop us if you’ve heard it before — McLaurin needs more help. So does Daniels. Washington has been looking for a quality No. 2 or 1b to McLaurin’s 1a since his second season (2020). The loss to the Eagles highlighted why that remains a need, especially when facing the top teams.

Noah Brown has excelled for the Commanders this season. However, he profiles more as a No. 3 receiver. Rookie Luke McCaffrey continues to get open, but he has yet to develop that chemistry with Daniels. He’ll be fine. Daniels needs another outside playmaker who will make opponents regret double-teaming McLaurin or even draw double teams himself.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins comes to mind. The 25-year-old is playing on the franchise tag and is expected to depart Cincinnati this offseason. He has the size and pedigree to give the Commanders another star wideout for years to come and grow with Daniels.

Higgins will come with a premium price tag. The good news is that Washington has cash, cap space, and a young quarterback with whom other receivers want to play.

Whether it’s Higgins, another free agent, or a rookie, the Commanders must get Jayden Daniels more help. Defenses can’t get double McLaurin the entire game if Washington has another player opposite him who can routinely make them pay. Adding another playmaking wide receiver can also help Daniels take his game to the next level.

Everything to know from Chargers’ win over Bengals

Here’s our recap of the Chargers’ thrilling win over the Bengals.

What. A. Game.

The Chargers outlasted the Bengals on Sunday night, improving to 7-3.

Here’s our recap of the Week 11 win.

It was over when…

J.K. Dobbins rushed for a 29-yard touchdown with 18 seconds remaining.

Notable number

According to ESPN’s Benjamin Solak, Justin Herbert now has 15 game-winning drives in his career. Only Patrick Mahomes and Kirk Cousins have more since 2020 when Herbert entered the league.

3 stars of the game

  1. QB Justin Herbert: Herbert was lights out in the first half. While he wasn’t nearly as sharp in the second half, Herbert made two big throws on the final drive to guide the team to victory.
  2. WR Ladd McConkey: McConkey finished with 123 yards on six catches, including two big receptions on the final possession to put the Chargers in Bengals territory.
  3. RB J.K. Dobbins: Dobbins had 11 carries for 56 yards and two rushing touchdowns, including the game-winner.

Quick hits

  • Herbert delivered dime after dime in the first half, completing 10 of 14 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns. But that same level of play didn’t carry over into the second half.
  • The Chargers could not move the ball and went three and out on half of their offensive possessions, all while the Bengals crept back to tie the game off of 21 unanswered points, led by Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins.
  • The Bengals had two opportunities in the fourth quarter to take the lead, but Evan McPherson missed his go-ahead field goal attempts from 48 and 51 yards.
  • In previous years, Los Angeles would have blown that type of game (it gave me flashbacks to the playoff loss to the Jaguars). But the defense made a big stop at the end, Herbert rallied the offense with two big throws to McConkey, and Dobbins delivered the knockout punch.
  • Herbert finished the game 17-of-36 passing for 297 yards, two touchdowns, and five carries for 65 yards. While he didn’t benefit from some dropped passes, there were a few instances of him missing receivers in the second half. Herbert also lost a fumble early in the fourth quarter.
  • For the first time this season, the Chargers’ defense gave up more than 20 points. They allowed the Bengals to convert on all three of their fourth-down attempts. Cincinnati totaled 452 yards.

What’s next?

The Chargers host the Ravens next Monday night, Nov. 25, at 5:15 pm PT.

Is Tee Higgins playing today? Injury updates for Bengals WR

Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins is dealing with a leg injury. Here are the latest updates for Week 11.

(This story was updated to add new information.)

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins was in danger of missing a fourth game in a row — a critical one in primetime against the Los Angeles Chargers.

The latest late-week updates and reports, though, suggest the extended absence for Higgins will come to an end on Sunday Night Football.

Here’s the latest.

 

Tee Higgins injury update

  • Update: Higgins is active for the game.
  • ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported the following about the last week of Higgins updates: “Had that game been on a Sunday, he might have had a better chance to play. But waiting the extra 10 days ensured he would have a productive week of practice and be ready to play without a major ramp-up.”
  • The Bengals didn’t list Higgins on the final injury report.
  • Higgins suffered a quad injury in practice and missed Week 8, then Week 9 and last week’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

 

How long will Tee Higgins be out?

Barring a setback, it sounds like Higgins will be out there against the Chargers. But considering he’s coming back from a new soft-tissue injury suffered merely running routes in a Friday practice, it’s always worth monitoring at this point.

 

Bengals WR depth chart

Ja’Marr Chase, Andrei Iosivas, Trenton Irwin, Jermaine Burton, Charlie Jones, Isaiah Williams

How many snaps will Higgins actually play? Or, as fans will remember from past years, will he just be a high-profile decoy? With the Jermaine Burton drama behind the team, will the rookie get on the field with Higgins, too, and/or see a big workload? All great questions as the Bengals face a must-win game.

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Will Tee Higgins play this week? Injury updates for Bengals WR

Bengals WR Tee Higgins is dealing with a leg injury. Here are the latest updates.

(This story was updated to add new information.)

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins remains a question mark ahead of his team’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 11.

Higgins has now missed three games in a row due to a quad injury suffered running routes in practice. Now, it becomes a question of whether the team will risk him on primetime or let him rest through the Week 12 bye.

 

Tee Higgins injury update

  • UPDATE: The Bengals say Higgins will play on Sunday and he has no official game status on the final injury report.
  • Higgins was officially “limited” on the first injury report of the week.
  • Speaking with reporters on Monday before Week 11, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor tempered expectations about Higgins’ participation.

How long will Tee Higgins be out?

  • This could be the end of Higgins’ second extended absence of the season. That said, the question then becomes whether he’ll be on a snap count and a decoy, or full-go. And if he doesn’t play, he won’t be back until after the bye.

Bengals depth chart

  • Ja’Marr Chase, Andrei Iosivas, Trenton Irwin, Jermaine Burton, Charlie Jones, Isaiah Williams

Exiting the Jermaine Burton drama, the rookie caught just one pass last week with Higgins out. Ja’Marr Chase had 11 catches for 264 yards and three scores while no other wideout had more than two catches.

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NFL insider updates Tee Higgins’ future outlook with Bengals

Will Tee Higgins be back with the Bengals after this season?

The future for Tee Higgins with the Cincinnati Bengals remains bleak.

As of now, the franchise-tagged star is just trying to get back on the field after missing a second set of games due to another soft-tissue injury this season.

Looking ahead to next offseason, ESPN’s Matt Bowen and Jeremy Fowler recently ranked Higgins the No. 1 upcoming free agent in the league and cast doubt on a long-term deal happening:

What we’re hearing: There’s little to no chance Higgins is in Cincinnati beyond 2024. People I’ve talked to feel pretty strongly about that, barring a major surprise. A second franchise tag would cost the Bengals around $26.2 million on a one-year rental.

What might be interesting here is that no insider has yet to say that Higgins’ latest wave of injuries has his free-agency future in doubt. He missed games to start this year with another hamstring injury, then has missed three in a row right now after injuring his quad-running routes in practice.

One would think that being unavailable so often, consistently, might make teams hesitate to give Higgins a market-resetting contract in free agency.

But for now, it sounds like things remain on the expected track — the Bengals are unlikely to be able to afford a re-up with Higgins while they still need to pay Ja’Marr Chase and address so many other holes on the roster.

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Bengals injury updates on Tee Higgins, Orlando Brown aren’t encouraging

The latest on injured Bengals before Week 11.

It’s early, but it sounds like the Cincinnati Bengals could be without two key names again, this time for the Week 11 showdown with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Wide receiver Tee Higgins is in danger of missing his fourth straight game due to a quad injury suffered in practice, while offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. is still battling back from an injury of his own.

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor advised caution when asked about the fact both guys participated in an early-week walkthrough.

“Walkthrough is pretty easy to participate in, so I wouldn’t read too much into that. We’ll get to Wednesday and see where it’s at,” Taylor said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “Everything was positive.”

In other words, both guys remain day-to-day at best.

With Higgins, the nagging soft-tissue injuries are also tricky. A different soft-tissue setback cost him games to start the season, too. The Bengals didn’t put him on injured reserve, requiring him to miss four games, but he might anyway with a Week 12 bye looming.

As for Brown, he sounded close before last Thursday’s loss, but ultimately the team didn’t push it. Early this week, he wasn’t ready to be super positive about his outlook either.

“I’m going to see how the week goes, I’ve missed the last two so I’m not one hundred percent sure yet,” Brown said, according to Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

All eyes go to the injury reports starting Wednesday, but Higgins and Brown still sound like question marks at best.

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Is Tee Higgins playing today? Injury updates for Bengals WR

Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins is dealing with a leg injury. Here are the latest updates for Week 10.

(This story was updated to add new information.)

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins is again a question mark for the team, this time for Thursday night’s primetime encounter with the Baltimore Ravens in Week 10.

Higgins, dealing with his second soft-tissue injury that has cost him games this season already, has missed two games in a row and Thursday night is very much in jeopardy, too.

Here’s the latest.

 

Tee Higgins injury update

  • Update: Higgins was one of the team’s inactive players.
  • The Bengals listed Higgins as “doubtful” on the final injury report.
  • Higgins suffered a quad injury in practice and missed Week 8. He then missed the Week 9 win over the  Las Vegas Raiders, going from “day-to-day,” to “doubtful” on the final injury report.

 

How long will Tee Higgins be out?

Again, the Bengals haven’t put Higgins on injured reserve. But this would be his third missed game already. Now, only Week 11 against the Los Angeles Chargers sits between him and the Week 12 bye. There’s a very real chance he won’t get back on the field until Week 13.

 

Bengals WR depth chart

Ja’Marr Chase, Andrei Iosivas, Trenton Irwin, Jermaine Burton, Charlie Jones

Last weekend, the plan was for rookie Jermaine Burton to feature heavily with Higgins out. Burton blew that chance by missing Saturday’s walkthrough and was punished. It’s hard to imagine he’s fully trusted as a focal point of installs just a few days later, so Iosivas and the tight ends will need to carry the workload if Higgins is out.

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Tee Higgins injury update: Will Bengals star WR play vs. Ravens in Week 10?

The Bengals are listing WR Tee Higgins as doubtful for Thursday night’s game against the Ravens in Week 10

The Bengals are listing wide receiver Tee Higgins as doubtful for Thursday night’s massive game against the Ravens in Week 10 on Amazon Prime.

Ahead of Cincinnati’s Week 8 matchup against Philadelphia, Higgins ended up on the injury report on the Friday of that week with a quad injury. He ended up missing the game, and he also missed Week 9 after not practicing all week.

It’s not the wide receiver’s first deal with soft tissue injuries. Higgins sat out the first two games of the 2024 season due to a hamstring injury.

Higgins has 29 catches, for 341 yards (11.8 avg), and three touchdowns.

Bengals wideout Charlie Jones also did not practice, and he’s also listed as doubtful due to a groin injury. Third-round pick Jermaine Burton, a healthy scratch last weekend, is expected to be part of the receiver depth chart.

Left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. (knee, fibula) did not play last week and is listed as questionable. Defensive tackle B.J. Hill (rib) is questionable as well. Running back Chase Brown (rib), defensive end Sam Hubbard (hamstring), and quarterback Joe Burrow (right wrist) have no designations.

NFL analyst would ‘love to see’ Bengals WR Tee Higgins trade to Steelers

Bengals fans probably wouldn’t love this trade.

The Cincinnati Bengals aren’t trading Tee Higgins.

That’s perhaps the most-written sentence about the Bengals here and elsewhere over the course of the last year.

And yet, that won’t stop the ideas from pouring in ahead of the NFL trade deadline.

Case in point, when outlining deals he would love to see, USA Today’s Tyler Dragon lists the Bengals sending Higgins to the Pittsburgh Steelers as one of the top six:

Higgins is a strong receiver, has a good catch radius and is comfortable playing as the X or Z receiver.

Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said before that he’s not in the business of making other teams better, and the Bengals certainly don’t want to do business with a division rival. But Higgins would be an excellent fit in Pittsburgh’s offensive system and form a great pairing with George Pickens.

Bengals fans, undoubtedly, would not love to see that one.

It’s a lopsided idea in the sense that it stresses how fun it would be to see Higgins in Pittsburgh’s offense, which is fair. Higgins would be an ideal fit there and give the Steelers a reliable weapon they can’t seem to draft well, considering the risks that franchise takes at the position that tends to backfire.

But that makes this more interesting from a free-agency perspective next offseason, not at this year’s deadline.

The Bengals won’t trade away Higgins for pretty much any offer. The offense is simply much better when he’s on the field and there’s still the slim chance they can get him back on a long-term deal next summer. Unlikely, but rest assured the front office thinks that way.

And the Bengals especially wouldn’t trade Higgins within the division. They might have to line up twice per year against him if he chooses the Steelers in free agency next summer, but the Bengals wouldn’t intentionally do that to themselves, anyway.

To top it all off, Higgins is hurt again anyway and the team’s win-now trade move on Tuesday morning shows that the Bengals are all-in as buyers, not sellers.

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