Joe Burrow continues to lobby for the Cincinnati Bengals to bring back star wide receiver Tee Higgins basically every opportunity he gets. Following Cincinnati's 19-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 18, Burrow again used some of his media availability to go to bat for Higgins.
"You just can’t let him outside of the building," Burrow said of Higgins.
This comment comes just days after Burrow made it clear that the Bengals would regret allowing Higgins to walk in free agency over the offseason.
"Whenever a great player leaves you wish you could have found a way to keep him," Burrow said. "You don't want to make a living out of letting great players leave the building. And I think that's why you gotta do everything you can to get those deals done early."
Burrow has also previously referred to Higgins as a "need" for Cincinnati moving forward.
Higgins is set for free agency over the offseason, and for much of the year it seemed like a foregone conclusion that he would sign elsewhere. However, some recent reporting, combined with vaguely optimistic comments from Burrow make Higgins' future seem like much less of a foregone conclusion.
"I am confident we are going to be able to do what it takes to bring Tee back," Burrow said last month. "That I’m going to do what it takes to get him back and so is he. We’ve had those talks. Those are going to be offseason discussions but I think we are excited about that opportunity."
Burrow's voice carries a ton of weight within the organization, and this is the loudest he's ever been -- at least publicly -- when it comes to a particular personnel decision. At this point, if the Bengals don't re-sign Higgins, not only will they lose an extremely dangerous weapon, but they'll also run the risk of upsetting their franchise quarterback, which is the last thing that they want to do.
Burrow has done his part. Now, the pressure is on Cincinnati's front office to figure out a way to keep Higgins in the building while also locking up Ja'Marr Chase with a massive extension. Doing so won't be easy, but no one ever said being a general manager in the NFL was easy. How will they do it? That remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain: Breaking up the trio of Burrow, Chase and Higgins would be a massive mistake.