For the second straight year, the Cincinnati Bengals have designated star wide receiver Tee Higgins as a franchise player.
Now that Higgins has been tagged, the Bengals have a few options. They could trade Higgins, they could have him play out the 2025 season under the tag, or they could sign him to a long-term contract, which is the stated goal of the organization.
"Our preference with Tee Higgins is to do a long-term agreement," Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said of the situation. "Always has been, it continues to be, and we’ll work hard to get that done."
Even the official press release from the Bengals regarding Higgins' tag indicated that the organization hopes to get a long-term deal done.
"The Bengals today designated WR Tee Higgins as the team's franchise player, with the intent of continuing to work toward a long-term deal in Cincinnati," the release said.
Bengals have until July 15 to sign Tee Higgins to a long-term deal
When it comes to Higgins' future in Cincinnati, there's one key date for Bengals fans to keep in mind. That date is July 15, as that's the deadline for organization to sign tagged players to long-term deals. Bengals fans are going to want to circle that date on the calendar.
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If no deal is reached by that July 15 deadline, Higgins will have to play out the '25 season under the tag. The franchise tender would pay Higgins $26.2 million for the season. So, in this scenario, Higgins would make that amount of money next season and then be scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency in 2026.
Technically, the Bengals could tag Higgins for a third, and final, time in 2026, but that's extremely unlikely. No player in NFL history has ever been tagged three times, as the cost of doing so is pretty prohibitive.
Hopefully it won't ever have to come to that, though. If we take the Bengals at their word, they want to get a long-term deal done with Higgins this offseason. So, with that goal in mind, July 15 is a date of utmost importance.