Bengals officially place franchise tag on Tee Higgins, plus comments from Zac Taylor

“I’m glad that he’ll continue to be a big part of our offense and our team.”

The Cincinnati Bengals have designated wide receiver Tee Higgins as the team’s franchise tag player, the team announced Monday.

The news that Higgins would be tagged was originally broken on Friday.

“Tee has done an outstanding job for us since we drafted him in 2020,” said Bengals head coach Zac Taylor in a press release. “I’m glad that he’ll continue to be a big part of our offense and our team.”

Higgins, who will be a fifth-year player in 2024, was a second-round pick by way of the Clemson Tigers in the 2020 NFL Draft. He has played in 53 career regular-season games (53 starts) for the Bengals, racking up 257 passes for 3,684 yards and 24 touchdowns. He recorded over 1000 receiving yards in 2021 and ’22, becoming one of five players in team history to reach that mark multiple times in his first three seasons.

This past season, Higgins was limited to just 42 grabs for 656 yards (15.6 avg) and five touchdowns while missing five games due to injury.

Higgins also has played in seven postseason contests (six starts) for the Bengals, and ranks second in team history both in postseason receptions (31) and postseason receiving yards (457).