Bengals, Tee and the tag
The NFL franchise tag window opens for two weeks starting Tuesday at 4pm.
Will the Bengals place the franchise tag on Tee Higgins for a second straight year?
This stuff can get complicated, and my eyes start to glaze over. Here is an attempt at a simplified explanation of what could happen.
Last year, Higgins played on the franchise tag of 1-year/$21.8M.
Tagging him again, would come at the price of the average of the Top 5 highest paid WR, around 1-year/$25.6M.
If the Bengals don’t tag Higgins, he gets to free agency, and the frenzy begins: Teams like Brian Callahan’s Titans, Patriots, Jaguars, Chargers, Commanders, Steelers, Broncos and others figure to line up to bid for his services.
The Bengals have the cap space and they have the cash to tag Higgins. If tagged, the two sides have until mid-July to sign a long-term contract. If no deal is reached, Higgins would play on a one-year deal as he did last season.
Negotiating a long-term deal would allow the Bengals to spread out his money and lower his cap hit going forward.
Higgins would obviously love to hit the free agent market and have his worth determined by a team other than the Bengals.
There are three types of franchise tags:
- Non-exclusive tag: Allows the player to sign an offer sheet with another team, giving the original team an opportunity to match the offer or receive two first-round draft picks as compensation if the player departs.
- Exclusive tag: Binds the player to the team, preventing the player from seeking an offer sheet.
- Transition tag: The original team gets the right to match another team's offer, with no compensation if the player departs.
Teams can tag a player, sign and later trade that player, or tag and trade.
Last year, nine players were tagged, two were eventually traded.