CINCINNATI — The first line of the Bengals’ official statement on their application of the franchise tag Monday on Tee Higgins was more than just a throwaway line. It was what they hope the transaction will ultimately produce.
“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 Bengals had until 4 p.m. ET Tuesday to apply the tag and they chose Monday to do so, giving them until July 15 at 4 p.m. ET to negotiate a long-term extension with Higgins. If no agreement is reached, the second straight one-year tag turns into a $26.2 million contract offer sheet.
Last year, just before the mandatory minicamp, Higgins signed his tag and reported to minicamp, playing 2024 on a one-year, $21.8 million deal. It’s not likely Higgins will be anywhere near as agreeable this time around. If no deal is reached by then, Higgins could hold-in like Ja’Marr Chase did last year, or not sign it until midway through camp, like Jessie Bates in 2022.
It also means the Bengals could force his hand and make him play on a one-year deal. It is not likely Higgins would sit out the season and forfeit $26 million of salary.
“Seems like three, four, five years I’ve been talking about Tee,” Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said last week at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. “I think you guys all know what I feel about Tee Higgins. I think Tee Higgins is a fantastic football player and I want him on my football team. Whenever I’m in charge of a football team, I want Tee Higgins. So I’m going to do what I can to get Tee Higgins. Our preference with Tee Higgins is to do a long-term agreement. Always has been. It continues to be. And we’ll work hard to get that done.
“We are fortunate. We’ve got a lot of really good football players, fantastic football players, and we’re fortunate to be in a position to where we can fit them all in. We’ve managed our cap well, we’ve got low dead money. We want a high payroll and low dead money so the people that are in Cincinnati playing for us can get all the money. That’s what we want. And we’re in a position to re-sign these guys, and it’s a good position to be in. We’re going to attack it. We don’t want to just re-sign these guys and pay more or the same football team we had last year. We want to add to it as well. So we want to re-sign these guys, reward them for their ability level and add to the football team. It’s a tall task. We think we’re up to it, and Katie’s got us in position to attack it well.”
Well before then, though, the Bengals have the option of trading Higgins with the tag designation, as a tag-and-trade commodity. Even a first-round acquisition in this year’s draft (not stocked with projected blue chip receivers) would not likely yield what Higgins brings to the Bengals offense, namely Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase.
Higgins, who will be a sixth-year player in 2025, originally was a second-round draft pick of the Bengals in 2020. In 70 career regular-season games (62 starts) for Cincinnati, he has caught 330 passes for 4595 yards and 34 TDs. He has recorded at least 900 receiving yards in four of his five pro seasons, including consecutive 1000-yard campaigns in 2021 and ’22. He is coming off a 2024 season in which he ranked second on the team in catches (73) and receiving yards (911), and tied for sixth in the NFL with a career-high 10 receiving TDs.
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).
Alex Cappa cut:
In a surprise to no one, 31-year-old starting right guard Alex Cappa was released by the Bengals on Monday, freeing up $8 million of cap space. Cappa’s production and effectiveness had begun to drop off significantly this past season. Cappa, who will be an eighth-year player in 2025, joined the Bengals as an unrestricted free agent in the ’22 offseason. He started all 50 regular-season games he played in for Cincinnati at RG. Cappa signed a four year, $35-million deal with the Bengals on March 14, 2022, $11 million guaranteed.
Mike Hilton sends a message:
Mike Hilton, the starting nickel corner for the Bengals for all four of his seasons in Cincinnati, tweeted Monday that “new opportunities always present themselves,” with a prayer hands emoji following it. Could it be his farewell gesture to Cincinnati and its fans? Hilton signed a four-year, $24 million deal with the Bengals prior to the 2021 season and is a free agent. Dax Hill could slot into his role. Hilton was a glue to the secondary and the best tackler in the unit. Leadership will have to step up from Cam Taylor-Britt, Hill, Geno Stone, DJ Turner and Josh Newton.
Coaching staff rounds out:
The Bengals Monday finalized their coaching staff for the 2025 season with the hirings of Sean Desai as senior defensive assistant and Mike Moon as defensive assistant. The team also promoted Jordan Salkin to assistant wide receivers coach.
Desai comes to Cincinnati from the L.A. Rams, where he spent the 2024 season as senior defensive assistant. He previously served as defensive coordinator for Philadelphia in 2023 and associate head coach/defensive assistant for Seattle in ’22. He broke into NFL coaching in 2013 with Chicago, where he spent nine seasons in various coaching roles, including defensive coordinator in ’21.
Prior to his time with the Bears, Desai spent seven years (2007-12) in the collegiate ranks, working both in coaching and administrative capacities. He was on Temple University’s coaching staff from 2007-10, served as assistant director of football operations at the University of Miami (Fla.) in ’11, and was running backs coach/special teams coordinator at Boston College in ’12.
Moon spent the past four seasons at the University of Notre Dame, where he served as a defensive graduate assistant (2021-22), defensive analyst (’23) and senior defensive analyst (’24). He previously was on the coaching staff at Old Dominion University, holding the titles of defensive quality control coach (2017) and defensive graduate assistant (’18-20). Salkin served as an offensive assistant in his first season on the Bengals’ staff in 2024.
HEAD COACH:
Zac Taylor
ASSISTANT COACHES:
Joey Boese (director of player performance/head strength and conditioning)
Charles Burks (secondary/cornerbacks)
James Casey (tight ends)
Sean Desai (senior defensive assistant)
Al Golden (defensive coordinator)
Justin Hill (running backs)
Mike Hodges (linebackers)
Ben Jacobs (assistant special teams)
Fredi Knighten (assistant quarterbacks)
Jordan Kovacs (secondary/safeties)
Brad Kragthorpe (quarterbacks)
Michael McCarthy (assistant offensive line)
Jerry Montgomery (defensive line/run game coordinator)
Mike Moon (defensive assistant)
Scott Peters (offensive line)
Dan Pitcher (offensive coordinator)
Justin Rascati (pass game coordinator)
Ronnie Regula (defensive assistant)
Jordan Salkin (assistant wide receivers)
Darrin Simmons (assistant head coach/special teams coordinator)
Diamond Simmons (assistant strength and conditioning)
Garrett Swanson (assistant strength and conditioning)
Troy Walters (wide receivers)
STAFF:
Doug Rosfeld (chief of coaching staff)
