“This Is My First Home”: Tee Higgins Opens Up on ‘Emotional’ Bengals Departure as NFL Combine Awaits for 24-TD WR

The NFL teams have a complicated relationship with their players. We are seeing it with the onset of a myriad of wide receivers going free agent at the start of the 2024 league year. One of those receivers is Tee Higgins, who joined the Bengals back in 2020. Now he is at a crossroads with the Cincinnati side as his contract with the team has finally come to an end.

Per a couple of reports, the Bengals would like to keep Higgins around because of his consistent performance throughout the years. He expressed his desire to stay in a recent MOBIL 1 Behind the Drive series. To his advantage, the Bengals might just have something in store that will probably put a smile on Higgins’ face before the NFL combine.

Tee Higgins has deep ties with the Cincinnati Bengals

The wide receiver joined the Bengals in 2020 for a 4 year, $8.6M deal. Since then, he has formed core memories with the Cincinnati team after they appeared in a Super Bowl in the 2022 season. He is just reminiscing on all of that while driving around the city in his Maybach S680.

In this episode Higgins described his pre-game routine, how he listens to music to get in the zone, and his time with the Cincinnati Bengals. But it’s not the same when he’s warmed up, he’d rather engage with nature and his surroundings. He later described how much he loves the fans and the city. He expressed feeling like he’s back in college when he plays home games and he surely doesn’t want to depart from the team.

“I feel like this is my first home in the league.” Said Higgins and added, “This could be my last time you know, putting in my code, you know, pulling up to the stadium, turning in this iPad, just it’s crazy to think about.” It would be disheartening to see him leave the Bengals after his 24 TD career but things might not be as dim as they appear as the Bengals can still work something out.

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The Cincinnati Bengals face an enigma with their wideout department

It seems like Tee Higgins is not the only problem the Bengals have at hand. Their receiver Ja’Marr Chase is also set to be a free agent next year. Some say that the Bengals would prioritize keeping Chase around for a while longer. But Chase’s rookie contract coming to an end next year would mean that he would demand a huge payout. This is possible because per sources, the Bengals have a significant cap space in their roster.

Joe Burrow expressed his opinions on the matter and said, “We’d love to have Tee back. He’s a big part of what we’ve done here,” and added, “It’s no secret, our relationship. I expect Tee to be back. We all want Tee back.”.

For now, the Bengals are left with the option of giving Tee Higgins a franchise tag for a year while they sort things out, or trading him for a shot at higher draft picks in the NFL combine.

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