Tee Higgins

Higgins finished an injury-plagued 2023 with career lows in nearly every major receiving category, missing five games and playing less than 70 percent of snaps in four others. He's in high demand this offseason all the same, with Cincinnati giving the 25-year-old a franchise tag for $21.8 million and then holding firm against a trade request. Reports in late March suggest the Bengals are at least willing to listen to offers -- though they won't actively shop Higgins -- perhaps opening the door for a deal if a receiver-needy team like New England or Carolina is willing to overpay. The Bengals' stance is understandable given that Higgins averaged 71.7 catches for 1,009 yards and 6.3 TDs over 15.3 games in his first three seasons after entering the league as a second-round pick. He was also highly productive at Clemson, where he had 2,103 yards and 25 TD catches between his age-19 and age-20 seasons. While not especially fast (4.54 40 at his pro day), Higgins is one of the league's bigger receivers (6-4, 216) and one of the best at winning jump balls downfield. He's also quite useful on short and intermediate routes, though his target rate dropped to around 20 percent of routes the past two years with Ja'Marr Chase gobbling up a huge share of the short passes. Higgins drew targets on 23.4 percent of routes in 2021 when Chase was deployed more as a deep threat, finishing with a still-career-high 110 targets despite missing three games. While other players drafted in the same range offer more volume upside, Higgins has never produced less than 8.4 YPT in a season and should best last year's mark of 8.6 if he and QB Joe Burrow both manage to stay relatively healthy.

Higgins is a reliable, high-end WR2 in both real life and fantasy terms. Actually, he might be more than that if he ends up somewhere besides Cincinnati, but it looks like the Bengals have no interest in giving into the trade rumors ahead of the fourth and final season of his rookie contract. A franchise tag next offseason seems likely if no long-term deal is reached, with Higgins coming off back-to-back 1,000 yard campaigns and recording at least 908 yards and six touchdowns in each of his first three NFL seasons. At 6-4, he's a regular menace on jump balls and contested catches, also showing a degree of prowess on short and intermediate passes even if he's not nearly the YAC threat that teammate Ja'Marr Chase is. In terms of fantasy upside beyond the 1,200-yard range or so, that'll probably only happen for Higgins in Cincinnati if Chase misses extended time -- a scenario that would leave the talented 2020 second-round pick as Joe Burrow's unquestioned top option.

Overshadowed by rookie phenom Ja'Marr Chase much of last year, Higgins eventually caught fire down the stretch and recorded his first 1,000-yard season despite missing three games. He narrowly missed that mark as a rookie, providing the Bengals an instant return on the 33rd overall pick. Higgins didn't test well out of college — he skipped drills at the combine and then put up a 4.54 40 and 31-inch vertical at his pro day — but he's quickly proven that his prolific college stats (2,103 receiving yards, 25 TDs his final two years) weren't just a product of favorable circumstances at Clemson. Higgins doesn't have the issues with fluidity and change- of-direction that plague many wideouts his size, and the poor vertical jump hasn't seemed to matter when it comes to contested catches in the NFL. He was efficient as a rookie (62.0 percent catch rate, 8.4 YPT) and took another step forward in Year 2 (67.3 percent, 9.9 YPT), benefiting from his own progress as well as QB Joe Burrow's. Higgins even led the team in targets per game, with 7.9 to Chase's 7.5, and in the playoffs he added 309 yards and two TDs (both in the Super Bowl) in four games. The only drawbacks, really, are his lack of elite speed and the reality that he won't be the go-to guy unless Chase misses time. It's nitpicking, especially after the Bengals made big offseason moves to upgrade their offensive line.

Drafted as the eventual successor to A.J. Green, Higgins has already succeeded him. In fact, Higgins surpassed Green out of the gate with 13.6 YPC, 8.4 YPT, 14 catches for 20-plus yards and two catches for 40-plus last year, while the Bengals struggled to force-feed the now-departed veteran. At 6-4, 215, Higgins is massive, and ran a blistering-for-his-size 4.43 40 at his pro day (his fastest time), though he also recorded some slower ones (4.59). Higgins seemed set to expand his role as the team’s top outside, downfield and red-zone target, until the Bengals added Joe Burrow’s favorite college wideout Ja’Marr Chase with the fifth overall pick in this year's draft. Not only is Chase faster and more athletic (though smaller) than Higgins, he comes preloaded with a connection to his quarterback. As a result, it’s unclear whether Higgins or Chase will lead the team in targets, and Tyler Boyd, a possession receiver who usually lines up in the slot, will also get his looks. But it helps that the Bengals don’t throw heavily to their backs, have no pass-catching tight end of whom to speak and that Burrow is expected to be healthy Week 1.

Taken with the 33rd overall pick in this year's draft, Higgins lands in a crowded Bengals receiving group. Aging star A.J. Green was franchised for 2020, Tyler Boyd is a good bet for well more than 100 targets and 2017 first-round burner John Ross and mammoth Auden Tate both had significant roles last year. At 6-3, 216, Higgins is built like Green, though his pro day timed speeds ranged from a 4.43 40 (Greenlike) to a sluggish 4.59. Either way, Higgins was a playmaker in college, with 25 TDs the last two years at Clemson on only 185 targets. He dominates when the ball is in the air, using his height, catch radius and good hands to outreach smaller defenders. His route running needs work, but he'll have Green as a mentor, and there's a good chance he surpasses Ross and Tate as the No. 3 option before long.