Bengals confirm a key man will lose the season as he suffer serious knee surgery

It looks like Cincinnati Bengals fans will be on pins and needles for the entirety of the offseason regarding the free agency status of star wide receiver Tee Higgins. The 2020 second-round draft pick will enter free agency this offseason after his rookie contract ended after the 2023 season. Higgins will undoubtedly command a lofty price tag, but that hasn’t stopped teams, including their quarterbacks, from courting him in late January. Per the QB Unplugged podcast with Cleveland Browns signal-caller Deshaun Watson and quarterback coach Quincy Avery, the duo pitched Higgins on signing with Watson’s AFC North club.

Deshaun Watson and Quincy Avery discussed the Browns snagging Tee Higgins in upcoming free agency. Watson looked at the camera and spoke directly to the star wideout, saying, “Hey, Tee. I know you was down the road, family ties. You know AB (Andrew Berry) ain’t afraid to spend money. You’ll get the ball. We want to pass the ball, you know what I’m saying? So that’s what we are going to do. We are going to pass it a lot to Chubb and Ford.”

In the episode of QB Unplugged, co-host Quincy Avery also stated that Higgins would not need to leave the state of Ohio if he signed with the Browns. Higgins has played his first four seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals but could stay close to the area by signing with the Browns. Watson also pitched Higgins on Cleveland by talking about the fans and the opportunity to play together. 

Watson continued, saying, “The Cleveland fans are going to love you to death. And we got the Clemson ties. We didn’t get to play with each other, but this is our opportunity. Man, come on over to the Land, man. We get lit over here, I’m telling you.”

Watson, the 12th overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft, earned All-American honors with the Clemson Tigers while winning ACC Player of the Year in 2015. He won a College Football National Championship with Clemson in 2016, the same year he became the runner-up to Louisville’s Lamar Jackson for the Heisman Trophy Award. Meanwhile, Higgins arrived at Clemson the year after Watson’s departure. He posted 59 receptions in each of his last two seasons, including a 1,167-yard campaign during his final season in 2019. Like Watson, he won a ring with the Tigers.

The six-foot-four receiver joined the Bengals as the 33rd overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft. He snagged 67 passes for 908 yards and six touchdowns as a rookie. He joined current signal-caller and star Joe Burrow as a rookie in 2020. The two continued to develop a rapport in 2021, with Higgins recording 74 receptions for a career-high 1,091 yards. Higgins again posted a 1,000-yard season in 2022, including helping lead the Bengals to their second straight AFC Championship.

Higgins, alongside Burrow, struggled with injuries this season. The Clemson product finished the year with 656 yards and five touchdowns in 12 games. Fellow wideout Ja’Marr Chase will also command a big payday soon and could hinder the Bengals from resigning Higgins. 

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The Cincinnati Bengals have a serious of intriguing salary cap decisions to make over the next few months as several key players such as wide receiver Tee Higgins and defensive tackle D.J. Reader are slated to leave this offseason.  While Higgins has established himself as arguably the best number two receiver in the NFL, Reader will be far more difficult to replace for Cincinnati this offseason.  Reader has established himself as one of the best nose tackles in the NFL and Cincinnati doesn’t have a promising backup to bring in for him either.  There are several decisions available for Cincinnati this year.

While there is a possibility that the team will come to the same conclusion that Reader will be the most difficult player to replace this offseason and therefore try to sign him, a combination of factors make that highly unlikely.  For starters, Reader is a thirty year old nose tackle who will be coming off of a season ending injury to his lower body.

While skill positions have made returning from ligament tears and major injuries appear fairly easy, imagine being a 330 pound man who has his body on such a fine tipping point between being powerful and being lethargic, being demanded to eat approximately 20,000 calories a day (I’ve been there, that’s real) and now being unable to exercise for a long period due to a hamstring injury.  There is a strong possibility that Reader will not come back at nearly the same level next season and if he can return to form, it will probably take him some time.  At 30, Cincinnati may not be too eager to wait for that.

Second, Reader has entered a contract year and due to his performance up to to date, he will most likely be requesting a contract in the realm of $20 million per season.  With the money shortages due to the skill players on the offensive side of the ball, Cincinnati will most likely balk at this demand and let their notorious nose tackle leave the team.

The obvious choice to replacing a long term starter would be to find a long term option in the 2024 NFL Draft.  While that doesn’t seem too difficult, finding a nose tackle is not as easy as it seems particularly because the 2024 Draft Class is fairly weak at the defensive line positions.  Assuming Cincinnati will not use a first round pick on a defensive tackle for the first time since the disastrous first overall pick of Dan Wilkinson in the 1994 NFL Draft, there are not many nose tackles available in the draft.

I have mentioned before that my preferred option of the Cincinnati front office down this avenue would be to draft Michigan defensive tackle Kris Jenkins in the second round.  Jenkins may only weigh in at 305 pounds but if given the offseason, he can add weight to what appears to be an incredibly strong base.  Jenkins father of course was an All Pro nose tackle for ten years for the Carolina Panthers and New York Jets so that may impact that recommendation.

While Jenkins is appealing, this is arguably the best long term option but would be the worst short term option as starting an undersized rookie nose tackle in one of the toughing divisions for rushing offenses would certainly come with some growing pains.

Although he would certainly be the most appealing option, there is a long list of reasons to not bring in superstar defensive tackle Chris Jones.  Jones would certainly ask for a fortune north of $25 million per season and still wouldn’t fit the mold of a nose tackle.  In the AFC North, Jones would still not plug the middle well enough to stop the run against elite running teams like Baltimore or Cleveland.