Bengals QB Joe Burrow Announced Ballpark On Recovery Timeline For Resuming Full-Fledged….
Despite a promising start to their previous campaign, the Cincinnati Bengals still ended their run on a disappointing note because Joe Burrow suffered a wrist injury. Next season, though, potentially signing Noah Fant in free agency may make the team better.
In 2022, the Bengals had a good run after finishing the regular season with a 12-4 record. Last season, though, Cincinnati finished with a 9-8 record in the AFC North division, which wasn’t good enough for a playoff spot.
The primary culprit to the Bengals’ woes was Joe Burrow’s season-ending wrist injury. Even if that’s the case, Jake Browning did a good job by exceeding expectations for the team. In the end, the Bengals still fell short of a place in the postseason.
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins was the first player in the offseason to get franchise-tagged. At the onset, you would think that this was a clear indication from the Bengals in terms of how much they value the 25-year-old and how they’d like to keep him on the team for at least another season.
The only guarantee that was brought about by the team’s decision to use the franchise tag on Higgins is that he won’t be an unrestricted free agent this summer. However, it does seem that the Bengals are still open to the possibility of trading away the former Clemson standout if the right opportunity comes.
For his part, Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin isn’t ruling out the possibility of parting ways with Higgins this summer:“The message is: We really like Tee, and we’re a better team with Tee,” Tobin said, via Charean Williams of PFT. “In terms of our intentions going forward, and answering hypotheticals of what could and couldn’t come about, I won’t get into that. But we feel like we’re a better team with him. The reason we franchised him is because we would like to have him. He’s not under contract, and it’s hard for me to predict all the different scenarios that could happen. But we feel strongly about Tee Higgins and his fit with us.”
At the end of the day, money talks. As Tobin said, the Bengals would love to keep Higgins for the long haul, but at the same time, the question looms if they could actually afford him considering how franchise wideout Ja’Marr Chase is looking to sign a big-money extension this summer.“It’s always a priority when you think about premier-type players and how long you want them,” Tobin said. “We work within the confines of the CBA [Collective Bargaining Agreement] like every other team does, and sometimes things come together on a long-term basis; sometimes they don’t. So, we use the resources we have, but we’re always thinking about the future of players and who’s coming up and who we want to have long-term relationships with. It’s a never-ending puzzle. Just when you put a piece in, someone reaches over and takes a piece out. So, we’re trying to fit more pieces in than they’re taking out.”
