‘I Feel Amazing’ – Happy, Healthy and Freed of Contract Drama, Bengals WR Tee Higgins Is Thriving

CINCINNATI – Each of the Cincinnati Bengals‘ young receivers has had moments in training camp, with Kendrick Pryor owning more than a few.

But since Day 1, when Tee Higgins talked about killing the noise and putting his contract dispute behind him to focus on football, the offense has run through him.

Freed from the nagging injuries that plagued his 2023 season and the dangling dubiety of a contract extension once the deadline passed July 15, Higgins has looked unstoppable for the last three weeks.

Higgins: Bengals Only Going To Get Better When Ja’Marr Chase Returns

When a reporter mentioned Higgins looks as though he’s in mid-December form, he said: “That’s good. I’m glad somebody else said that. I feel like I am.”

Saturday night in the preseason opener against Tampa Bay, many of the 63,336 in attendance probably were thinking it as well.

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Higgins was the first player quarterback Joe Burrow targeted, catching a 9-yard pass to open the game.

He was the player Burrow went to when he unleashed his first deep ball.

And he was the guy Burrow teamed up with for a 10-yard touchdown to cap a successful 12-play drive.

WE ARE SO BACK.

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— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) August 10, 2024

“The touchdown was just the cherry on top,” Higgins said. “Even though we didn’t get too many (snaps), and I dropped one – a big one – I still feel like the rhythm was there.”

The drop Higgins referenced was the deep ball Burrow threw to him despite double coverage, a ball head coach Zac Taylor said he expects his quarterback to throw 100 out of 100 times.

Higgins won the initial fight for the ball, but Tampa Bay safety Kaevon Merriweather was able to get his arm between Higgins’ and knock the ball out.

Burrow leaned on Higgins on a key third down in the red zone, but Buccaneers cornerback Josh Hayes hit him before he had a chance to go up and get the ball.

Two plays later, Higgins caught the ball in front of Hayes and shook him with a move that enabled him to walk into the end zone for the score.

Of the seven passes Burrow threw on the drive, four went to Higgins.

“It showed that we had the chemistry going,” Higgins said.

Even though Higgins reported to camp in great shape, Taylor has given him periodic rest days as part of his maintenance plan to get the team’s most important players to the Sept. 8 starting line fully healthy.

Higgins said this is as good as he’s felt in training camp.

“I feel amazing,” he said. “The weight is where I need it to be. The body just feels amazing. I’m not sore anywhere. I’ve been taking care of my body.”

As good as he feels and looks through the first three weeks of camp, Higgins knows things are going to go to another level for the offense once Ja’Marr Chase returns from his hold-in that has seen him miss 13 practices and counting.

“I talk to him all the time, ‘I can’t wait for you to get back out there with us. The offense is looking good, and when you get back out there, it’s gonna look even better,’” Higgins said. “He knows that.”

“But I’ll let him handle his business,” he continued. “I don’t ask him any questions or anything like that. Just let him do his thing.”

Higgins and the rest of the offensive starters are not expected to play Saturday vs. the Chicago Bears, but they will get plenty of work in during Thursday’s joint practice.

And with the third preseason game typically serving as a film-building opportunity for guys on the back end of the roster, Higgins’ last action in the preseason is likely to be his touchdown.

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He had two catches for 21 yards in his first four preseasons combined before snagging two for 19 and a score against Tampa Bay.

A huge payday awaits the 2020 second-round pick in March, but his sole focus is on the 2024 season and continuing to play – and feel – as good as he has through the first three weeks of camp.