Tee Higgins has put together a very solid body of work since he entered the NFL in 2020. Over the last five years, the Cincinnati Bengals star wide receiver has 4,595 receiving yards, which ranks 18th in that time. While his 65.6 yards per game only rank 26th, he has played four of those seasons effectively as the No. 2 option to Ja’Marr Chase.
Over the course of his time in the NFL, Higgins ranks 10th at the position in success rate (59.8%) and 13th at the position in terms of touchdowns. The 2024 season was Higgins’ best in terms of touchdowns (10), despite only playing in 12 games. His drop rate this season was also a career-low at 2.8%, while Joe Burrow had a 119.5 passer rating when targeting him.
How much will Higgins make this offseason? While there have been rumblings that the Bengals may use the franchise tag on him for a second year in a row, Duke Tobin insists that the team prefers to do a long-term deal. Let’s project what Higgins will get paid annually on his next contract.
How Much Will Tee Higgins Earn Annually On His Next Contract?
- Potential Contract: $25-30 million per year
- Potential Contract Length: 3-5 years
Higgins’ contract value may arguably be the toughest to figure out of any player this offseason. Chances are we may have to wait another year for the answer as the Bengals look set to franchise tag him, which will give him a value of just over $26 million for the year.
There is no doubt that Higgins is a talented wide receiver. He is coming off a 10-touchdown season in which he averaged 75.9 yards per game and a career-high 6.1 receptions per game. Higgins has two 1,000-yard seasons, is averaging almost seven touchdowns per season, and has three years with over 70 receptions.
There are two main problems for Higgins regarding his contract value. Firstly, he has missed 10 games due to injury in the last two seasons combined. Missing more than 25% of the games in the last two years is less than ideal when looking for more than $25 million a year. The second issue is that Higgins’ value as a WR1 is somewhat of a projection, having played second fiddle to Chase for the last four years.
The injury element is the bigger issue, as we saw talented secondary wide receivers Jaylen Waddle ($28.25 million) and DeVonta Smith ($25 million) get paid well last offseason. However, both of those played more games than Higgins in their previous two seasons when they signed those deals and were coming off 1,000-yard seasons.
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There is some salary-cap inflation to consider for Higgins, but you could argue that his base value should be slightly below Waddle and Smith to begin with. The franchise tag value of $26.1 million is probably a fairly fair valuation for Higgins for a multi-year deal. Higgins is the No. 1-ranked free agent in PFSN’s Top 100 Free Agent Rankings.
As a free agent, teams would struggle to know how much to commit to Higgins in terms of years and guaranteed money. Both Smith and Waddle got around $35 million in guarantees on a three-year deal. That is about what teams should look to offer Higgins if he were a free agent in 2025.
A three-year deal would also allow Higgins to be a No. 1 somewhere for a couple of years and prove he deserves to be paid more than $30 million a year with his next contract.
