Will Tee Higgins' big season lead to free agent departure from Bengals?

CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati Bengals wide receivers coach Troy Walters saw the headlines and heard the chatter about potentially losing star wideout Tee Higgins.

So, one day in the middle of the offseason, Walters picked up the phone and called Higgins to find out for himself. After requesting a trade at the beginning of free agency, would Higgins hold out and skip training camp if a deal didn't get done?

"I reached out to him and wanted to know the truth," Walters told ESPN in October.

At the time of the call, Higgins was lining up a putt during a round of golf in Miami. When he and Walters spoke, the assurance was given -- if Higgins couldn't get the long-term deal done, he was going to accept the one-year franchise tag from the Bengals and set out to have the best season possible.

Mission accomplished, at least from an individual standpoint. Despite the Bengals struggling through a 4-8 record, Higgins is in the midst of his best season, averaging a career-high 79.7 yards with five receiving touchdowns, two off from his career best. He's caught a touchdown pass in his past three games and will be looking to extend that streak Monday against the Dallas Cowboys (8:15 p.m ET, ESPN).

Still, Higgins, who has missed five games with soft tissue injuries, has heard cynics wonder if he was faking injury to protest his contract. It didn't sit well with the player expected to be the top free agent in 2025. And with quarterback Joe Burrow already on a $275 million contract extension and wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase eyeing a market-altering deal, that could leave Higgins looking elsewhere in order to secure his next payday.

"He's on a mission," Walters said. "This is a big year for him, but he's not letting that pressure and that whatever else get to him.

"He seems like he's having fun. He's playing with a lot of peace."

THAT PEACE WAS interrupted early in the season when Higgins missed the first two games with a hamstring injury and heard fan chatter about his motives.

"I just don't understand why fans think I'm faking an injury, when for me to get an extension for a contract, the deadline is over," Higgins told ESPN at the time. "I just don't understand why they think I'm faking an injury. It doesn't make sense to me."

The soft-tissue setbacks have been frustrating for Higgins. And he plans on getting to the bottom of it. This offseason, he said he will undertake a study to determine the root cause of the injuries. It will be similar to the study Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson had this year for his hamstring injuries.

In each of the past two offseasons, Higgins has looked to cash in after assuming a bigger role on a team that has played for two AFC championships. Higgins is fourth among members of the 2020 draft class with 3,684 receiving yards. The others in the top five received contract extensions by Week 1 of this season -- the Minnesota Vikings' Justin Jefferson ($35 million per season), Dallas Cowboys' CeeDee Lamb ($34 million), San Francisco 49ers' Brandon Aiyuk ($30 million) and Indianapolis Colts' Michael Pittman Jr. ($23.3 million).

Higgins was placed on the franchise tag that was worth $21.8 million.

Chase, who was taken with the fifth pick in 2021 and has been to three Pro Bowls in as many NFL seasons, was also in negotiations for a contract that could have made him the highest paid non-quarterback in league history. But no deal was made while Chase conducted a hold-in -- attending practices but not participating in team drills -- in the preseason before deciding to play. He's also enjoying a career year, and should be in line for a huge extension.

When the Bengals placed the tag on Higgins on Feb. 26, he said he knew a deal wasn't going to come to fruition. On March 11, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported via a source that Higgins was seeking a trade.

"Obviously I had to try," Higgins told ESPN. "Who am I not to try?"

He knows he could have prolonged the situation by skipping training camp and refusing to sign the franchise tag. But as someone who has played football since he was 4, the idea of holding out seemed like a foreign concept.

"I know myself," Higgins said. "I need to be in the mix running routes and being with the guys and being around my teammates. That's just who I am as a player and as a person. I'm not saying no shade on anybody else. It's just who I am."

While Chase was holding in, Higgins worked with the offense to get ready for his fifth season. Throughout the offseason, Walters checked in with Higgins roughly every other week to see how he was doing. Amid those talks, Walters stressed the value of gaining reps before Week 1.

"You got to go through the hardening and what training camp gives you," Walters said of the conversations. "And he was on board.

"He signed. He was here Day 1, and he understood that everything is going to take care of itself if he performs on the field."

One of his biggest games was Sunday night, Oct. 13 against the Giants, when he caught all seven of his targets for 77 yards in a victory.

"Tee played a great part, starting off the game explosive," Chase said afterward. "Came out with strong hands, making a point that he's still one of the top receivers in the game."

A week later, Higgins led the team with 82 receiving yards and a touchdown that was the winning margin in a 21-14 victory against the Browns.

Higgins' dependability in key moments dates back to the run to the Super Bowl in 2021, Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said. In the 23-20 Super Bowl loss to the Los Angeles Rams, Higgins caught Cincinnati's only two touchdowns.

"I don't think we get there without Tee," Pitcher said. "He's kind of maintained that throughout. We have total trust in him. It's his approach. It's his demeanor in big moments."

SITTING AT HIS locker before a Week 8 game against the Philadelphia Eagles that he would miss with a quadriceps injury -- one of three he would miss -- Higgins reached into his backpack and pulled out a book suggested to him by Walters called "Experiencing God." Sensing Higgins was frustrated and struggling, Walters sat him down before the season in an interaction that Higgins said was "life-changing." And it has made a difference in how he walks into the building each day.

"It's still making me want to wake up every day in a good mood, ready to come to work," Higgins told ESPN in October. "It's a good feeling, bro.

"I'm not going to lie, last year I didn't feel like this every single day. I come in [now] with a great attitude."

And it's translating to success on the field. Through the first 13 weeks of last season, Higgins caught 55.6% of his targets and dropped 5.9% of them, according to ESPN Research. This season, he has a catch rate of 64.2% with a 4.5% drop rate.

Still, there are areas he knows he can improve on as he tries to help push Cincinnati back into the conversation of AFC contention.

With free agency looming, he knows what's at stake for him if he can keep his big season going.

"I ain't going to say I'm trying to have a perfect season to get a big contract in the future," Higgins said. "I'm not saying that. I'm here to help my team win. And the rest will take care of itself."