Cincinnati Bengals Star Tee Higgins' Asking Price Just Went Up After DK Metcalf Agreed to New Contract With Pittsburgh Steelers

The Cincinnati Bengals and Tee Higgins have had a long, drawn-out contract saga. It goes back to last year when they franchise-tagged Higgins without any intention of trying to extend him to a long-term contract.

The Cincinnati Bengals are utilizing the franchise tag for the second consecutive season on the same player as wide receiver Tee Higgins has been hit with the tag once again. The Bengals, who announced the move Monday, do not want to allow Higgins to hit free agency, and will now turn their attention to negotiating a long-term deal.

While the public reason for the Bengals’ lack of interest in a deal is that they are still looking to work out a long-term agreement with Higgins, as Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk notes, the optics may be as important to the Bengals as their actual plans for Higgins.

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Teams around the league are trying to figure out if Tee Higgins is available after the Bengals franchise tagged him.

It’s possible that he may be a little confused by the Bengals using the franchise tag on Higgins when they’ve stated their hope of signing him to a long-term deal. A franchise tag can be a temporary placeholder before a long-term deal, but it can also just be a one-year contract.

Multiple teams inquired about the availability of franchise-tagged Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, but Cincinnati's appetite for parting with the No. 2 receiver remains unclear, according to reports.

The Bengals opted to use their franchise tag for the second straight season offseason on one of their top receivers

Once this becomes the official path Cincinnati heads down, the choice to not give Hendrickson the deal he wants (and deserves) leads to a simple fact. Tee Higgins must get his new