Duke Tobin Provides Latest Update on Tee Higgins At 2025 NFL Combine

 Bengals Director of Player Personnel Duke Tobin met with the media on Tuesday at the 2025 NFL Combine and provided the latest update on Tee Higgins's future with the Bengals.

Cincinnati is reportedly willing to tag the star for $26.18 million this offseason, but that hasn't happened yet. Tobin and the Bengals want to get a longterm deal done with Higgins.

"We're fortunate to be in a position to where we can fit them all in," Tobin said about Cincinnati's stars on Tuesday. "We've managed our cap well. We've got low dead money. We want a high payroll and low dead money so the people that are in Cincinnati playing for us can get all the money. That's what we want, and we're in a position to re-sign these guys, and it's a good position to be in. It really is, and we're going to attack it. And we don't want to just re-sign these guys and pay more for the same football team we had last year. We want to add to it as well."

Higgins is coming off a career-high 10 touchdowns in 2024 and was a huge part of the Bengals' five-game winning streak down the stretch of the season. Tobin did not shed light on if Cincinnati will ultimately tag Higgins.

"Obviously Tee is the one that's not signed for the future right now, and so that puts the onus on us to do something," Tobin noted before discussing Ja'Marr Chase and his contract situation. "He [Chase] is going to end up being the number one paid non-quarterback in the league. We're there. let's get it done.

"The earlier we can do some of this stuff, the freer it gives us to build the rest of the team. We have other needs that we want to build, and so we want to get these kind of things done early enough to where we can really focus on building out the rest of the football team, but they're all priorities to us but the ones that aren't signed, are the ones that are on the table first."

Cincinnati has until next Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET to tag Higgins or he will become a free agent.