Well, by this point, you know. The Cincinnati Bengals have officially used their franchise tag on wide receiver Tee Higgins. They had until March 5, though. So why use the tag right away? Please get your tinfoil hats ready.
The Bengals and Higgins technically had two weeks to attempt to come to a long-term deal before they would use the franchise tag as a possible last resort to keep Higgins in stripes for one more Super Bowl push.
That’s not what happened, though, and it says two things to me:
- They knew, long before the tag window even opened, that they weren’t going to be able to reach a long-term deal with Higgins, and trying would be a waste of time.