As much as he minced his words when it came to losing games the defense gave away, he still looked like the leader the Bengals needed. If they franchise tag Higgins with the intention of trading him, the not-so-nice side of Burrow could arise.

The most prominent example right now is ESPN’s Aaron Schatz, whose set of bold offseason projections has the Buffalo Bills blowing the Bengals “out of the water” with a Higgins trade offer:

“Obviously, we want to build something here in Cinci, but it’s not in my hands right now,” Higgins said, via Joe Danneman of FOX19 Cincinnati. “So, I’ve got to do what I need to do. If that’s go to another team, then that’s what happens.”

The franchise tag window opens on Tuesday, February 18 and lasts until Tuesday, March 4. That means the Bengals will have two weeks to make a decision on Higgins. They used the tag on the star wide receiver early in the process last season. We'll see if they go that route again this year.

Most Cincinnati Bengals trade projections that include Tee Higgins fall flat because the team just won't do it. Those Bengals value their own far too much and when in an actual standoff, well, fans re

The Cincinnati Bengals could very well decide to franchise tag star wide receiver Tee Higgins in hopes of retaining him for at least one more season. Higgins agrees to play under it in an ideal world,