The time to announce franchise tags is nearly upon us, and the Bengals will apparently use theirs on Tee Higgins. It makes sense; he's too good a player to let leave for nothing, and Tyler Boyd is also a free agent. But Higgins is coming off his poorest season in pretty much every respect.
Higgins missed five games due to injury, and his efficiency was poor in the games he played in. He caught only 55 percent of the passes thrown his way, 5th-lowest among all wideouts with at least 75 targets last season. He was at 67 and 68 percent the previous two seasons, which is a pretty big difference.
Some of that can perhaps be chalked up to Joe Burrow getting hurt and Higgins working with a backup quarterback for a chunk of the season. But Cincinnati's other two main wideouts, Boyd and Ja'Marr Chase, were both up at 68-69 percent. Career-best percentage for Chase, and pretty similar for Boyd. Higgins was charged with 7 drops in his 12 games, a career-worst 9.2 percent of catchable balls.
| WIDE RECEIVER CATCH RATE, 2023 (75-PLUS TARGETS) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Ctch% |
| Rashee Rice, K.C. | 102 | 79 | 938 | 11.9 | 7 | 77.5% |
| Wan'Dale Robinson, NYG | 78 | 60 | 525 | 8.8 | 2 | 76.9% |
| Adam Thielen, Car. | 137 | 103 | 1014 | 9.8 | 4 | 75.2% |
| CeeDee Lamb, Dall. | 181 | 135 | 1749 | 13.0 | 14 | 74.6% |
| Nico Collins, Hou. | 109 | 80 | 1297 | 16.2 | 8 | 73.4% |
| Amon-Ra St. Brown, Det. | 164 | 119 | 1515 | 12.7 | 10 | 72.6% |
| DeVonta Smith, Phil. | 112 | 81 | 1066 | 13.2 | 7 | 72.3% |
| Keenan Allen, LAC | 150 | 108 | 1243 | 11.5 | 7 | 72.0% |
| Brandon Aiyuk, S.F. | 105 | 75 | 1342 | 17.9 | 7 | 71.4% |
| Zay Flowers, Balt. | 108 | 77 | 858 | 11.1 | 6 | 71.3% |
| DJ Moore, Chi. | 136 | 96 | 1364 | 14.2 | 9 | 70.6% |
| Michael Pittman, Ind. | 156 | 109 | 1152 | 10.6 | 4 | 69.9% |
| Tyreek Hill, Mia. | 171 | 119 | 1799 | 15.1 | 13 | 69.6% |
| Josh Downs, Ind. | 98 | 68 | 771 | 11.3 | 2 | 69.4% |
| Jaylen Waddle, Mia. | 104 | 72 | 1014 | 14.1 | 4 | 69.2% |
| JaMarr Chase, Cin. | 145 | 100 | 1216 | 12.2 | 7 | 69.0% |
| Tyler Boyd, Cin. | 98 | 67 | 667 | 10.0 | 2 | 68.4% |
| Curtis Samuel, Was. | 91 | 62 | 613 | 9.9 | 5 | 68.1% |
| Jayden Reed, G.B. | 94 | 64 | 793 | 12.4 | 10 | 68.1% |
| Justin Jefferson, Min. | 100 | 68 | 1074 | 15.8 | 5 | 68.0% |
| Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Sea. | 93 | 63 | 628 | 10.0 | 4 | 67.7% |
| Deebo Samuel, S.F. | 89 | 60 | 892 | 14.9 | 12 | 67.4% |
| A.J. Brown, Phil. | 158 | 106 | 1456 | 13.7 | 7 | 67.1% |
| Christian Kirk, Jac. | 85 | 57 | 787 | 13.8 | 3 | 67.1% |
| Jakobi Meyers, L.V. | 106 | 71 | 807 | 11.4 | 10 | 67.0% |
| Stefon Diggs, Buff. | 160 | 107 | 1183 | 11.1 | 8 | 66.9% |
| Brandin Cooks, Dall. | 81 | 54 | 657 | 12.2 | 8 | 66.7% |
| Puka Nacua, LAR | 160 | 105 | 1486 | 14.2 | 6 | 65.6% |
| Courtland Sutton, Den. | 90 | 59 | 772 | 13.1 | 10 | 65.6% |
| Jordan Addison, Min. | 108 | 70 | 911 | 13.0 | 10 | 64.8% |
| Tyler Lockett, Sea. | 122 | 79 | 894 | 11.3 | 5 | 64.8% |
| K.J. Osborn, Min. | 75 | 48 | 540 | 11.3 | 3 | 64.0% |
| Chris Godwin, T.B. | 130 | 83 | 1024 | 12.3 | 3 | 63.8% |
| Darius Slayton, NYG | 79 | 50 | 770 | 15.4 | 4 | 63.3% |
| Chris Olave, N.O. | 138 | 87 | 1123 | 12.9 | 5 | 63.0% |
| Demario Douglas, N.E. | 78 | 49 | 561 | 11.5 | 0 | 62.8% |
| Drake London, Atl. | 110 | 69 | 905 | 13.1 | 2 | 62.7% |
| Tank Dell, Hou. | 75 | 47 | 709 | 15.1 | 7 | 62.7% |
| Cooper Kupp, LAR | 95 | 59 | 737 | 12.5 | 5 | 62.1% |
| Jerry Jeudy, Den. | 87 | 54 | 758 | 14.0 | 2 | 62.1% |
| Romeo Doubs, G.B. | 96 | 59 | 674 | 11.4 | 8 | 61.5% |
| Rashid Shaheed, N.O. | 75 | 46 | 719 | 15.6 | 6 | 61.3% |
| Terry McLaurin, Was. | 132 | 79 | 1002 | 12.7 | 5 | 59.8% |
| George Pickens, Pitt. | 106 | 63 | 1140 | 18.1 | 5 | 59.4% |
| Jahan Dotson, Was. | 83 | 49 | 518 | 10.6 | 4 | 59.0% |
| Davante Adams, L.V. | 175 | 103 | 1144 | 11.1 | 8 | 58.9% |
| Diontae Johnson, Pitt. | 87 | 51 | 717 | 14.1 | 5 | 58.6% |
| Mike Evans, T.B. | 136 | 79 | 1255 | 15.9 | 13 | 58.1% |
| Elijah Moore, Cle. | 104 | 59 | 640 | 10.9 | 2 | 56.7% |
| Garrett Wilson, NYJ | 168 | 95 | 1042 | 11.0 | 3 | 56.5% |
| Amari Cooper, Cle. | 128 | 72 | 1250 | 17.4 | 5 | 56.3% |
| Calvin Ridley, Jac. | 136 | 76 | 1016 | 13.4 | 8 | 55.9% |
| Gabe Davis, Buff. | 81 | 45 | 746 | 16.6 | 7 | 55.6% |
| DK Metcalf, Sea. | 119 | 66 | 1114 | 16.9 | 8 | 55.5% |
| Tee Higgins, Cin. | 76 | 42 | 656 | 15.6 | 5 | 55.3% |
| DeAndre Hopkins, Ten. | 137 | 75 | 1057 | 14.1 | 7 | 54.7% |
| Robert Woods, Hou. | 75 | 40 | 426 | 10.7 | 1 | 53.3% |
| Jonathan Mingo, Car. | 85 | 43 | 418 | 9.7 | 0 | 50.6% |
| Marquise Brown, Ari. | 101 | 51 | 574 | 11.3 | 4 | 50.5% |
Higgins is a very good player -- would be a No. 1 on a lot of teams. But being tagged almost certainly means he'll be back with the Bengals in 2024. Ideally with better efficiency than he showed last year.
--Andy Richardson