While the Cincinnati Bengals were making a key re-signing and NFL free agency's legal tampering window went wild, the contract sagas for Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins received an update. Said update came from NFL Network's Ian Rapoport,

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.

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.

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

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

The Cincinnati Bengals are in the midst of a tricky free agency period. Between Tee Higgins and Trey Hendrickson, they have their hands full already, but a potential record-breaking extension for Ja’Marr Chase is looming in the background.

The Cincinnati Bengals are in an important offseason. They already placed the franchise tag on Tee Higgins, hoping to keep him around and make Joe Burrow happy. That means they have to negotiate a new deal with Trey Hendrickson before he hits free agency next spring.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins (5) and wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase (1) dance after Chase scored a touchdown in the 4th quarter to beat the Dallas Cowboys in Monday Night Football at AT&T Stadium in Arlington,

NFL insider Ian Rapoport gave a positive update on the Bengals’ contract talks with Chase and Higgins, saying he bel