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Trey Hendrickson remains with the Bengals, but another record-setting contract — for Myles Garrett — has affected the edge rusher market. With T.J. Watt and Micah Parsons in contract years, the cost of deploying an elite player on the edge is rising.

Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network updated Higgins' status. It's fair to say the Bengals have no plans of trading him this offseason. "The asking price for Tee Higgins is quote 'crazy'

Bengals fans know that the Cincinnati front office wants to win lopsided deals on the trade block. The team has Higgins locked down on a second franchise tag. And while they don't want another holdout into the summer by getting an extension done by mid-July, they also aren't going to balk and lower the price.

Alexa Belcastro talks about the Bengals situation with WR Tee Higgins, where they plan to use the franchise tag again. *The 1st MAJOR Domino Has Fallen In NFL Free Agency...* For MORE NFL coverage: Fa

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.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport: "Ja'Marr Chase is in an unbelievable place. It's gonna sting for the Bengals, but I really think they get it done."

It seemed as if things were going to be different when the Cincinnati Bengals used their franchise tag on wide receiver Tee Higgins for the second consecutive year. This time, it seemed there was a plan to ink him,