The Pittsburgh Steelers must prepare to pony up if they aim to shop at the top of the wide receiver market this offseason.
Cincinnati Bengals star Tee Higgins is unanimously viewed as the top impending free agent at the position, and signing him certainly won't come cheap, per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.
“The over/under on Bengals receiver Tee Higgins' market is $30 million per season, and the majority of team personnel that I spoke with believe he’ll hit or clear the over," Fowler wrote. "The lowest estimate I heard was somewhere slightly above DeVonta Smith’s three-year, $75 million deal. The rest saw him breaking into the $30 million range, based on his status as a No. 1-caliber receiver and the number of teams desperate for pass-catching help."
Should Higgins reach $30 million per year on his new deal, he'd become one of just six receivers in the league to clear that figure. That group doesn't currently include Ja'Marr Chase, his partner in crime with the Bengals, who won the triple crown this past season and is entering the final year of his rookie contract.
Higgins was quite productive himself, racking up 73 catches for 911 yards and 10 touchdowns over just 12 games, which was a consequence of a hamstring injury that kept him out for Weeks 1 and 2 before a quad ailment sidelined him between Weeks 8 and 10.
A 2020 second-round pick out of Clemson, the 26-year-old has recorded 330 receptions, 4,595 yards and 34 scores across 70 career contests.
He played on the franchise tag in 2024, and though the Bengals could place it on him again for right around $26 million, it's hard to imagine Higgins would be receptive to that outcome.
It seems likely that he'll hit the open market at this stage, where he'll have no shortage of suitors. The New England Patriots, Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos are among the teams who have been linked to Higgins thus far, but the Steelers are another logical landing spot.
Projected to have just above $40 million in cap space, which will almost certainly rise, Pittsburgh possesses the funds necessary to make a legitimate run at him. Perhaps it prefers to find its primary solution at the position through other means or doesn't want to use a large chunk of its allotment on one player, but it's an intriguing possibility regardless.
