The Bengals have their hands full, trying to get receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins and edge rusher Trey Hendrickson signed to long-term extensions. They used the franchise tag on Higgins on Monday, giving them more time to either trade him or sign him to a long-term agreement.
That means some of their other players will hit the free agent market next week.
Cornerback Mike Hilton appears to be one of those.
Hilton tweeted, “New opportunities always present themselves,” with a prayerful hands emoji.
Hilton, 30, is 46th on PFT’s top-100 list.
He joined the Bengals in 2021 as an unrestricted free agent, signing a four-year, $24 million deal after four years in Pittsburgh.
In 64 games with the Bengals, including 36 starts, Hilton totaled 283 tackles, two sacks, 36 tackles for loss, one fumble recovery and six interceptions.
Last week, Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said the team hopes to sign receiver Tee Higgins to a long-term deal. Later that day, Higgins tweeted the “cap” emoji, which means he was saying someone was lying, about something.
Now that the Bengals have officially placed the franchise tag — again — on Higgins, they’ve added in their official announcement that they make the move “with the intent of continuing to work toward a long-term deal in Cincinnati.”
We’ll be watching for another cap emoji from Higgins.
If the Bengals truly intend to sign Higgins to a long-term deal, they have until July 15 to do it. After that, Higgins will remain eligible for a one-year, $26.16 million contract for 2025.
Higgins could also be traded to a new team. If he isn’t traded and doesn’t sign a long-term deal, a third tag in 2026 would require the Bengals to offer the average of the five highest quarterback cap numbers for 2025. Which means he will not be tagged a third time.
The fact that Higgins has a clear path to free agency after one more year makes it harder to parlay the 2025 tag into a long-term deal. He’ll be trading in the ability to make $26.16 million and become a free agent for whatever the Bengals offer on a multi-year contract. What will it take to get him to do that?
Yes, he’d be carrying the injury risk beyond 2025 if he takes the tag and waits to become a free agent next March. Regardless, he has a pretty big bird in the hand. The Bengals will need to offer something big enough to get him to let it fly away.
Word last month was that the Bengals would use the franchise tag on wide receiver Tee Higgins if they weren’t able to sign him to a long-term deal ahead of Tuesday’s tag deadline and that’s proven to be correct.
Higgins confirmed on Monday that the Bengals have used the tag on him for the second straight season. The tag carries a salary of $26.16 million because of the 20 percent raise mandated for a second tag.
Chiefs guard Trey Smith is the only other player to receive a franchise tag at this point.
The Bengals have said that they want to sign Higgins to a longer deal, but Higgins doesn’t appear to believe that the team is working as hard as it could to make that happen. They also have wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and defensive end Trey Hendrickson up for contract extensions this offseason and keeping everyone may prove to be too much for the Bengals to pull off.
Higgins had 73 catches for 911 yards and 10 touchdowns during the 2024 season.
The Bengals announced head coach Zac Taylor’s staff for the 2025 season on Monday.
It includes senior defensive assistant Sean Desai, whose hiring was reported last week, and the Bengals also announced that they have hired defensive assistant Mike Moon.
They will work under new defensive coordinator Al Golden and with secondary/cornerbacks coach Charles Burks, linebackers coach Mike Hodges, secondary/safeties coach Jordan Kovacs, defensive line coach/run game coordinator Jerry Montgomery, and defensive assistant Ronnie Regula.
Offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher heads up the other side of the ball. The offensive staff also includes tight ends coach James Casey, running backs coach Justin Hill, assistant quarterbacks coach Fredi Knighten, quarterbacks coach Brad Kragthorpe, assistant offensive line coach Michael McCarthy, offensive line coach Scott Peters, pass game coordinator Justin Rascati, assistant wide receivers coach Jordan Salkin, and wide receivers coach Troy Walters.
Darrin Simmons returns as special teams coordinator and assistant head coach. Ben Jacobs will be the assistant special teams coach while Joey Boese is the director of player performance and head strength and conditioning coach. Diamond Simmons and Garrett Swanson are the team’s assistant strength and conditioning coaches while Doug Rosfeld will be the chief of staff.
Veteran guard Alex Cappa is hitting the open market ahead of the start of the new league year.
The Bengals announced that they have released Cappa on Monday. The move creates $8 million in cap space for the Bengals.
Cappa signed a four-year deal with the team in 2022 and started all 50 games he played for the team. He injured his ankle late in his first season with the team and did not appear in the team’s only postseason trip during his tenure.
The Bengals used Cappa as their right guard and left guard Cody Ford is set for free agency, so the Bengals may have a new pair of starters at those spots in 2025.
