Commanders Urged to ‘Move Mountains’ for Potential $100 Million WR

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Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins.

No team in the NFL has surprised with their performance in 2024 more than the Washington Commanders, who are 10-6 and on the verge of their first playoff appearance since 2020, which they can clinch with a win over the Atlanta Falcons in Week 17.

No matter what happens to close out the season, no team in the NFL will have the kind of leverage the Commanders will have in the offseason, either, with approximately $101.3 million in salary cap space in 2025, according to Spotrac.

That’s the type of money that will let the Commanders take some big swings in free agency, and the biggest of those should be to land Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, a player the franchise should move mountains to bring in.

Higgins, who is just 25 years old, is closing the season playing some of the best football of his career, including 11 receptions for 131 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 30-24 overtime win over the Denver Broncos in Week 17 that kept his team’s slim playoff hopes alive.

Higgins’ final touchdown was the game winner in overtime. In just 11 games this season, Higgins has 69 receptions for 858 yards and 10 touchdowns.

“When Cincinnati needed a hero, it was wide receiver Tee Higgins who stepped up and answered the call,” Sports Illustrated’s Tyler Lauletta wrote on December 28 after the win over the Broncos.

Bengals Didn’t Want to Pay Higgins Following 2023

The sad thing for the Bengals and their fans moving forward is if they had just paid Higgins the money he was reportedly asking for after last season, it might have ended up as a pretty good bargain.

According to The Cincinnati Enquirer, Higgins was asking for a 3-year, $70 million contract extension similar to the 3-year, $71.5 million contract extension signed by Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman in February 2024.

Instead, the Bengals put the franchise tag on Higgins, who is making $21.86 million in 2024 after playing out the 4-year, $8.68 million rookie contract he signed after the Bengals drafted him in the second round (No. 33 overall) out of Clemson in the 2020 NFL draft.

While Spotrac projects Higgins’ market value at a 5-year, $91.5 million contract that would pay him $18.3 million per season, that seems low after how well he’s played and when you consider it would be a pretty significant shave off what he’s making this year.

A more reasonable offer for Higgins would be to put him among the Top 10 to Top 15 highest paid wide receivers in the NFL — essentially making sure his salary is between $25 million to $30 million per season. One starting point could be a 4-year, $100 million contract offer or something similar to the 3-year, $75 million contract signed by Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith before the 2024 season.

Commanders Have Won Without Deep WR Room

The Commanders are likely to be high on the list of teams Higgins looks at following the season thanks to the presence of quarterback Jayden Daniels, who has not just been one of the NFL’s best rookie quarterbacks in 2024 but one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, period.

That Daniels has done so with a group of wide receivers and tight ends lacking stars outside of Terry McLaurin should only draw the attention of players like Higgins even more.