BENGALS WR TEE HIGGINS SAYS HE PLANS ON PLAYING MONDAY NIGHT AGAINST COMMANDERS AFTER MISSING FIRST 2 WEEKS WITH HAMSTRING INJURY
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, who was limited in practice this week with a hamstring injury, is expected to play on Monday Night Football against the Washington Commanders. Higgins told reporters on Friday that he “feels great” and plans on playing.
The only player in the NFL to be franchise tagged this past offseason and fail to come to a long-term agreement, Higgins is playing out the tag in 2024 with a chance to earn a significant pay day based on his performance.
“I feel great,” said the 24-year-old wide receiver. “Unfortunately, with the [hamstring] injury [I] sat out the first two weeks but I’m finally ready to get my feet wet this season and ready to go.”
Higgins explained to reporters how he re-aggravated the hamstring injury in practice which kept him out the first two weeks, before the team’s season opener against New England. “Yeah, I just overshot it one time,” said Higgins. “Hamstrings, you’ve got to really stretch them. It just happened to be tight that day, tweaked it, didn’t think it was anything but it ended up being something more than I thought it was and I had to sit out those two weeks.”
“Obviously, preparing myself all offseason not to miss a game but unfortunately, it happened. Luckily, it was at the beginning of the season so, I’ve still got a whole season left.”
One of the most important pieces of the Bengals’ offence over the past four years, Higgins has been a huge hole for the Super Bowl LVI runners up, who have gone 0-2 to start the regular season without the 6-foot-4 playmaker. The former Clemson Tiger has registered over 1,000 receiving yards in three of his four seasons in the NFL and makes one half of one of the most dynamic wide receiver duos in the league alongside fourth-year wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase.
“I feel like we need a win, just put under our belt so we can feel relaxed,” said Chase. “Just get a win a home. I think that’s another good thing that’ll be good for us. And having a full offense back as one whole unit, finally, I think that would be good for us.”
Cincinnati could only muster 154 yards through the air in Week 1 without Higgins against the Patriots and possessed the ball for fewer than 26 minutes. They did however improve slightly against the defending Super Bowl champions, Kansas City last week when Burrow completed 23 of 36 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns. The Bengals had to rely mightily on second-year wide receiver Andrei Iosivas, who caught both touchdown passes, and TE Mike Gesicki, who impressed with seven receptions for 91 receiving yards. Iosivas had five catches from seven targets for 36 yards.
Higgins’ return would not only add another reliable target for Joe Burrow but also open up the field a lot more. “He’s a top player in this league,” Bengals Head Coach Zac Taylor said regarding Higgins this week. “That makes every personnel grouping better when he’s in it. Him and Ja’Marr [Chase], obviously two guys that draw a lot of attention singularly, so when we’ve got them on the field together, it’s certainly good assets to have.”
Asked if he would be able to go 100% on Monday night, Higgins replied in the affirmative, saying that he felt good for the Chiefs game last week but took another week just to be sure.
“I can go 100% for sure, for sure, yeah,” Higgins told reporters on Friday. “Yeah [I plan on playing], that’s my plan. You never want to rush a hamstring, those are really serious injuries. You know what they say, once you feel good, you want to take another week. Obviously y’all saw me working out pregame vs. the Chiefs, I felt pretty good but just to be cautious, I wanted to get to another week and be ready for this one.”
The potential return of Tee Higgins would be a huge boost for Cincinnati. But the Bengals are expected to still be missing a few key players for their first primetime game of the season on Monday night, especially on defence. Cincinnati is expected to be without S Vonn Bell (back), DT BJ Hill (hamstring), TE Tanner Hudson (knee), and DT Sheldon Rankins (hamstring) who have all missed at least one day of practice this week. Other players on the Injury Report include QB Joe Burrow (right wrist), DT Kris Jenkins (thumb), and OT Amarius Mims (pectoral).
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
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