Joe Burrow says he's willing to do whatever he can to help the Cincinnati Bengals keep receiver Tee Higgins, who is set to be a free agent in the offseason.
Whether that means the star quarterback would consider restructuring his deal, Burrow wasn't saying after the Bengals beat the Dallas Cowboys 27-20 on Monday night.
"We'll see," Burrow said when asked why he was confident the club would bring Higgins back.
Higgins is playing this season, his fifth, on the $21.8 million franchise tag. The price would go up on a another season with the tag, but many players have been unwilling to sign the second time.
The 25-year-old Higgins is clearly the No. 2 receiver behind 2021 AP Offensive Rookie of the Year Ja'Marr Chase, the NFL leader this season in yards receiving (1,319) and touchdowns (15).
But Higgins has been steady since the Bengals drafted the former Clemson standout with the first pick of the second round in 2020, the year before Chase went No. 5 overall in the first round.
Higgins, who has been hampered by hamstring and quadriceps injuries this season, is one of three NFL receivers with at least five touchdowns in each of the past five seasons.
"I'm confident we are going to be able to do what it takes to bring Tee back," Burrow said. "I know that I am going to do what it takes to get him back. So he can have those talks; those are going to be offseason discussions. I think we are excited about that opportunity."
The Bengals picked up the fifth-year option on Chase's rookie contract this past offseason, keeping him under contract through 2025.
Star Dallas receiver CeeDee Lamb missed the entire 2024 offseason in a contract holdout going into the fifth year of his rookie deal. Chase could make a similar decision after this season. Lamb's holdout ended with a $136 million, four-year deal late in the preseason.
Burrow signed a $275 million, five-year extension in 2023, and the Bengals could restructure that contract to create salary cap room for other signings, including those of Higgins and Chase.
The quarterback was asked after beating the Cowboys if he could imagine not playing with Chase, his teammate when LSU won the 2019 national championship.
"I don't want to have that," Burrow said. "We feed off each other. We make each other better. We are both really smart players. It is tough to take that away when you have a really smart receiver that you can move around and do a lot of things with. Hopefully we can play together as long as we are in this league together."