Between injuries of his own and injuries to Joe Burrow, the 2023 season didn’t go to plan for Tee Higgins. This season is the last one in his contract, so what should be expected of Higgins in fantasy?
2024 Fantasy Football Profile: Tee Higgins
2023 in Review
Higgins finished last year as the WR45 in standard leagues and WR51 in PPR leagues. His numbers were significantly inflated by three top-10 finishes in Weeks 2, 15 and 16. Outside of those three games, it was rough for Higgins owners last season. Not having Burrow there for the back end of the season certainly didn’t help.
His own injuries caused him to miss five games in 2023 which limited him to just 656 receiving yards. He caught just five touchdowns which is a career low but just two shy of his career high. However, Higgins produced 15.6 yards per catch which surpassed his previous best of 14.7 from his 2021 season.
Higgins caught just 55% of his targets from 2023, but that is primarily from poor quarterback play rather than Higgins not catching passes that he’s supposed to catch.
2024 Projection
With a healthy Burrow and this being a contract year, Higgins should post similar numbers to his seasons in 2021 and 2022. Both years saw him go over 1,000 yards, and he averaged 6.5 touchdowns per season. It would be fair to say Higgins even takes his numbers one step further and sets a new personal best with 8-9 touchdown receptions.
One thing to note that Higgins has the second-hardest schedule for wide receivers in the NFL this year. However, that same schedule also applies to Ja’Marr Chase. Strength of schedule for position groups isn’t something to spend a whole lot of time on, and it certainly shouldn’t stop you from drafting Higgins.
Tee Higgins can be a WR1 elsewhere but man in Cincinnati he’s a nightmare cover with Chase and Joe Burrow.
— Full-Time Dame 💰 (@DP_NFL) August 21, 2024
After Chase’s extension, Higgins has a chip on his shoulder and a lot to prove this season. He has to justify to the Bengals that he’s worth keeping around. Expect a strong year from Higgins to try and get that big contract in the offseason.
Tee Higgins Fantasy Football ADP
Higgins’ ADP currently sits at 58 with a range of 31-80. He has WR2 or flex value depending upon your league format, so an ADP of 58 is just about right for him. Those taking Higgins in the third round are higher on him than most.
Tee Higgins
•Burrow Healthy
•Boyd Gone
•Big TD upside
•Contact year
•Averaged 14.3 past 3 seasonspic.twitter.com/wYme9gLl30— Nick Guglielmo (@NextLvl_Fantasy) August 30, 2024
Getting Higgins in Round 5-6 is the perfect spot for him. This allows you to either go with the balanced approach of grabbing a little bit of everything before drafting Higgins, or you can invest heavily in a few positions before turning around and taking a player of his caliber.
Higgins has a big role in the Bengals downfield passing game, and that’s not going away anytime soon. Even with Chase healthy, he’s the second option in the Cincinnati offense. As long as Burrow stays healthy, there’s no reason why Higgins shouldn’t be an impactful player. That will allow Higgins to increase his catch rate even if his target share stays the same.
Main Photo Courtesy of Katie Stratman – USA Today Sports
