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Bengals fans know that the Cincinnati front office wants to win lopsided deals on the trade block. The team has Higgins locked down on a second franchise tag. And while they don't want another holdout into the summer by getting an extension done by mid-July, they also aren't going to balk and lower the price.

Hence, the Bengals taking some serious heat for not getting contracts done earlier. It's still great news that an insider thinks both deals will get done, but the cost of doing so continues to go up by the day, which isn't ideal with the Trey Hendrickson situation unresolved and other needs across the roster.

Trey Hendrickson remains with the Bengals, but another record-setting contract — for Myles Garrett — has affected the edge rusher market. With T.J. Watt and Micah Parsons in contract years, the cost of deploying an elite player on the edge is rising.

While the public reason for the Bengals’ lack of interest in a deal is that they are still looking to work out a long-term agreement with Higgins, as Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk notes, the optics may be as important to the Bengals as their actual plans for Higgins.

The Bengals have placed the franchise tag on Higgins ahead of Tuesday’s 4 p.m. ET deadline, the team announced. The Bengals intend to continue to negotiate a long-term extension with the wide receiver before the NFL's July 15 deadline to sign franchise players to long-term contracts.

It’s possible that he may be a little confused by the Bengals using the franchise tag on Higgins when they’ve stated their hope of signing him to a long-term deal. A franchise tag can be a temporary placeholder before a long-term deal, but it can also just be a one-year contract.

The growing tension between the Bengals and Tee Higgins could work in the Patriots' favor to eventually make a trade for the receiver happen this offseason.

Alexa Belcastro talks about the Bengals situation with WR Tee Higgins, where they plan to use the franchise tag again. *The 1st MAJOR Domino Has Fallen In NFL Free Agency...* For MORE NFL coverage: Fa

It seemed as if things were going to be different when the Cincinnati Bengals used their franchise tag on wide receiver Tee Higgins for the second consecutive year. This time, it seemed there was a plan to ink him,