The Cincinnati Bengals have a tough decision to make this offseason when it comes to wide receiver Tee Higgins, who is set to be a free agent in 2025 after playing the 2024 campaign on the franchise tag.

Higgins is no doubt a fantastic player and in a perfect world, the two sides would like to stay together. However, the Bengals have to pay Ja’Marr Chase and having two receivers taking up a large percentage of the salary cap isn’t an ideal approach, especially when the Bengals badly need to upgrade their defense.

If the two sides can’t come to an agreement and Higgins goes elsewhere, the Bengals will have a big hole in their offense that will have to be filled. Cincinnati might have been in OK shape had Jermaine Burton not been a total disaster in his rookie campaign, but he simply can’t be relied upon, which leaves Andrei Iosivas as the only legit option behind Chase.

The cheapest avenue the Bengals can take to replace Higgins comes via the 2025 NFL Draft, where there are some impressive prospects. One of them is Missouri receiver Luther Burden III, who the Sporting News’ Vinnie Iyer predicts will be Cincinnati’s pick in the first round.

“The Bengals may want to try to keep Tee Higgins along with extending Ja’Marr Chase with a lucrative contract, but Higgins might end up being too expensive,” he wrote. “Burden can be a strong cheap contingency to play well off Chase as an immediate impact No. 2.”

Burden finished his collegiate career with 2,263 receiving yards, 234 rushing yards and 25 total touchdowns. His best season came in 2023, when he tallied 86 catches for 1,212 yards and nine touchdowns. Burden had a shade more than half that production in 2024, but that was more a result of the issues around him.

While Burden is viewed more as a slot receiver, he does have the ability to play on the boundary, which will offer the Bengals flexibility in deploying both he and Iosivas, who is going to have a bigger role in 2025.

Burden is a vertical threat and sports the capability to make big plays after the catch, which would make Joe Burrow’s life much easier. The Missouri product would be a fantastic complement to Chase.

We would expect the Bengals to bring in a veteran wide receiver in free agency, but having a long-term trio of Chase, Iosivas and Burden would leave Cincinnati strong at the wide receiver position for years to come.