Sports
Cincinnati Bengals Betting Big: Can They Keep Tee Higgins?
The Cincinnati Bengals know what they have in Tee Higgins. The hard part will be keeping him.
Since coming into the NFL in 2020 as Cincinnati’s second-round pick behind No. 1 selection Joe Burrow, the explosive wide receiver has made a home with the Bengals as one of the most reliable weapons in a vaunted offense.
Higgins is coming off a season in which he caught 73 passes for 911 yards and a career-best 10 touchdowns. His best seasons came in 2021 and 2022 when he caught 74 passes each season, went over 1,000 yards receiving each year and totaled 13 touchdowns in the two years.
The Bengals advanced to Super Bowl LVI in 2021 and returned to the AFC Championship the next season, only to lose on a last-second field goal to the Chiefs.
The Bengals know full well that their offense reaches new heights when Higgins joins Burrow and star receiver Ja’Marr Chase on the field together. Higgins makes the Bengals more dynamic, and Burrow and Chase make Higgins—one of the best downfield receivers in the game—more dangerous.
It’s a marriage that benefits both sides.
There’s a blueprint already in place for the Bengals to follow in terms of structuring their offense around a star quarterback and multiple weapons on massive contracts.
The Miami Dolphins pulled it off when they signed Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle around Tua Tagovailoa. More recently—and more notably—the Philadelphia Eagles won a Super Bowl with star receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith and running back Saquon Barkley supporting quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Tee Higgins can get his money anywhere if the Bengals allow him to hit free agency. But that’s almost certainly not going to happen this season. The Bengals are expected to hit Higgins with a franchise tag while simultaneously working out a long-term, multi-year deal with the sixth-year receiver out of Clemson.
The tag this year would be much different than the one placed on him last offseason. That tag was with the intention of having him play on a $21.8 million franchise tender for one season.
This one is to ensure the Bengals get compensation through a trade if a deal can’t be reached. All signs from the Bengals’ front office so far indicate that a framework is in place to get a deal done.
“We want a long-term deal with Tee,” Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said Tuesday. “We’re going through the negotiation process, the details of which I’m not going to share.”
Tobin may not want to share the numbers that have been thrown out there, but they are $28 million to $30 million per season over three or four years, with guaranteed money anywhere between $75 million and $90 million.
The Bengals are trying to get a deal done with Chase that will likely reach $40 million per season with a guarantee north of $100 million, shattering the $35 million annual average of Minnesota star receiver Justin Jefferson last spring. With the NFL cap approaching $280 million, the Bengals believe they have the ability to do both comfortably.
Ever since Burrow came out publicly after a December win in Dallas and said he has every reason to think the team can keep Higgins, there’s been hope the two sides can come together. That hope was strengthened when Higgins fired his agent, David Mulugheta of Athletes First, and went with Rocky Arcenaux, the New Orleans-based agent who also represents Chase.
Burrow wants badly to win now and get back to the Super Bowl that he narrowly missed winning in 2021.
“Urgency is as high as it could get,” Tobin said. “That’s every offseason, though. You know, when you’re a bad football team trying to get to the competitive level, there’s high urgency. When you’re what I consider a high-level football team—and that’s what I consider us—you guys can scoff at it, but I consider us a very high-level football team.
“We’re trying to maximize our guys, and when you have Joe Burrow, you’re trying to fit it around him and give him the best chance to have a Hall of Fame career, and he’s certainly capable of that.”
The Bengals insist this offseason isn’t the first time they’ve made a genuine effort to sign the receiver who would almost immediately become the best free agent on the market. But Tobin says this might be the best progress the team has made.
“We’ve tried to make a lot of runs at Tee. Maybe this is the year,” Tobin said. “He would be valued by other teams, and they sense he’s close to free agency, and those guys don’t get to free agency. Maybe that bids him up, I don’t know. We’re trying to reward him for what he’s done and what we think he will do going forward for us.”
Sports
Orlando looking for back-to-back wins in visit to Montreal
Mar 14, 2026; Orlando, Florida, USA; CF Montreal midfielder Hennadiy Synchuk (18) takes a shot on goal in front of Orlando City defender Adrian Marin (3) during the first half at Inter&Co Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images CF Montreal will look to build off a commanding mid-week win in the Canadian Championship when they host Orlando City on Saturday afternoon.
Montreal dominated the Calgary Blizzard SC on Wednesday night, picking up a 5-0 win to advance to the quarterfinals.
“For all the players who have been playing a few minutes, it’s good that we had a lot of minutes today, so I’m really happy that we were able to win tonight,” said forward Daniel Rios.
“We’re working on getting our rhythm and the fine details of getting better each game.”
Montreal (3-7-0, 9 points) returns to MLS play looking to rebound from a 3-1 loss at Atlanta last weekend though they have won two of three overall (2-1-0).
German forward Prince Owusu paces Montreal with 10 goal contributions (six goals, four assists) in 10 MLS starts this season.
Saturday is the second and final MLS regular-season meeting between Montreal and Orlando. The Lions picked up a 2-1 home win on March 14 with midfielder Martin Ojeda scoring the decisive goal in the 31st minute.
Orlando (3-7-1, 10 points) travels north of the border looking for back-to-back wins after edging host Inter Miami 4-3 last Saturday. The Lions rallied from a three-goal deficit.
“We have analyzed them like they analyzed us,” said Orlando interim head coach Martin Perelman of Saturday’s match against Montreal. “We are going to prepare the game like we always do, knowing they are at home. We want to go there with a lot of energy, fighting like always for the points, because at the end of the day, it’s what we want.”
Orlando is 4-5-3 in Montreal, having not won since Decision Day in 2021.
Ojeda, who recorded a hat trick in the win over Miami, leads the Lions with seven goals through 11 starts this season. Ojeda has now recorded hat tricks in consecutive seasons.
The Argentine became just the third player in club history to reach the 40-goal mark across all competitions, joining Cyle Larin and Facundo Torres as the only Lions to achieve the feat.
–Field Level Media
Sports
UFC 328: Khamzat Chimaev heavy favorite vs. Sean Strickland
Aug 16, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, UNITED STATES; Dricus Du Plessis Murphy (red gloves) fights Khamzat Chimaev (blue gloves) during UFC 319 at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images UFC 328 will be headlined by Khamzat Chimaev making his first defense as the middleweight champion against former champion Sean Strickland at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. on Saturday night.
Chimaev will enter as the heavy favorite, with his odds shifting from -525 to -550 at BetMGM by Friday. However, the money was largely split, with Chimaev backed by 51%, while Strickland had drawn 89% of the total bets at +400.
The UFC allowed both men to do the traditional ceremonial faceoff Thursday evening before security pulled both off the stage after Chimaev (15-0 MMA) kicked Strickland (30-7 MMA) in the leg, marking a dark climax to a chaotic week of separation before the fight.
UFC CEO Dana White said the rivalry has bad blood, which has made it a top-three rivalry in the promotion’s history.
Hostility aside, Chimaev enters the fight with four submission wins in nine UFC matches. Strickland earned the title shot off a third-round TKO defeat of Anthony Hernandez at UFC Houston in February.
The fight is set as a five-rounder, marking Chimaev’s first title defense while Strickland attempts to regain the title after relinquishing it to Dricus du Plessis in January of 2024 at UFC 297.
The co-main event sees a re-booked flyweight title fight between Joshua Van and Tatsuro Taira. The pair were supposed to meet at UFC 327 last month in Miami, Fla., but Van sustained an undisclosed minor injury that shifted the fight to this event.
Van (16-2 MMA) became the new UFC flyweight champion in December at UFC 323, as an arm injury to then-champion Alexandre Pantoja ended the fight after just 26 seconds. He is the first fighter born this century to become a UFC champion, while Taira (18-1 MMA) aims to be the first UFC champion from Japan with a win over Van, who is from Myanmar.
Taira opened as the -175 favorite but has seen those odds shift a bit to -160. He has been backed by 52% of the fight money, while Van has drawn 61% of the bets at +135.
The main card gets underway on Paramount+ at 9 p.m. ET.
OTHER MAIN CARD FIGHTS
–Alexander Volkov (39-11) vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta (17-2), heavyweight
Volkov opened as the -190 favorite but has been lightly backed with 33% of the total bets and 44% of the money. Meanwhile, Cortes-Acosta has seen his odds shift from +155 to +125, setting this up as one of the most tightly-contested fights on the card.
–Sean Brady (18-2) vs. Joaquin Buckley (21-7), welterweight
This is a battle of highly-ranked contenders who are both coming off losses — Brady to Michael Morales and Buckley to 38-year-old Kamaru Usman.
Buckley has been a very popular underdog, garnering 73% of the total bets and 70% of the money while shifting from +155 to +140. Brady is now -170 after opening as the -185 favorite.
–King Green (34-17-1) vs. Jeremy Stephens (29-22), lightweight
Stephens failed to make weight, coming in at 160 points. It’s the second miss at 145 pounds for Stephens, who hasn’t won a UFC fight in eight years. He returned from a 1-2 stint in the PFL to lose to Mason Jones last year, and will now be fighting for a 30% reduction in pay Saturday night.
Both fighters are 39, but Green is coming off wins over Lance Gibson Jr. and an upset of Daniel Zellhuber.
Green is one of the heaviest favorites on the card, sitting at -400 on Friday while backed by 62% of the money. Stephens’ +310 underdog odds has drawn 72% of the total bets.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ben Crane leads Insperity Invitational seeking first Champions win
Ben Crane chips to the ninth green during the first round of the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational at The Old Course at Broken Sound Club on Friday, March 6, 2026, in Boca Raton, FL. Ben Crane rolled in eight birdies on his way to setting the pace on the first day of the Insperity Invitational on Friday at The Woodlands (Texas) Country Club.
Crane’s 7-under-par 65 was enough for a one-shot edge over Shane Bertsch, Boo Weekley, Australia’s Richard Green and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee.
Another stroke back at 67 were Steven Alker of New Zealand, Ernie Els of South Africa, Rory Sabbatini of Slovakia and South Koreans Charlie Wi and Y.E. Yang.
Crane, a five-time winner on the PGA Tour, turned 50 in March and is hunting for his first win on the PGA Tour Champions. He finished runner-up at the Senior PGA Championship last month.
Crane birdied six of his first 10 holes Friday before cooling off. After his lone bogey at the par-3 14th, where he missed the green off the tee, Crane birdied the next two holes, including a lengthy putt at the par-3 16th.
Bertsch, 56, prevailed once on the PGA Tour Champions back in 2020 and is vying for a return to the winner’s circle. He only got into this week’s field as the second alternate.
“I’ve been in this position this year, unfortunately, just because of, you know, I’m not the greatest player last year, so I’ve been hanging around as first alternate a couple weeks,” Bertsch said. “… You could have a chance to get in and be out all of a sudden if you’re not around (at the course). So it’s kind of nerve-wracking. But it was nice to get in.”
Bertsch played the back nine first and made four birdies with one bogey, then reached the green in two at the par-5 first hole and eagled for a nice bump up the leaderboard. He added one last birdie at the par-5 sixth.
Stewart Cink, the defending champion and winner of the season’s first two majors, opened with a 4-under 68.
–Field Level Media
Orlando looking for back-to-back wins in visit to Montreal
UFC 328: Khamzat Chimaev heavy favorite vs. Sean Strickland
