Bengals to get much-needed boost for Chargers game with return of star WR

The Cincinnati Bengals revealed some encouraging news on Friday regarding the status of wide receiver Tee Higgins.

Per Ben Baby of ESPN, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor announced after Friday's practice that wide receiver Tee Higgins is expected to return Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Higgins suffered a quad injury in practice on Oct. 25, two days prior to the Bengals' loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. 

After missing three weeks due to the injury, Higgins spoke about his return to the field.

"I'm very excited [to] get back out there with the guys," Higgins told ESPN in his first interview since the setback. "Just sitting there watching, I hate it, you know what I'm saying? Not being able to contribute to help get a win, it sucks. So I'm very excited to go out there and fight."

For the Bengals, they get their No. 2 receiver back on the field. With Ja'Marr Chase and Higgins both on the field, Cincinnati can match up with anyone from an offensive standpoint. Quarterback Joe Burrow has been nothing short of phenomenal this season with 2,672 yards passing and 24 TDs. If the receiving core can stay healthy, the Bengals offense could continue to pose problems for opposing defenses.

Despite an inconsistent 2024 season from an injury standpoint, Higgins has impressed in limited starts. While Higgins has only appeared in five of the Bengals' 10 games, the fifth-year player has 29 receptions for 341 yards and three TDs. 

Only Chase (981) and Mike Gesicki (383) have more receiving yards than Higgins. With his three receiving TDs, Higgins is third on the team behind Chase (10 TDs) and Andrei Iosivas (four TDs). Higgins' overall importance to this team cannot be understated, which makes his expected return a welcome sight for Cincinnati.

In his career as a Bengal, Higgins has 286 receptions for 4,025 yards and 27 TDs. Considering the defensive struggles the Bengals have experienced, having Higgins back in the lineup would give Burrow some more options down the field. Per TeamRankings, the Bengals rank 26th in the league in opponent points per game, allowing 26.2.

Unfortunately for Higgins, the Bengals lost two of the three games without their playmaker, putting themselves in a precarious position of making the postseason with a 4-6 record.

As the Bengals prepare to take on the Chargers, who lead the league in opponent points per game (13.1), they will at least have a key receiver back on the field for the prime-time matchup.