Tee
Higgins.
Tee
Higgins.
Clemson· 6'4"· 216 lb
"A 6-4 Clemson touchdown machine who tied the school career record for receiving scores by winning every jump ball, with every question focused on whether he could separate at all."Pre-draft read
Long, high-pointing outside receiver who won above the rim. At 6-4 with enormous hands and a basketball background, he tracked the deep ball beautifully, adjusted his body in the air and came down with throws that were only catchable because of his catch radius.
He was a back-shoulder and fade specialist at Clemson, averaging 18.1 yards per catch across three seasons because so much of his volume came on downfield throws. He built to speed rather than exploding off the line and rarely won with quickness underneath. The route tree was narrow and the release package against press was unpolished. The signature was the contested catch: put the ball high and outside and he came down with it.
Vertical passing offense with a quarterback willing to throw into coverage, using him as the X on the boundary with clear isolation looks.
Year 1: starting outside receiver with a vertical and red-zone package. Ceiling: a 1,100-yard WR1 who leads a team in touchdowns.
Timing-based West Coast offense built on separation underneath, where his release limitations against press stall the progression.
Cincinnati's isolation-heavy passing game asked him to do exactly what he does best from day one.
Clemson WR Tee Higgins 2019 Highlights
The first-team All-ACC junior season that set the draft grade.
Tee Higgins Highlights 2018-19 Clemson WR
Two playoff runs of contested catches and back-shoulder wins.
Tee Higgins: 2020 NFL Draft Profile
Pre-draft breakdown of the catch radius and the separation questions.
Higgins left Clemson as one of the most decorated receivers in a program that produced DeAndre Hopkins, Sammy Watkins and Mike Williams. He caught 135 passes for 2,448 yards and 27 touchdowns in 43 games with 30 starts, tying the school record for career receiving touchdowns and becoming the only Clemson player with double-digit touchdown catches in consecutive seasons.
The production curve was clean. Seventeen catches for 345 yards as a freshman on a loaded roster, then 59 for 936 and 12 touchdowns on the 2018 national championship team, then 59 for a team-high 1,167 yards and 13 scores as a first-team All-ACC junior. He averaged nearly 20 yards a reception in his final season, a number driven entirely by the vertical and jump-ball portion of the offense.
The question was whether that profile scaled. He did not run at the combine and the consensus was that he was a long strider rather than a burner, with limited separation quickness and a route tree that would need real expansion. The upside case was obvious: a 6-4 target with elite ball skills and a proven touchdown nose, exactly the complement a team with a possession receiver needed. Cincinnati, having just drafted Joe Burrow first overall, took his college opponent 33rd overall to open the second round.
- 01
Catch radius
At 6-4 with long arms and huge hands, he turns marginal throws into completions well outside the frame.
- 02
Contested catch skill
Wins above the rim consistently, high-pointing the ball against tight coverage on fades and back shoulders.
- 03
Ball tracking
Locates and adjusts to the deep ball in flight, the reason he averaged 18.1 yards per catch at Clemson.
- 04
Touchdown production
Tied the Clemson career record with 27 receiving scores and had double-digit touchdowns in back-to-back seasons.
- 05
Big-game resume
Produced in two College Football Playoff runs against the best defensive backs in the country.
- 01
Separation quickness
Builds to speed rather than exploding, so he rarely uncovers cleanly against tight man coverage underneath.
- 02
Release package
Unrefined hands and footwork against press, which lets physical corners disrupt the timing of his routes.
- 03
Route tree
A narrow menu of vertical concepts at Clemson, with limited evidence of intermediate option and dig work.
- 04
Run blocking
Inconsistent effort and technique in the run game for a receiver who will be asked to play on the boundary.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— No athletic data recorded
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Clemson | 13 | 17 | 345 | 2 |
| 2018 | Clemson | 15 | 59 | 936 | 12 |
| 2019 | Clemson | 15 | 59 | 1167 | 13 |
| Career | — | 43 | 135 | 2448 | 27 |
Clemson athletics lists 135 receptions for 2,448 yards and 27 touchdowns across 43 games with 30 starts from 2017 to 2019, and the three season lines sum exactly to those totals. Game counts include the ACC Championship and College Football Playoff games in 2018 and 2019. NCAA.com credits him with catches in only seven games as a freshman while Clemson credits him with 13 appearances, and the appearance figure is used here.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A high-volume second-round receiver who becomes his quarterback's most trusted target and earns a top-of-market deal.
The ceiling: a large-frame boundary receiver who turns contested catches into a decade of 1,000-yard seasons.
The downside: a big-bodied vertical winner whose lack of separation limits him once the quarterback play declines.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
This became one of the best value picks of the entire class. Higgins caught 67 passes for 908 yards as a rookie, then broke out in 2021 with 74 catches for 1,091 yards on the Bengals team that reached Super Bowl LVI, adding another 74 for 1,029 in 2022. Cincinnati then drafted Ja'Marr Chase, and rather than being squeezed out he became the most productive second option in football: 73 catches for 911 yards and 10 touchdowns in only 12 games in 2024, then 59 for 846 and a career-high 11 scores in 15 games in 2025. Through Week 2 of 2026 he has 87 career games, 397 receptions, 5,595 yards and 45 touchdowns.
The contract history tells the rest. Cincinnati franchise-tagged him in 2024 and again in 2025 rather than let him reach the market, then signed him to a four-year deal worth up to $115 million in March 2025 with the first two years effectively locked in. A second-round receiver who becomes a $28 million-a-year player while playing opposite a triple-crown winner has beaten his draft slot by an enormous margin. The evaluation was mostly right and priced wrong. The separation concerns were real and he has never been a quickness winner. What the file underrated was how much a 6-4 frame with those ball skills is worth when the quarterback trusts him, and how many of his targets would be contested throws he simply wins. Thirty-two teams passed on him at least once.
Data note: Imported from Wikipedia 2020 NFL draft player selections table.