The Cincinnati Bengals prepare for their critical Week 15 home matchup against the Baltimore Ravens following their heartbreaking loss to the Buffalo Bills. Tee Higgins is back in the concussion protocol after reporting symptoms following last week’s game. Will fantasy football managers have their star receiver available for this week?
Tee Higgins Injury Update
Higgins left the Bengals’ Week 12 game against the New England Patriots after taking a hard fall to the turf. The veteran receiver suffered a concussion late in the fourth quarter of Cincinnati’s 26-20 loss at Paycor Stadium.​
The Bengals quickly ruled Higgins out for the remainder of the game. Head coach Zac Taylor confirmed after the contest that Higgins had entered the concussion protocol. Taylor ruled Higgins out on Monday for the subsequent Thursday night matchup against the Baltimore Ravens due to the short turnaround time.​
Higgins cleared the concussion protocol on Friday ahead of Week 14. He was a limited participant Wednesday before having a full slate of practice reps Thursday. Higgins said Friday he felt great and was eager to suit up again.​
Higgins may have returned from his concussion last week, but it did not go smoothly. He left the game twice during the Bills matchup to get evaluated for another concussion. In both instances, Higgins popped up after a play pointing to his head as if to signal something was wrong.​
Despite this, and the fact that he had just cleared the concussion protocol two days prior, he was cleared to return to the game both times. ESPN’s Adam Schefter noted that anybody who watched the game Sunday could see the multiple times in which Higgins hit his head.​
After the game, Higgins reported symptoms and was placed back in the protocol. The NFL and NFLPA issued a joint statement: “Tee Higgins was evaluated twice in game and cleared to return. After the game, in discussion with club medical personnel as part of a postgame evaluation, he notified the team he was experiencing symptoms and was immediately placed in the concussion protocol”.​
This is Higgins’ second protocol entry in three weeks and third of his career. Amazingly, Higgins was able to get in a limited practice on Wednesday.
Players returning from concussions almost never play if they aren’t limited to start the week. Higgins needs to progress to full participation by Friday before gaining final clearance from an independent neurologist. That progression is almost impossible to happen without that limited session to open the week.​
It sounds as if Higgins somehow has a chance to play on Sunday. Head coach Zac Taylor refrained from offering an update on Higgins’ condition for Sunday, stating only that the team would assess him throughout the week. Taylor said Monday they’ll place him back in the protocol and go through that process this week.​
Higgins’ Fantasy Football Outlook
The conditions in Buffalo. The secondary. Gravity.
None of those things were going to stop Tee Higgins from doing what he wanted to do on Sunday. He finished the game with a 6-92-2 line against the Bills, highlighted by a grown man, one-handed grab where he reminded anyone watching of just how tough of a matchup he can be.
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His big game came during a down Ja’Marr Chase effort (44 yards on eight targets) and that’s not always going to happen, but it was good to see Joe Burrow call his WR2’s number in a major way (four catches on his first 10 pass attempts against the Bills).
He’s back in concussion protocol again this week and that puts him at serious risk of a Week 15 DNP. You’ll have to monitor this situation, but it’s pretty straightforward: Higgins is a solid WR2 if he’s cleared and if not, Andrei Iosivas enters the top 40 discussion and shouldn’t be left on waiver wires.
— PFSN Fantasy Analyst Kyle Soppe
