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Tee Higgins Remains One of 2026 Fantasy Football's Biggest Boom-or-Bust Picks

By Shawn Childs Sports Illustrated

Few wide receivers create as much internal draft-room debate as Tee Higgins, whose production when healthy consistently points to top-15 upside. The challenge for fantasy managers is balancing his proven role in Cincinnati's explosive passing attack against a growing history of missed games and nagging injuries.

Tee Higgins, Cincinnati Bengals

Higgins remains one of the most talented and frustrating players in fantasy football, a genuine difference-maker when healthy, and a chronic injury risk that makes him nearly impossible to fully trust. In 2023 and 2024, he's missed 10 games. Over four of his five NFL seasons, the Bengals have funneled him between 108 and 110 targets, producing a remarkably consistent per-game line of 4.7 catches, 66 yards, and 0.49 touchdowns on 7.3 targets (14.24 FPPG in PPR formats). That production sits between a top-10 and top-15 receiver when he plays.

The 2023 season captured everything maddening about him. He went without a catch on eight targets in Week 1, rebounded with a strong showing against Baltimore (8/89/2), then alternated between productive and invisible over his next nine games (three clunkers – 2/21, 2/19, 2/20) sandwiched around four missed starts with rib and hamstring issues. When Higgins returned, Burrow was done for the year, yet Higgins played two of his best games with Jake Browning at quarterback (4/61/2 in Week 15 and 5/140/1 in Week 16) before a hamstring ended his season in Week 18. He scored fewer than 10.0 fantasy points in seven of his 12 appearances.

In 2024, Higgins followed a similar script. A hamstring issue kept him out of the first two games, and he managed just one elite performance (9/83/2) over the following five weeks (29/341/3 on 45 targets) before a quad injury cost him another three games at midseason.

Then came the stretch that reminded everyone what he's capable of. From Week 11 through Week 17, Higgins caught 40 of 59 targets for 517 yards and seven touchdowns, with a reliable floor across five outings (9/148/1, 5/69/1, 5/88/1, 8/58/1, and 11/131/3). His fantasy postseason run (24/277/5 - 81.70 points over three weeks) was championship-winning material. He closed the regular season nursing knee and ankle issues, ending on a quiet note in Week 18 (4/53 on five targets), one last reminder that with Higgins, the fine print always matters.

Over the first 11 games last season, Higgins dodged the injury bug, resulting in 40 catches for 575 yards and seven touchdowns on 70 targets. Scoring helped his double-digit fantasy floor in six of these contests, with the best value coming in two matchups (6/96/1 and 7/121/2). He still had three empty showings over this span (3/33, 1/15, and 5/31).

Higgins sat out Week 13 and Week 15 with concussion issues. His season ended with four productive games (6/92/2, 3/53/1, 4/59, and 6/67/1). The Bengals gave him six targets or fewer in seven of his 15 starts. Higgins set a career high in touchdowns (11) while maintaining his injury risk tag.

Tee Higgins 2026 Fantasy Football Outlook

Fantasy Outlook: In the National Fantasy Football Championship in early May, the Bengals' WR2 is the 15th wide receiver drafted, which fits his results while pricing in his missed time. In 2026, drafters will debate again his risk/reward, with the hopes of the best season of his career. There's a lot to like, which is also the case for many marriages that end with broken hearts or extended misery. With no date, there is another love around the corner. Let's go with 70 catches for 1,000 yards and 10 scores as my starting point.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com/onsi/fantasy as Tee Higgins Remains One of 2026 Fantasy Football's Biggest Boom-or-Bust Picks.

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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 9:35 AM.

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