Joe Burrow on Saturday sent a message to the Cincinnati Bengals about the team’s upcoming free agent, Tee Higgins.

The Bengals held on to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 19-17 contest at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pa. The result kept the Bengals’ faint playoff hopes alive. Cincinnati would need both the Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos to lose their Week 18 matchups against the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs, respectively.

Burrow knows that Saturday’s game could very well be his team’s last for the season. The Bengals star used his postgame press conference to lobby for his team to re-sign Higgins.

“We started this whole thing together,” said Burrow when asked about Higgins’ free agency. “We came in together. We built this thing from the ground up. You don’t want to make a habit of letting good players get out of the building … Tee’s a great player. … You just can’t let him get out of the building.”

#Bengals QB Joe Burrow on impending FA Tee Higgins: “You don’t want to make a habit of letting great players get out of the building. … You just can’t let him get out of the building.”

Message sent.pic.twitter.com/1Ul5TpSfVt

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 5, 2025

Higgins caught four passes from Burrow for 54 yards in the Bengals’ season finale. But Burrow’s most important assist to Higgins Saturday was arguably his message to the Bengals’ brass. In 12 regular games this season, Higgins tallied 73 receptions for 912 yards and 10 touchdowns.

The Bengals used their franchise tag on Higgins after the two sides could not agree on a long-term extension in the offseason. With his next contract looming large throughout most the year, Higgins made a notable change in his representation last month.

Cincinnati will certainly have its hands full with both Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase looking to get paid this offseason.