Is Tee Higgins The Best WR2 In Fantasy Football?

Tee Higgins has WR1 upside when healthy, but his injury history makes him one of fantasy football’s riskiest high-reward plays in 2025.

Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins (5) and quarterback Joe Burrow (9) celebrate a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Broncos at Paycor Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. | The Enquirer/Sam Greene / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tee Higgins remains one of fantasy football’s ultimate boom-or-bust wideouts—capable of league-winning runs but too often sidelined by injury. When healthy, his size, skill, and secondary role behind Ja’Marr Chase with the Cincinnati Bengals set him up for monster performances against favorable coverage.

Tee Higgins, Cincinnati Bengals

Higgins continues to be a trick-or-treat player. Over the past two seasons, he missed 10 games, making him a challenging player to trust on the fantasy market. In four of his five seasons, the Bengals gave him between 108 and 110 targets, leading to him averaging 4.7 catches for 66 yards and 0.49 touchdowns on 7.3 targets per game (14.24 FPPG in PPR formats – between a top 10 and top 15 wide receiver in production despite missing 16.7% of his career opportunity to injuries. 

In 2023, Higgins was a frustrating and disappointing ride. After not catching any of his eight targets in Week 1, he posted a winning day (8/89/2) against the Ravens in the following matchup. Over his next nine games, Higgins came up short three times (2/21, 2/19, and 2/20) while missing four starts (ribs and hamstring). 

When he returned to game action, Joe Burrow was out for the season. In Week 15 (4/61/2) and Week 16 (5/140/1), Higgins played well with Jake Browning behind center. His season ended in Week 18 with another battle with a hamstring injury. He scored fewer than 10.0 fantasy points in seven of his 12 contests.

Last season, Higgins sat out the first two games with a hamstring issue. He had one elite game (9/83/2) over the next five weeks (29/341/3 on 45 targets), highlighted by double-digit targets in two matchups (10 and 14). A quad issue pushed him to the sidelines again for another three contests midseason. 

From Week 11 to Week 17, Higgins showed his potential on the opposite side of Ja’Marr Chase. He caught 40 of his 59 targets for 517 yards and seven touchdowns, with a high floor in five games (9/148/1, 5/69/1, 5/88/1, 8/58/1, and 11/131/3). His three-week run in the fantasy postseason (24/277/5 – 81.70 fantasy points) helped win league and overall championships.

Over the last three games, Higgins battled knee and ankle issues with no missed time, but he did end the year on a down note in Week 18 (4/53 on five targets). 

Tee Higgins

Yearly Points/Game Rank
- 2024: WR6
- 2023: WR42 (Burrow Injury)
- 2022: WR18
- 2021: WR24

Last Season Weeks 5-17
- 21.5 Fantasy Points/Game

Only WR Better?

Teammate Ja’Marr Chase.

Perfect WR2.

LOCKED IN Top 12 WR IF He Plays 15+ Games. pic.twitter.com/Zux8dA2Kd6

— Joe Orrico (@JoeOrricoFF) June 11, 2025

Tee Higgins Fantasy Football Outlook

To keep their Super Bowl hopes on a winning path, Cincinnati locked up Higgins for four more seasons for $115 million (two years guaranteed). A WR2 opportunity behind a stud wideout invites favorable coverage on many plays, and he has the size (6’4” and 220 lbs.) and skill set to be a much better player with a full season of games.

Higgins is the 14th wide receiver off the board in 2025, which aligns with the profile I have described in his career path. The fantasy drafter must decide if his injury risk outweighs his ceiling. If Higgins played 17 games last year, he was on pace to catch 103 passes for 1,290 yards and 14 touchdowns on 154 targets. 

In this fantastic game of fantasy football, if it’s too easy, it tends to be the losing path, especially when adding the percentage of combination ownership. Many “wise guys” will try to pair Ja’Marr Chase, Joe Burrow, and Tee Higgins, looking for a difference-maker fantasy stack, especially in BestBall formats. 

In 2024, the combination of Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, and Tua Tagovailoa didn’t have the same buzz as the Cincinnati star combo, but it was too easy to execute, making it a fade for me. 

In the end, Higgins is worthy of some fantasy share, but I would tread carefully if his ADP rises. A drafter should hope for an 80/1,200/8 season while also understanding that his opportunity should be much higher if on the field for 17 games.