The Cincinnati Bengals are set to bring back one of the NFL's top wide receiver tandems in Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in 2025. The way the franchise has gone about it, however, has rubbed its players the wrong way.

“It’s allowing the Bengals to buy themselves enough time to maybe work out a deal,” Johnson said. “But if you wanted to work out a deal, you would’ve done it a long time ago. There was nothing wrong with me the previous season. OK, I proved myself. I was productive again.”

It was only a matter of time after the Cincinnati Bengals announced they would likely use the franchise tag on Tee Higgins for a second year in a row for them to pull the trigger, which they did on Monday.