by Chris Ball
Queen City Sports from Loveland, Ohio
On Monday, Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins officially ended his holdout and signed his franchise tender. He’ll now make $21.816 million fully guaranteed for the 2024 season. Higgins played in 12 games last year and caught 76 passes for 656 yards and 5 touchdowns. His season high in receiving yards came on December 23 when he had 5 receptions for 140 yards and a touchdown in a 34-11 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He spent much of 2023 dealing with lingering rib and hamstring injuries but hopes to put those behind him next year and show that he is indeed a top receiver in this league.
The impact of Higgins’s signing his franchise tender in June and reporting to Bengals training camp can’t be anything but beneficial. Having a healthy Joe Burrow throwing passes and working on the critical element of timing with one of his key receivers in July instead of August is absolutely critical to doing what the Bengals have often struggled to do in years past: start the season strong.
They lost 3 out of their first 5 in both 2022 and 2023. Joe Burrow’s injury no doubt played a large role in that last year. However, having both he and Higgins healthy, in sync, and on the field ready to go for the first part of 2024 will be a welcome sight for all of Who Dey Nation.
While there was never really a significant belief that Higgins would sit out the 2024 season, there was plenty of uncertainty about just when he would sign and/or report for offseason workouts. With those questions safely behind them, the hope is that the team can focus on their work on the practice field.
Bengals Training Camp presented by Kettering Health kicks off on Wednesday, July 24. Training camp practices will take place at the Kettering Health Practice Fields located just west of Paycor Stadium. Practices will continue through August 20th. The Bengals first preseason game is on August 10th against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
What do you think about Higgins’ extension? Let us know in the comments here or on Facebook, or drop us a line at the email below!
_______________________
Hey readers… have an opinion about sports? How about a topic you’d like to see written about in Loveland Magazine or a thought about one of our articles?
Just need to vent and get out your frustration about the Reds, Bengals, or any other sports issues?
Feel free to share with an email to lovelandmagazinesports@gmail.com!
We would love to hear from our readers, and we thank you for your support and engagement.
Christopher Ball is a longtime Loveland resident and an attorney. He graduated from Loveland High School in 2003 and was a member of the football team before going on to become a coach’s assistant at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. He has been following and rooting for the Reds and Bengals since the early 1990s and has been through the many ups and downs that fandom has wrought over the years.
Other Reds batters are staying hot in June. This includes a surprising run by Will Benson, hitting .333 with a .967 OPS in his last 15 games. Jake Fraley in his last 15 is batting .293 while TJ Friedl has 3 home runs and 11 RBIs.
The main storyline this week remained former first round pick Dax Hill and his reps with the first team defense while battling for a job at cornerback against DJ Turner. By all reports Hill, a former safety, looked very good at his new position. There remains a lot of optimism that he can be a quality starter at the position, even if his time at safety may be at an end. Hill was a versatile athlete at the University of Michigan and played both safety and cornerback there, and so that flexibility should serve him well as he tries to see the field as much as possible next year for the Bengals.
The name that seems to have the most buzz over recent weeks is James Borrego the former Charlotte Hornets head coach. 
The turnaround isn’t due to just one player, but several Reds have been key in bringing this team closer to contention after their struggles early on. Jeimer Candelario is hitting .273 over his last 10 games with 3 home runs. Tyler Stevenson had a .343 average over his last 10. But perhaps the most impressive is TJ Friedl who is still working his way back from injury but showing immediate impact. In his last 10 games back he’s hitting .265 with 11 RBIs and 8 runs scored.
During their 7 game winning streak the Reds batted .310 with 72 hits and 11 home runs. Though it may not be sustainable over the long term it did demonstrate what this offense can accomplish and how dangerous their hitters can be if healthy. Given that the Reds hit just .214 with 22 home runs in the entire month of May, it’s impossible not to be excited about what Cincinnati can do going forward after seeing their hitters dominate games.
by Chris Ball
The numbers speak for themselves. In their 3 wins against the Rockies the Reds scored a total of 29 runs while allowing only 11. They had 42 hits, with several key players catching fire at just the right time. Jeimer Candelario had 5 hits including 2 home runs and in his last 30 games he’s hitting .282. Spencer Steer had 6 hits in the series and over his last 15 games is beginning to look like the Steer of earlier in the year, batting .315 while slugging at at .556 clip. Prior to the Rockies series, De La Cruz was struggling mightily. But in the Mile High City he went 5-13 and hit a 
It may be foolishly optimistic to hope that the Reds can keep crushing the cover off of the ball with this kind of consistency. But the most important aspect of this Colorado series is that the team and fans see what this truly talented team can do when it is firing on all cylinders. With Noelvi Marte priming to return in a few weeks to further bolster the lineup, all the Reds need to get back into the thick of the NL Central race is to continue to improve and have at least some of their key guys keep up this hot streak. When those players cool down, the hope is that a different combination of hitters will be right there ready to step in and drive in the runs the Reds need to keep winning. We’re past the point that the entire offense can fall apart for long stretches of time. As the season progresses if the Reds want to contend they must continue to put up solid offensive numbers, and the Rockies series has shown exactly how high our ceiling can be.
Now is the time for the Reds to make a run at getting back to .500, and from there, after what we saw in Denver, who knows what is possible?