The Cincinnati Bengals continue to take some heat for the Tee Higgins franchise tag. Some of it comes from franchise greats, too. Chad Johnson, appearing on ESPN's "First Take" after the news of a second Higgins franchise tag hit the airwaves, suggested that the Bengals should've let Higgins go to the open market.

Cincinnati Bengals receiver Tee Higgins and Kansas City Chiefs guard Trey Smith were the only two NFL players to receive the franchise tag before Tuesday's deadline. ESPN's Adam Schefter tweeted that Evan Kaplan reported that the total number of two players was the fewest tagged since 1994.

“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.”