One of the NFL’s most prolific quarterback-receiver tandems will stay together in 2025.

The Cincinnati Bengals on Monday used the league’s “franchise tag” to retain star wideout Tee Higgins for next season, the second straight year the team has held onto Higgins that way. The move once again puts off a decision about the long-term contract extension that Higgins, one of the NFL’s top receivers, has sought.

If Higgins and Cincinnati can’t agree on terms for a long-term extension by July, the terms of the tag set Higgins up to be paid $26.2 million next season.

After he caught 73 passes for 911 yards and a career-high 10 touchdowns in only 12 games last season, Higgins could have been one of the most desirable offseason additions had he reached free agency. During multiple media appearances last month, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow publicly lobbied for the Bengals — a franchise rarely known to dole out long-term, expensive contracts — to pay Higgins a long-term deal to keep together their aerial attack along with receiver Ja’Marr Chase, with Burrow saying he would restructure his own contract to create space on the team’s books.

The franchise tag will keep Higgins from testing the open market, which is what the tag was designed to do by allowing teams to hold onto a player for an extra year.

Tagging Higgins is one of many important decisions that could determine whether Cincinnati, which played for the Super Bowl after the 2021 season, can keep its championship window open. Last fall the Bengals started 4-8, with seven of the losses coming within seven points, before they closed with five straight victories to reveal their tantalizing but incomplete potential.

Chase also is seeking a contract extension after he captured the NFL’s “triple crown” by leading all receivers in yards, touchdowns and catches in 2024. Trey Hendrickson, who led the NFL in sacks last season, also could earn an extension. Another key pass catcher, Mike Gesicki, also can become a free agent.