Tee Higgins: Not the Average Sidekick

Tee Higgins and the NFL's Greatest Robins (i.e., No. 2 receivers)

I can't lie. I was really looking forward to Tee Higgins leaving the Cincinnati Bengals and becoming the alpha receiver in someone else's passing game. I didn't think there was any way he'd return to play Robin to Ja'Marr Chase's Batman for another season, let alone sign an extension. But much like Gotham itself, nothing with the Bengals is ever quite predictable.

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It got me thinking. Where does Higgins stack up among the best Robins in NFL history? What kind of production can we expect from a player who could be Batman on another team, but instead chose to stay in Ohio and continue playing the sidekick?

What Makes a Great Robin?

For this discussion, a Robin is a high-end No. 2 wide receiver who plays opposite an even more dominant No. 1. These are players with alpha-level talent but who share an offense with a bigger dog.

So who fits that mold? To answer that, I looked back at wide receiver duos since 2000 who played together for at least three seasons, where the second option was clearly good enough to lead a passing attack on another team. We're not just talking about productive No. 2 receivers. We're talking about wideouts who could have been a team's WR1 if not for sharing the field with a superstar.

We're not comparing Higgins to the best wide receiver twos of the past 25 years. We're comparing him to players who had the skill to be a true No. 1 but happened to share the spotlight.

Let's look at the numbers.

Wayne is a textbook Robin. He played across from a future Hall of Famer and benefited from the defensive attention Harrison drew. His numbers were nearly on par with Harrison's, but it was always clear who the lead dog was.

Boldin, like Wayne, had to share targets with a future Hall of Famer. Yet he still produced like a borderline No. 1 wide receiver. Their tandem worked because Boldin was able to carve out his own production despite Fitzgerald's dominance. 

Holt is an interesting case. He was technically the Robin, but he led Bruce in every major category during this span. That was just the nature of the Greatest Show on Turf. Either receiver could explode on any given Sunday.

Godwin also flipped the script at times, finishing with more receptions and nearly as many yards as Evans during their four-year run. He may not have had the red zone dominance, but his week-to-week volume was elite.

Moss was the touchdown machine, but Welker was the chain mover. Game to game, either could carry the offense depending on the scheme and matchup.

How do Higgins and Chase Compare?