First, Tee is going to be with the Bengals in 2025. Unless some team gets fucking nuts with a trade package, I think that's clear. He can miss TC or whatever. A holdout does shit for him and he knows it. This is his bite at the apple. A hold out guarantees him 1 year older and 3 years in row without 1,000.
So then what are we talking about? Signing Tee to whatever he wants just so you can feel good about the Bengals? Seriously?
Second, there's several teams that have punted on paying 1 WR top money. There's plenty of reasons not to pay 2 WRs elite money.
Third, Burton could sleep outside, play craps all night and match Higgins production from the first half of 2024. Higgins had a disaster of a contract year til mid-November. Then salvaged it a little. Point is not to promote Burton as an all star, its simply to point out being without Higgins is nothing new to this team.