As the NFL playoffs begin and the 2023 season draws closer to its end, Pro Football Network took a look ahead to the upcoming offseason and 2024 free agent class.

PFN ranked 2024 NFL free agents by position and listed a trio of former Clemson Tigers among the best players slated to hit the open market.

Ranked No. 1 among the wide receivers is former Clemson star Tee Higgins, who is an impending free agent after playing out the final year of his rookie contract with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Higgins posted back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons in 2021 and 2022 and has nearly 3,700 career receiving yards, but the fourth-year pro’s production dropped off this season as he dealt with injuries. The 2020 second-round draft pick played in a career-low 12 games while catching 42 passes for 656 yards and five touchdowns.

“Tee Higgins appears unlikely to receive an extension from the Cincinnati Bengals,” PFN’s Dallas Robinson wrote. “But they could franchise tag him, hoping to keep Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase together for another run at the Super Bowl. If Higgins actually reaches free agency, he should easily clear $24 million annually.”

As for a couple of other former Tigers, PFN ranked both Christian Wilkins of the Miami Dolphins (No. 2) and DJ Reader of the Bengals (No. 5) among the top free agents on the defensive line.

Wilkins is ranked behind only Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs, while Reader is behind only Jones, Wilkins, Justin Madubuike of the Baltimore Ravens and Leonard Williams of the Seattle Seahawks.

“Chris Jones tried to work out an extension with the Kansas City Chiefs over the summer before eventually acquiescing in negotiations,” Robinson wrote. “He could be tagged in 2024, while the Miami Dolphins could use the franchise tender on Christian Wilkins. That could leave Justin Madubuike — whose 13 sacks lead all interior defenders — in line for a massive payday.”

Wilkins, who has amassed 355 tackles (43 for loss) and 20.5 sacks since entering the league, is playing under the fifth-year option on his rookie contract after he and the Dolphins couldn’t reach agreement on an extension before the season. The 13th overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, Wilkins is having a career year in his fifth campaign with the Dolphins.

In 17 games during the regular season, Wilkins posted 65 total tackles (10 for loss), 23 quarterback hits, two passes defended, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries to go with his nine sacks – double his previous career-high of 4.5 sacks in 2021.

As for Reader, he recorded 34 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, seven quarterback hits, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup in 14 games this season before suffering a season-ending torn quad tendon against the Minnesota Vikings on Dec. 16.

Since entering the league in 2016 after being drafted in the fifth round that year by the Houston Texans, Reader has racked up 277 tackles, 23 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks in his career with the Texans and Bengals.