Chad Johnson Says He's Spoken W/ Tee Higgins, Confident Bengals, WR 'Will Work It Out'

Breathe easy, Bengals fans ... Chad Johnson tells TMZ Sports he's been in touch with Tee Higgins recently, and he's confident the wide receiver's gripe with Cincinnati will get smoothed over sooner rather than later.

If you've missed it, the Bengals star wideout has been upset with his contract situation in Cincy for a while now ... after he and the team have repeatedly disagreed on the figures of his annual salary.

Reportedly, Higgins wants a deal near $25 mil a year, but the Bengals haven't been willing to pay him that. In fact, they've been so far apart, the Cincinnati franchise tagged him earlier this year -- meaning if the two sides don't reach an agreement soon, the wideout will have to play on a one-year pact worth roughly $21 million.

Johnson, though, thinks the two will iron everything out at some point in the near future ... telling us at LAX this week, "I think we're going to work it out. We'll figure it out."

Johnson added he and Higgins have actually spoken "a few times" about it all ... and neither guy seems to be sweating things too much.

"It's business -- it's the nature of the business," the Bengals legend said. "He's going to be all right, though."