Tuesday Trenches: Get your tinfoil hats

Let’s dive into some Tee Higgins cap conspiracy theories, and send me your combine questions for prospects available on Thursday and Friday.

Well, by this point, you know. The Cincinnati Bengals have officially used their franchise tag on wide receiver Tee Higgins. They had until March 5, though. So why use the tag right away? Please get your tinfoil hats ready.

The Bengals and Higgins technically had two weeks to attempt to come to a long-term deal before they would use the franchise tag as a possible last resort to keep Higgins in stripes for one more Super Bowl push.

That’s not what happened, though, and it says two things to me:

1. They knew, long before the tag window even opened, that they weren’t going to be able to reach a long-term deal with Higgins, and trying would be a waste of time.
2. And, they’re likely fielding calls to see if they can get an offer they can’t refuse on a trade.

Why else would they use the tag on him on day one if it wasn’t to give teams as much time as they could to come up with offers? I cannot think of a different single reason. Can you?

This doesn’t mean anything. Just because they’re listening to calls doesn’t mean they’ll ever answer the phone and say hello. Trading Tee at this point would be so far away from their traditional philosophy of “not helping other teams get better.” But, this is also a different franchise from who they’ve been in the past.

So here’s what I think will happen, in order of possibility:

1. Tee Higgins plays out his year on the franchise tag and signs a mega-deal elsewhere after the 2024 season ends, a la Jessie Bates.
2. Tee Higgins is traded to a team in need of a top-tier wide receiver for a first-round pick or some sort of similar compensation.
3. Fish learn to breathe out of water and are intelligent. They take over the world, and football won’t matter anymore because we’ll all be ruled by a Smallmouth Bass named Ol’ Brownsides, whom the fish have named as king.
4. The Bengals and Higgins come to a long-term deal, keeping Higgins in Cincinnati for the next few years.

What do you think?

Now on to the kinda cool news:

I’m going to the NFL Combine in Indy on Thursday and Friday, where I’ll be able to talk to prospects from the following positions:

• Tight end (Thursday)
• Defensive backs (Thursday)
• Wide receivers (Friday)
• Quarterbacks (Friday)
• Running backs (Friday)

Who do you want me to talk to? What would you like me to ask them? Is there anybody you think could be a late-round pick you have your eye on? Who do you want me to pay close attention to?

Let me know in the comments and I’ll report back to you later this week, and you can follow me on Twitter here for Bengals-related Combine Tweets.

Relevant song lyrics:

Now, here you go again
You say you want your freedom
Well, who am I to keep you down?
It’s only right that you should
Play the way you feel it

Who Dey!