The Bengals could look to explore trading Tee Higgins after trading him, but what could they get in return?
The Cincinnati Bengals will reportedly be using the franchise tag on wide receiver Tee Higgins for the 2024 season. We have all seen this move coming, but now that it is here, we really aren’t done with the saga of Higgins’ negotiations with the front office.
One possibility is the team exploring a trade for one of the top receivers in the NFL. The one thing we know is the Bengals won’t wait until after the 2024 draft to make this deal because they’d probably only pull the trigger if (at least) a majority of the draft capital they received could help replace one of the team’s biggest weapons.
So playing in the space of hypotheticals, what should the Bengals command in a trade for Higgins?
One of the major things to consider in this is the precedence set by recent trades. The Titans opted to trade A.J. Brown prior to the 2022 season to the Eagles for the No. 18 and No. 101 selections before giving him a four-year $100 million contract (which was a market-setting deal). The other one that is similar was the Chiefs trading Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins for a first, second, and fourth-round selection in 2022 and a fourth and sixth-round selection in 2023 before giving Hill a market-setting deal as well.
The thing here is sometimes teams aren’t willing to give as much for a player they will also then have to give a huge contract to. That has not been the case with receivers. It is more likely we see compensation more in accordance with Brown than Hill simply because Hill was widely considered one of the best at his position at the time of the trade.
It doesn’t help that this draft is filled with a plethora of top-end receiver talent, though. Teams could also use that, knowing the Bengals can’t afford to wait out a bidding war to move Higgins if that is what they decide to do to lower the cost a bit. It would open up that $20+ million cap space to use on free agents as well. Missing out on top free agents and losing Higgins isn’t exactly a great outcome, even if they get some good picks in return.
What are your thoughts?
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