With Joe Burrow throwing his weight around in public and the team not having any other choice regardless, the Cincinnati Bengals will attempt to find a way to keep Tee Higgins this offseason.
Higgins is one piece of a puzzle that Burrow has essentially demanded the team figure out how to put together, the others being Ja’Marr Chase and Trey Hendrickson.
But outside noise about the Bengals trading Higgins remains.
The most prominent example right now is ESPN’s Aaron Schatz, whose set of bold offseason projections has the Buffalo Bills blowing the Bengals “out of the water” with a Higgins trade offer:
Higgins is a No. 1 receiver in search of a No. 1 opportunity. Meanwhile, the Bills need a No. 1 receiver. They need someone quarterback Josh Allen can depend on; someone they can confidently go to on third down to move the chains. Khalil Shakir had 821 yards last season, but he’s a slot receiver. They didn’t have an outside receiver with more than 600 yards. Higgins would fit perfectly as the leader of their wide receiver room and give them what they need to finally reach the Super Bowl.
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Bengals fans, though, know the Bengals. Unless the relationship with Higgins is ruined beyond repair, that asking price to actually get them to move Higgins would need to be a first-rounder and quite a bit more.
Complicating matters is the report that the Bengals will apply a second franchise tag to Higgins of the non-exclusive variety. That could bump the price up to multiple first-round picks on top of a massive contract extension for Higgins.
Meaning, once tagged at $26.2 million, Higgins probably isn’t going anywhere.
That has been the vibe since late last year, regardless. Higgins had the big agent change, which seemed to point to a new direction in his negotiations. A second tag, which they have until March 4 to apply, could merely be a way to extend contract talks beyond free agency.
Make no mistake, the Bengals will need to get out of their comfort zone to make it all work. But the organization throwing up its hands and trading Higgins — especially to a direct rival and contender in the AFC — would not go over well with the franchise quarterback, to say the very, very least.