Tee Higgins has requested a trade away from the Cincinnati Bengals. The wide receiver has totalled 3684 receiving yards on 257 receptions while adding 24 touchdowns across his four-year career with the team. Higgins’ production regressed this season, as Ja’Marr Chase has ascended to the top wide receiver tier of the NFL. This has demoted Higgins to the number two wide receiver in their offence, which has resulted in difficulty negotiating a contract extension.
Cincinnati wants to keep Higgins in their offence, as they’ve been one of the most prolific passing teams in the league. Losing Higgins would be a huge blow, so they franchise tagged the star. Higgins hasn’t signed the tag yet and is now requesting a trade away from the team. This may be a negotiation tactic but it seems to be legitimate.
The Bengals simply can’t offer Tee what he wants. He wants to be the number one option in the offence. While he’d be this on most teams in the NFL, the Bengals are one of the only teams that doesn’t allow this. Tee wants a big contract – Cincinnati just paid quarterback Joe Burrow with a massive contract extension, and are in line to pay his top target, and college teammate, Ja’Marr Chase a massive extension to match. This makes it incredibly difficult to reach an extension.
What’s Next for the Bengals?
For Cincinnati, they’ll try and make an extension work, but this likely won’t happen. They’ll eventually look for a trade, but look for that to be closer to the draft. They could potentially look to draft a replacement with the pick, but with the uncertainty of where that pick could be, they should probably look for a free agent.
Tyler Boyd is also leaving the team in free agency, but if they lose Tee, Boyd could return. His contract is expected to be far less than Higgins’, but he’ll still be a solid option and is familiar with their system. If they fail to re-sign Boyd as well, look for the team to find cheap veteran options to fill out their offence.
What’s Next For Higgins?
For Higgins, he’ll have to play the waiting game. There’s not much he can do until a trade happens. Several teams will be in on him. He’s from Tennessee so a homecoming could be in the works with the Titans, who badly need a wide receiver. The New England Patriots need receiving help and can offer an early second-round pick that should be very enticing to the Bengals. Plenty of other teams will have interest as well, including the Panthers, Chiefs, Jaguars and more.
Tee is primed to take a step up wherever he lands, as he is projected to be the focal point of the offence. It’ll be a wait-and-see approach with his situation and a lot can change, however as things sit now, Tee Higgins is requesting a trade away from the Cincinnati Bengals.
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