5 NFL Teams That Should Pursue Tee Higgins Trade After Bengals Franchise Tag WR

NFL teams have until March 5 to decide on applying the franchise tag to impending free agents, but the Cincinnati Bengals didn't hesitate even a little. Almost as soon as they could, the team tagged wide receiver Tee Higgins.

However, that tag doesn't necessarily mean Higgins is staying put. Per ESPN's Dan Graziano, there is buzz in some league circles that the reason Cincinnati franchised Higgins so early was so it can shop the 25-year-old.

Editor's Note: Bleacher Report's Jordan Schultz reported on March 11 that Higgins has requested a trade.

Assuming there's at least some fire behind that smoke, there should be demand for Higgins' services. His numbers were down in an injury-marred 2023 season, but Higgins surpassed 1,000 receiving yards playing opposite Ja'Marr Chase in both 2021 and 2022. Higgins may not be Chase, but he's absolutely capable of functioning as a No. 1 receiver in his own right.

Of course, just the demand for his services isn't enough. The Bengals need a trade partner with the cap space to give Higgins a long-term extension; a partner with the draft pick(s) necessary to make the deal worth the Bengals parting with an important offensive weapon. And they aren't going to ship Higgins to an AFC North rival or a team they could see in the playoffs.

Sorry, Kansas City. You're out. So is Buffalo. And Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.

However, there are teams that have both a glaring need at wide receiver and the assets to make a trade work. They would be well-served to pick up the phone and see if the Bengals really are moving Higgins.

Remember when the New York Giants were good?

Two years ago, the Giants made the postseason and won a playoff game, earning quarterback Daniel Jones a lucrative contract extension. In 2023, Jones got hurt, the G-Men finished the season 31st in the NFL in passing at just 169.8 yards per game and New York won just six games.

Jones' injury played a big part in New York's lack of a passing attack, but the reality is that even had Jones stayed healthy all season, the Giants probably would have struggled moving the ball through the air. That's partly because the Giants' offensive line allowed a jaw-dropping 85 sacks, but it's also partly because New York has arguably the weakest wideout corps in the entire NFL.

The Giants' leading receiver in terms of catches last year was Wan'Dale Robinson with 60. Darius Slayton paced the team in receiving yards with 770. Neither of those players are keeping opposing defensive coordinators awake at night.

The last time the Giants had a 1,000-yard receiver was Odell Beckham Jr.—in 2018. And if Big Blue is going to get back in the mix in the NFC East, that has to change.

The sixth overall pick would be a steep price to pay, even for a wide receiver as talented as Higgins. But the Giants have a pair of second-rounders (No. 39 and No. 47) after dealing defensive lineman Leonard Williams to the Seattle Seahawks last year.

That could be enough to get a deal done, and with $32.6 million in cap space per Over the Cap, New York has the cheese to break Higgins off a chunk of cheddar.

Bryce Young's first season as quarterback of the Carolina Panthers was uneven at best and a significant disappointment at worst. The Panthers finished the season dead last in the league in passing at just 161.2 yards per game. Young's 2,877 passing yards ranked 20th in the NFL, behind the likes of Gardner Minshew of the Indianapolis Colts and Sam Howell of the Washington Commanders.

Not what you're looking for from the first overall pick.

Some of those struggles are on Young himself. Others can be attributed to an offensive line ranked by some as among the worst in the NFL. But Young wasn't helped much by a receiving corps consisting of 33-year-old Adam Thielen (who admittedly had a fine season) and…not much else. Thielen was the only pass-catcher on the team who topped 525 receiving yards in 2023.

The Panthers badly need to upgrade the passing-game weapons available to Young, and Tee Higgins would immediately step in as Carolina's No. 1 wide receiver.

Cap space to extend Higgins wouldn't be an issue, as per Over the Cap, the Panthers are sitting on about $35 million in wiggle room. Compensation, on the other hand, could be. Carolina's first-round pick already belongs to the Chicago Bears, and even if the 33rd pick was enough to get the deal done, that would leave the Panthers with no picks until No. 65.

Still, there isn't a team in the league more desperate for wide receiver help than the Panthers, so general manager Dan Morgan has to at least kick the tires on acquiring Higgins.

By just about any objective measure, the 2023 season was a disaster for the New England Patriots—a four-win nightmare that led to the departure of head coach Bill Belichick and saw the Pats finish 30th in total offense and 28th in passing offense.

Those offensive struggles were caused by multiple factors. One was simply poor quarterback play—neither Mac Jones nor Bailey Zappe played well in 2023, and the chances that New England uses the third pick in the 2024 draft on a quarterback is approximately 247 percent.

But Jones and Zappe didn't exactly get a lot of help from New England's pass-catchers last season, either. JuJu Smith-Schuster was a complete flop as the team's No. 1 receiver, managing just 29 catches for 260 yards. The team's leading receiver in terms of catches was veteran running back Ezekiel Elliott.

No, seriously. It was.

The Patriots have to put their new quarterback (be it North Carolina's Drake Maye or LSU's Jayden Daniels) in better position to succeed by giving him a go-to wide receiver. Higgins could fill that role.

Cap space certainly isn't an issue in Beantown—the Patriots are the only team in the NFL with over $100 million to spend this year. But with the third pick off the table and the Patriots looking at holes at multiple positions on both sides of the ball, the question is whether the better use of resources wouldn't be signing Marquise Brown or Calvin Ridley in free agency.

However, a compelling argument can be made that Higgins is better than either of those players, so it's worth the Patriots at least making a call and seeing what sort of compensation the Bengals would need to receive to send Higgins to New England.

That the Arizona Cardinals struggled in 2023 wasn't especially surprising, as the team was without starting quarterback Kyler Murray for a big chunk of the season. The Redbirds were 26th in the league in passing, averaging less than 185 yards a game.

The Cardinals have already made a massive financial commitment to Murray. Now the team has to improve the weapons around him. Marquise Brown was a 1,000-yard wideout in Baltimore in 2021, but in two years in the desert he's yet to hit 725 yards. He has also missed at least three games in both seasons and is slated to hit free agency.

This isn't to say the Cardinals shouldn't bring Brown back, especially if the money's right. But trading for Higgins would allow Brown to move into a role as the No. 2 wideout that's more natural for him. Or the Cardinals could let Brown walk, draft Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. with the fourth overall pick and conceivably roll out a tandem of Harrison and Higgins.

Cue Murray nodding so hard he strains his neck.

This is also a deal the Cardinals have the ammunition to pull off, both in terms of cap space and draft capital.

In terms of the former, Arizona is sitting on almost $57 million in cap space—more than enough to ink Higgins to an extension. But the Cardinals might be even better equipped in the latter regard. Thanks to a trade with the Houston Texans last year, the Cards also have the 27th pick in Round 1.

That pick could well be enough to get a deal done.

There isn't a team in the NFL about to undergo a more seismic shift than the Chicago Bears.

Just about everyone expects the Bears are about to change quarterbacks by trading Justin Fields and drafting USC's Caleb Williams with the No. 1 overall pick.

Fields' inconsistencies as a passer certainly played a role in the Bears finishing the 2023 season 27th in the league in passing yards per game. But the Chicago wideout corps is a weakness as well. D.J. Moore was outstanding in his first season in Chicago, setting career-highs in receptions (96), receiving yards (1,364) and touchdowns (8). But behind Moore, there isn't much—tight end Cole Kmet was the only other player on the roster who surpassed 420 receiving yards.

That's not going to cut it in an NFC North that saw two teams (the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers) win playoff games last year. If the Bears want to give Williams the best chance to succeed, Moore needs a running mate, and Moore and Higgins wouldn't be a bad one-two punch.

Now, if the Bears really want Higgins, they could essentially make a "Godfather" offer. If the Bengals are serious about moving Higgins, Cincinnati would pounce on an offer involving the ninth overall pick. That's a high price to pay for Higgins, but the argument can be made that supporting Williams in any and every way possible is worth it.

Making the deal without that pick could be problematic, although it depends on what the Bears are able to recoup in a trade for Fields. As things stand now, the Bears don't have a second-rounder, as theirs was sent to Washington last year for edge-rusher Montez Sweat.

But if they can agree on compensation, paying Higgins won't be a problem—the Bears have almost $79 million in cap space, third-most in the NFL.