Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins responded to a weird situation that popped up on Friday.
The popular @NFL_DovKleiman Twitter account tweeted on Friday that the Bengals are considering trading Higgins if an agreement on an extension can’t be reached.
Higgins is scheduled to be a free agent after the 2023 season.
Report: Bengals WR Tee Higgins “could be traded” for a top draft pick if the team can’t reach an extension with him and the money he’s asking for is “outrageous”, per @TheAtlantic
Higgins is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and went over 1,000 back to back seasons pic.twitter.com/cW0bKNxKqO
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 3, 2023
The problem with Kleiman’s tweet is that the “report” he’s referencing isn’t a report at all.
The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr suggested in a recent article that Cincinnati could trade Higgins if he’s not extended. Dehner also said if Higgins asks for outrageous money then a trade could happen, he wasn’t reporting that Higgins is asking for that kind of money. It was simply Dehner’s analysis of the situation (good analysis I might add).
Still, plenty of folks saw the tweet and took it as fact. So within hours, the narrative that Higgins is on the trading block became a thing.
And Higgins took to Twitter to respond.
Here y’all go😂
— Tee Higgins⁵ (@teehiggins5) February 3, 2023
There’s no doubt it’s going to be tough for the Bengals to keep him, but I don’t think they’ll trade him this offseason.
Cincy quarterback Joe Burrow will almost certainly receive an extension this offseason. And superstar wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase will likely receive one next offseason (when he’s first eligible). Higgins could be a No. 1 wide receiver for an NFL team, so it’s unlikely the Bengals can afford him and Chase.
One potential scenario could be giving Higgins the franchise tag after 2023 and then trading him (basically what the Green Bay Packers did with Davante Adams last offseason).
The major cap hit from Burrow’s looming extension likely won’t hit until 2024, so there’s no reason to trade Higgins now. So unless something wild happens — which is always possible — I fully expect to see Higgins in a Bengals uniform this fall.
