One of the most intriguing subplots of the 2024 NFL offseason is what is going to happen with Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. Higgins is in search of a contract extension and would like to be paid as one of the best receivers in the NFL. However, the Bengals are also going to have to give Ja'Marr Chase a big deal soon and have other needs to fill on their roster than receiver. They've been reticent to pay Higgins what he's been looking for, so Higgins has requested a trade. Perhaps a team like the Carolina Panthers, Tennessee Titans, or New England Patriots can trade for him and give him the bag he's looking for.
The Panthers, Titans, and Patriots are all logical trade partners for the Bengals for a number of reasons. For one, all these teams need a receiver. Another reason is all of those teams have high second-round picks. Surely, the Bengals will want a first-round pick for Higgins at minimum, but the Panthers have the 33rd overall pick. That's the first pick in the second round. The Patriots have the 34th pick. The Titans have the 38th pick.
The Tee Higgins Trade Zone. https://t.co/1MQXzqU0J8 pic.twitter.com/CxgZwFHKsH
— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) March 11, 2024
That's a good starting point to make a trade work. More factors will come into play, but there is at least the groundwork for a potential deal with all these teams. If the Bengals can't come to an agreement with Higgins, they should begin talking with these teams.
Carolina Panthers
No team needs a wide receiver more than the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers' wide receiver corps they surrounded rookie quarterback Bryce Young with did not do him many favors at all.
How often QBs throw to open/wide open receivers and their charted accuracy (5+ air yard passes).
Think this may speak to the stale offense/weapons in CAR, but also Bryce Young’s ability to hammer tighter windows with his arm. pic.twitter.com/mHZLM3j17U
— Football Insights 📊 (@fball_insights) November 15, 2023
Young's receivers generated just 1.9 yards of separation in the 2023 season according to playerprofiler.com. That ranked 63rd among quarterbacks. There were 66 quarterbacks who started games last season, so there virtually wasn't a quarterback in the NFL last season who got less help than Young did in his rookie season. His receivers also dropped 17 passes, which ranked 15th among quarterbacks as well.
Thirty-three-year-old Adam Thielen was the only receiver Young could rely upon, and even his play was more up than down last season.
Thielen began the 2023 season on fire. In Weeks 3-6, he racked up 443 yards and three touchdowns on 40 receptions. But in the other 13 games of the season, Thielen registered just 571 yards and just one touchdown on 63 receptions. DJ Chark was unspectacular. Rookie second-round pick Jonathan Mingo registered a yards-per-route run mark below one, which is very bad.
The Panthers need receivers in the worst way. They have to go all out for Tee Higgins.
Tennessee Titans
The Panthers did have a star receiver in DJ Moore but traded him as part of the package that landed them Young.
The Titans also had a star receiver in AJ Brown, but could not come to terms on a contract extension with him. That resulted in them trading Brown away to the Philadelphia Eagles for a first-round pick, which they used on a potential Brown replacement in Treylon Burks. That hope has not come to fruition yet. Burks has just 665 receiving yards and one touchdown in 22 career games.
Though DeAndre Hopkins is in Tennessee as well, he has just one year on his deal. The Titans need a potential number one receiver and Higgins is that. The fit is also there.
Tennessee hired former Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan as their head coach this offseason. If anyone knows how best to deploy Higgins, it would be the guy who's coached him since he got to the NFL. Tennessee would be a great spot for Higgins.
New England Patriots
The Patriots also need a number-one receiver badly. They haven't had any success finding that in the NFL. The receivers the Patriots have drafted in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft since drafting Deion Branch in 2002 have been ghastly. And with them trading Mac Jones to the Jacksonville Jaguars, it seems like a foregone conclusion that they will draft a quarterback with the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Sixth-round rookie receiver Demario Douglas led the Patriots in targets (79), receptions (49), and receiving yards (561) in 2023. It's nice that Douglas hit as a late-round pick, but he is not a number-one receiver. What better way to start a rookie quarterback's career than by getting him one in Tee Higgins?
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