Tee Higgins may finally be on the move. Higgins, who's been in the league for four seasons now, has played like a #1 receiver, and would be considered one ... if he didn't share a field with Ja'Marr Chase. Through 58 games in Cincinnati, the Bengals wideout has caught 257 balls for 3,684 yards and 24 touchdowns. He's gone over 1,000 yards receiving in two of his four seasons, and until 2023, appeared in at least 14 games every year. But for most of that time, he's been in conversations as a trade chip because of Chase, and the money that the Bengals need to pay a handful of young stars on their roster. Now that he's going to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, here are three times that could finally go take him away from Cincinnati.
1. Chicago Bears
The Bears will be in the conversation for just about everyone this offseason, which is what having the #1 overall pick and a ton of cap space gets you. They desperately need wide receiver depth: DJ Moore is a star, but the talent in that room kinda drops off after that. Maybe Darnell Mooney returns and has a bounce back season, but it'd be hard to blame the Bears for thinking they can do a little better than bringing him back as their #2. Enter Higgins, who makes sense for Chicago as a contemporary to Moore (though it'd be hard to blame him for wanting to avoid being WR1A again) –especially if Chicago decides to stay at #1 overall and take Caleb Williams instead of maneuvering for Marvin Harrison Jr. Williams, Moore, Higgins, and maybe TE1 in Chicago? Not bad.
2. Jacksonville Jaguars
After an underwhelming season that saw the Jags regress almost across the board and miss the playoffs, the pressure's on to right the ship while Trevor Lawrence is still on his rookie contract. Calvin Ridley had one of the stranger 1,000 yard seasons in memory – it was basically the second-best season of his career, and it was still talked about as a letdown for some who thought he was too inconsistent. The Bears, Chiefs, and Jets have widely been considered teams that could make a run at Ridley this year, and a Higgins-for-Ridley switch is probably something the Jags would be okay with. Plus, Lawrence, Higgins, and Jacksonville running back Travis Etienne Jr. all played together at Clemson, so the familiarity factor is there.
3. New England Patriots
If Higgins wants a shot at being the guy, New England's probably a good place to do it. He certainly wouldn't lose targets lining up with DeVante Parker, JuJu Smith-Schuster, DeMario Dougles, or Jalen Reagor. And while the Patriots more-than-likely don't have their Week 1 starting QB on the roster right now, with the third overall pick in this year's draft, they probably feel pretty good about getting one of the best QBs from a potentially-generational class. It's a bit of a dice roll, but the chance to be a major part of the new era in New England – added to the fact that Robert Kraft is desperate to get back into the playoffs and will pay accordingly – could be tempting.