3 teams who need to trade for one of the NFL's disgruntled wide receivers
The NFL has an unusual amount of wide receivers who are currently unhappy with their current situations. Could a team make a huge trade for one of them? With the wide receiver market blowing up this offseason, other receivers who have not yet received long-term deals have been holding out from their teams' activities.
At some point, something has to give one way or another. For example, Cincinnati Bengals WR Tee Higgins was franchise tagged, but has not reported. The franchise tag is worth over $20 million, but would Higgins actually holdout for the 2024 season without a long-term deal? At some point, something has to give with Higgins and with other wide receivers who have not yet report.
3 teams who need to trade for one of the NFL's disgruntled wide receivers
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots just seem totally incapable of fixing their wide receiver room. They drafted Ja'Lynn Polk and Javon Baker in the 2024 NFL Draft, and they enter into a room with guys like Demario Douglas, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Kendrick Bourne, and KJ Osborn. It's just a bad and unproven room at this point.
Sure, Polk and Baker could end up being studs, but the Pats simply need a WR1 in the worst way. Rookie QB Drake Maye hopes to take over the starting job, and if you look across the NFL, almost every young and developing QB has or had a stud wide receiver. De-facto GM Eliot Wolf needs to see if someone like CeeDee Lamb or Brandon Aiyuk could be had for the right price. He could send back one or more of the current WRs on the roster plus draft picks to get the deal done.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs added WRs Hollywood Brown and Xavier Worthy this offseason. The room includes incumbent Rashee Rice, who could end up facing some suspension for the NFL for his off-season issues. Even if Rice were to escape any suspension, the Chiefs would still have reason to add a top WR.
It's unlikely that the San Francisco 49ers would trade them Brandon Aiyuk, but could the Dallas Cowboys send CeeDee Lamb to the Chiefs for the right price? I guess it's possible until it isn't. The Chiefs still have Travis Kelce at tight end, but he showed signs of decline last year during the regular season.
Kansas City won the Super Bowl in 2023 with a lackluster supporting cast, so you have to wonder if they'd be a guarantee to win the Super Bowl for an NFL-record third time in a row if they could pull off a trade for one of the NFL's disgruntled wide receivers.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Denver Broncos WR Courtland Sutton seems to be ending his holdout and will report to the team shortly, so that probably takes him out of any chance to reunite with Russell Wilson in Pittsburgh. There have been rumors all offseason that Pittsburgh Steelers GM Omar Khan was about to pull off a major trade for a wide receiver.
But nothing has happened. The team currently has George Pickens, Van Jefferson, and Roman Wilson as their top three wide receivers on the depth chart. Yeah, they could use another body for sure. It's not likely at all that the Cincinnati Bengals would consider trading Tee Higgins to the Steel City, but maybe there is someone else out there that could be had for the right price.
With Russell Wilson likely starting for them in 2024, the Steelers would be wise to continue to add.