Why Cincinnati Bengals WR Tee Higgins’ Trade Request Should Be Met With a Shrug

CINCINNATI – The opening day of free agency got off to a fast start with ESPN’s Adam Schefter reporting that Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins has requested a trade.

The Bengals are Higgins are nowhere close to negotiating a long-term deal, and the team recently used the franchise tag on him, guaranteeing the wide receiver $21.8 million in 2024.

Higgins requesting a trade may have sent a jolt through the fan base, but it will hardly register in Cincinnati’s front office.

Tee Higgins’ Trade Request Only Lowers Chances of Bengals Doing It

Expect it to be met with a shrug, just as Jonah Williams’ request was a year ago when the Bengals signed Orlando Brown Jr. in free agency and announced Williams would be moving to right tackle.

Williams made his displeasure known and skipped the voluntary portion of the offseason. But when the mandatory sessions began, Williams was front and center saying all the right things, and he continued to do so throughout 2023, turning in arguably the best season of his career at his new position.

Will Higgins follow the same path?

Though this is the first time the 2020 second-round pick has gone through this, Higgins’ agent, David Mulugheta, has done this dance with the Bengals in the past with safety Jessie Bates III.

In 2021, Bates was eligible for an extension, and it went nowhere. Bates said and did all the right things, including showing up for voluntary work and helping lead the Bengals to the Super Bowl.

A year later, when Cincinnati put the franchise tag on him, Bates’ tact changed, and he sat out not only during the voluntary and mandatory part of the offseason but also the first three weeks of training camp before eventually signing the tag and reporting for practice.

Higgins and Mulugheta going public with the trade request only hurts their cause.

The Bengals took a different approach at this year’s Combine from director of player personnel Duke Tobin’s hardline stance in 2023 when he told teams that want a receiver to “get their own” while shooting down Higgins trade rumors as “ridiculous.”

KEEP READING: 2024 Free Agency Mock Draft — Where Does Higgins Land?

This year Cincinnati sounded open to listening to any offers, which was code for “if you want to pay above and beyond what we think his market value is, sure, we’ll listen.”

Higgins publicly asking for a trade only weakens the chance of a team coming in with a “knock your socks off” type of offer.

Everyone from Tobin to head coach Zac Taylor to offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher to quarterback Joe Burrow has made it clear they want Higgins on the team in 2024.

“We take a lot of value in the relationship that we have with Tee for moments like this, because it is the business side,” Taylor said. “I understand. It can be frustrating. Tee has not given me any of that, you know. We’re just excited to take this offseason and see where it goes from there. But expect huge things from Tee next year. He’s gonna be a big part of the success that we have. He knows that, we know that and so I’m just excited to get the season see what he can do for us.”

If Higgins plays in 2024 and signs elsewhere in 2025, the Bengals are likely to get a third-round comp pick. So what is the greater value, a full season of Higgins in 2024 and a third-round pick 2026, or trading him now and getting maybe a second and a third in 2024?

Whatever Higgins’ chances were of being traded this offseason at sunrise Monday, they aren’t any greater after making the request public. If anything, he’s more assured of playing for the Bengals in 2024, unless he wants to forgo $21.8 million and set himself up to run through this same process in 2025.

Every move. Every team. Don’t miss a thing with PFN’s NFL Free Agency Tracker.