Tuesday Trenches: Tee Higgins

You can’t handle the truth!

You want answers?

I want the TRUTH!

YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

The Cincinnati Bengals aren’t going to extend Tee Higgins.

The Cincinnati Bengals shouldn’t extend Tee Higgins.

Here are a few reasons why:

1. Just because they can, it doesn’t mean they should

Yes, the Bengals have the cap space, technically, to not only extend Tee Higgins, but also extend Ja’Marr Chase. Then you can keep the Big Three, Burrow, Higgins, and Chase, together for the majority of their careers.

They can also plan on having everyone else on the team, or the majority of them, on rookie contracts. The guys they select in the first couple rounds, while they’re paying the Big Three, yeah, they won’t be able to afford to keep most of those guys. They’ll keep two great wide receivers and a top-tier quarterback, but for the other premium positions like corner, defensive end, and offensive tackle, they’d become revolving doors.

2. They have a history of drafting great wide receivers

The Bengals went from Isaac Curtis to Cris Collinsworth to Eddie Brown to Carl Pickens to Chad and TJ to AJ to Ja’Marr.

Get what I’m saying? It’s not like the Bengals found a rare golden goose egg in Higgins. He’s one of a large number of very good wide receivers the Bengals have had on the team over the last few decades.

If Higgins were to leave for greener pastures, it’s not like the Bengals won’t be able to find someone to play next to Chase. Hell, Jermaine Burton fell to them in the draft. He may be the WR2 moving forward.

And if you don’t think the Bengals can or should use a first-round pick on Higgins’ replacement, remember they had guys like Marvin Jones, Tyler Boyd, and Mohamed Sanu. Those guys, or guys like them, would be just fine with Burrow slinging the ball to them when Chase is drawing so much attention.

3. A top-tier QB makes the WRs, not the other way around….

Here’s the reality of the situation. Had the ball bounced almost any other way, Burrow and Chase wouldn’t be on the same team.

Let’s pretend for a second that Burrow doesn’t get hurt in his rookie year, and they finish the season with a handful more wins. They don’t get themselves into a position to select Chase in the first round. Instead, Higgins is their No. 1 receiver, and we’re not having this conversation.

The only reason Burrow and Chase are on the same team is because Burrow was injured. Under normal circumstances, a quarterback of Burrow’s caliber wouldn’t be able to lock down a wide receiver of Chase’s abilities.

Patrick Mahomes doesn’t have two top-tier wide receivers. He doesn’t even have one. He has Travis Kelce. Tom Brady had three seasons with Randy Moss but usually had guys like Deion Branch, Julian Edelman, and Wes Welker as WR1.

Burrow has more in common with those guys, who can turn a slightly above-average wide receiver into a star, than a quarterback who needs two true No. 1 wide receivers to move the ball down the field.

4. Justin Jefferson

What does this have to do with Higgins?

Nothing really, but it has a lot to do with Chase.

I think we all know the Bengals are going to do whatever they need to do to keep Chase, and if that means resetting the market again, that’s what that means. The Bengals will want to keep the two together like they kept Carson and Chad together, Andy and AJ, and so on.

Outside of that, though, the other wide receiver position will need to be a revolving door.

I trust the Bengals to draft multiple No. 2 wide receivers than I do offensive tackles, pass rushers, or almost any others.

5. The Bengals can never give him what another team can

Higgins is a No. 1 receiver. We can all agree on that.

He’s not the Bengals’ No. 1 receiver, though. Chase is.

You can’t pay your No. 2 receiver more than your No. 1 receiver, and Chase will get more money than Higgins, that much I can guarantee.

So why would Higgins want to stay on a team where he’s got a cap to his earning potential? As long as he’s in a Bengals uniform, he’s the No. 2 receiver and will be paid less than the No. 1 receiver.

On another team, he’s the No. 1 receiver, and the sky’s the limit.

—

I realize this isn’t a popular opinion, but I do think letting Higgins play out his franchise tag and hope he helps us win a Super Bowl before he moves on is the correct move.

They can see what they have in Burton, and they can address the position in the draft next year if they need to. Remember they do have Andrei Iosivas and Charlie Jones on the roster as well. The WR1, 2, and 3 of the future may already be on the roster.

What say you?

Some randomness

• I love that Joe Mixon came “home” to help at Ja’Marr Chase’s football camp. It shows who he is and it shows how tight this team is.
• This is an incredible column from Trags:

• The Logan Wilson Celebrity Softball Game looked like it was a lot of fun. I wasn’t able to attend. If you did, what did you think?
• I’ve never been a fan of another team the way I’m a fan of the Bengals, but I have lived in a few other cities with NFL teams. I spent the most time in Tampa and Buffalo. Of course, it was a different time, but I didn’t see anything like the unbelievable charity events the Bengals community shows up to. Again, I wasn’t necessarily looking, but it seems the Bengals do more than a lot of other teams.
• Cincinnati has teams repping the NFL, MLB, MLS, a minor-league hockey team, and a Big 12 NCAA team. Do you think there’s room for another team? Pro Hockey? NBA? If you think there is room, which would you choose?
• What do you expect from the Bengals backfield? Do you think a single running back will step up and take over, or do you think they’ll have a true committee? That’s what I think will happen. No one running back will get a huge amount of carries over another. I see the end of the ball cow back in Cincinnati now that Mixon is gone.
• The Bengals social media team is lights out!

• This is still coming in Cincinnati. Paycor is 24 years old. We’re not that far behind.

Relevant Song Lyrics:

No one knows what it’s like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes