Bengals WRs Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd's Fantasy Trade Advice amid Ja'Marr Chase Injury

With the fantasy trade deadline fast approaching and Ja'Marr Chase out injured with a hip injury, it's a good time to review the trade value of Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd.

Let's start with the history of this duo playing together.

Both players were weekly flex considerations back in 2020, with Higgins finishing as the WR28 in standard-scoring leagues and Boyd finishing as the WR29, per ESPN.

Higgins had a slightly more productive season (67 receptions for 908 yards and six touchdowns) and was excellent when Joe Burrow was healthy that year. In the nine games before Burrow's season-ending ACL and MCL tears, Higgins posted seven games with double-digit fantasy points.

Boyd (79 receptions for 841 yards and four touchdowns) also had seven games with double-digit fantasy points with a healthy Burrow and likely would have been a WR1 had the QB stayed healthy.

Both took a backseat with Chase around last season, though it was Higgins (74 catches for 1,091 yards and six scores) who emerged as the clear No. 2 over Boyd (67 catches for 828 yards and five touchdowns).

The absence of Chase has led to similar results this time around.

In the two games he's missed, Higgins has emerged as the No. 1 option for Burrow, catching 10 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown on 14 targets. Boyd, meanwhile, has eight catches for 82 yards and a touchdown on 11 targets.

There isn't a huge separation here, and it's actually been Boyd who has been slightly better across the overall season (13.1 fantasy points per game in PPR leagues) than Higgins (12.8 PPG).

But Higgins is steady, with seven games of double-digit scoring in the nine games he's played this season (and in one of those games he was injured early and barely played, registering no stats). Boyd, meanwhile, has only provided five such games.

Both players should be safely valued in the flex range if you are looking to add them, while if you are a seller you should be trying to extract WR2 value for each. Higgins is the slightly better trade target here, but with Chase out of commission both have very solid value.

Once Chase returns, however, both players take an overall hit and are only flex considerations moving forward. If you are loaded at wide receiver, now isn't the worst time to consider selling high on Boyd.