Tee Higgins Rumors: 'A Lot of' NFL Insiders Feel Bengals Used Tag to Trade WR

Despite receiving the franchise tag this offseason, Tee Higgins might not be long for Cincinnati.

According to ESPN's Dan Graziano, "A lot of people [at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis] seemed to think the reason the Bengals franchised Higgins as early as they did was so they could trade him. With a Ja'Marr Chase extension likely coming this offseason or next, Cincinnati might not be able to keep the band together around Joe Burrow much longer."

One factor could affect the proceedings is the strong draft class of wideouts this offseason. The Bengals would assuredly love to get a first-round pick for Higgins, but teams may be hesitant to go that high given the talented options available.

When healthy, the 25-year-old is a proven playmaker, catching 257 passes for 3,684 yards and 24 touchdowns in his four seasons. The issue for Cincinnati is that Higgins likely would fetch WR1 money in free agency but is a second option for the team behind Chase.

That means the Bengals will have to eventually decide how much of the salary cap they want to allocate on wide receivers, especially with so much of it already going to Burrow on his second contract.

Trading Higgins now instead of losing him for nothing in free agency would be preferable, though it would obviously weaken the team in the short term. If nothing else, the franchise tag bought them more time to either negotiate a team-friendly extension or gauge his trade market.