Tee Higgins Trade Rumors: Bengals' Asking Price 'Very High' Amid Contract Buzz

The Cincinnati Bengals slapped the franchise tag on Tee Higgins yet again this offseason, this time seemingly in an effort to buy them enough time to agree on a long-term extension.

At the very least, teams around the league certainly don't think he'll be traded, based on the reported asking price the Bengals have floated.

According to NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe: "I did check in with a couple rival teams around the league and see what that [trade] market is looking like. I was told that the asking price for Higgins is 'crazy,' from one person, very high, and so this seems like a situation where the Bengals are not in a position now with their asking price to trade him."

The Athletic's Dianna Russini reported last week, meanwhile, that a number of teams were reaching out to the Bengals about Higgins, to no avail:

Trading him would make Joe Burrow very unhappy, so that remains an unlikely outcome, but the entire situation is in limbo until Ja'Marr Chase signs his own extension. That's clearly the priority in Cincinnati, and the Bengals bought themselves time with Higgins by using the franchise tag.

There's also the matter of whether the Bengals will find a trade partner for defensive end Trey Hendrickson or sign him to an extension as well. Again, Burrow has made it very clear he wants the Bengals to retain their top players, but the salary cap is also a factor in those decisions.

Higgins, 26, has been good when healthy, though he's missed five games in each of the last two seasons. He still caught 73 passes for 911 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2024, however, excellent production despite missing nearly a third of the season.

Keeping him and Chase together doesn't just keep Burrow happy, it also makes the Bengals a huge nightmare for opposing secondaries. While Cincinnati has plenty of work to do building out a contender around them, starting with a potent passing attack is generally a viable approach to building out a team.

So for now, Bengals fans wait. At this point, a trade seems unlikely, but much will come down to how the contract negotiations for both Chase and Higgins ultimately go.