Jason LaCanfora: Pats really want Higgins "He's going to New England"

[Steve102]

He’s gonna bodybag steve102? Steve103 takes his place?

 

[Sciz]

I don't sweat the "only has XXXX cap space thing". We've seen teams figure out how to kick the can down the road. I would wager the Eagles will as well.

The Eagles are approaching the limit. Every notable veteran on their roster has what we think of as restructuring just built into their contract as the default option, and they still only have $14M effective cap space. Their biggest opportunity to make cap room right now is actually to re-sign Sweat before his contract voids, allowing $10M dead money to stay in future seasons rather than all accelerating to this year.

 

[TommyD4207]

Let me make this clear: HC Mike Vrabel is getting Tee Higgins for our N.E. Patriots.

This is the Wolf leak to save face.

 

[jdlboot14]

I like Higgins size. But he's not fast. Pretty slow off the line, and has benefitted from Chase taking the #1 CB the last 4 years.
I DO NOT want to pay him $30M/yr that people are saying it will take to get him. That's insane.

 

[mgteich]

I don't sweat the "only has XXXX cap space thing". We've seen teams figure out how to kick the can down the road. I would wager the Eagles will as well.

There should be no cap space issue. The issue is whether we want to pay Higgins what he is willing to agree to.

 

[PatsFan2]

I like Higgins size. But he's not fast. Pretty slow off the line, and has benefitted from Chase taking the #1 CB the last 4 years.
I DO NOT want to pay him $30M/yr that people are saying it will take to get him. That's insane.

We can always get an X-WR to compensate for his lack of Elite Speed. But I will take 6'4 size and Catch Radius. Some of You guys are sleeping on Tee Higgins.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

I like Higgins size. But he's not fast. Pretty slow off the line, and has benefitted from Chase taking the #1 CB the last 4 years.
I DO NOT want to pay him $30M/yr that people are saying it will take to get him. That's insane.

I don't think Higgins benefits from Chase as much as people think. I think it goes as much the other way, to be honest, when you consider their play styles.

Typically, when yo talk about the #2 benefiting from the attention the #1 draws, it's the underneath/intermediate route runner and YAC player benefitting from safety over the top shaded to the #1 and the space that creates underneath. But Higgins is primarily an outside the numbers, downfield threat, while Chase is the YAC guy there. Higgins is the one who actually plays an "open things up for others" style.

Yes, teams are going to put their best man to man guy on Chase. And yes the safety needs to be wary of Chase getting downfield on his side. But the whole Higgins being hurt by the extra attention without Chase isn't as big a concern for me as a lot of other #2s moving away from their #1 as it is in some other cases.

Like for instance, I'd be much, much more wary of Godwin playing without Mike Evans because stylistically I think Godwin's game is more predicated on the attention Evans draws.

 

[Steve102]

I like Higgins size. But he's not fast. Pretty slow off the line, and has benefitted from Chase taking the #1 CB the last 4 years.
I DO NOT want to pay him $30M/yr that people are saying it will take to get him. That's insane.

I've been the guy beating the drum on $30-35m is what it will take to get this guy. He's a top receiver in the prime productivity portion of his career, albeit he can't stay on the field. He's not elite, but let's not pretend he's not a top receiver. He is. He's better than everyone they courted last year, and he doesn't seem to be a headcase like Pickens, Diggs or Ridley. He's not CeeDee Lamb, Chase, Jefferson or AJ Brown, but he's dammed good. I think you have to pay a lousy team tax to get a couple guys in here to get going in the right direction.

 

[PWRxWLF]

I like Higgins size. But he's not fast. Pretty slow off the line, and has benefitted from Chase taking the #1 CB the last 4 years.
I DO NOT want to pay him $30M/yr that people are saying it will take to get him. That's insane.

Look up his stats when Chase wasnt playing.

 

[Rob0729]

I like Higgins size. But he's not fast. Pretty slow off the line, and has benefitted from Chase taking the #1 CB the last 4 years.
I DO NOT want to pay him $30M/yr that people are saying it will take to get him. That's insane.

Higgins didn't have Chase his rookie year and it was solid. And he is averaging over a 100 yards a game in games where Chase wasn't active since Chase came into the league. Saying he is only a product of Chase is not really true.

The guy isn't an elite #1 WR. He can be an above average #1 WR.

And speed isn't everything. There are plenty of WRs who were/are elite or extremely good who are not fast like Larry Fitzgerald, Davante Adams, Antonio Brown, Mike Evans, Michael Thomas, Adam Theilan, etc. Speed isn't everything.

And with the amount of money the Patriots have over the next two years and Maye in a rookie deal for at least that time, I don't mind them overpaying for talent.

 

[Steve102]

We can always get an X-WR to compensate for his lack of Elite Speed. But I will take 6'4 size and Catch Radius. Some of You guys are sleeping on Tee Higgins.

You need an elite weapon somewhere. Doesn't need to be a WR, you can have an elite TE (Gronk for the Pats, Kelse for Chiefs), or an elite back (Saquon, Derrick Henry) If you paired Higgins with an elite weapon, he will be fine.

 

[mgteich]

You need an elite weapon somewhere. Doesn't need to be a WR, you can have an elite TE (Gronk for the Pats, Kelse for Chiefs), or an elite back (Saquon, Derrick Henry) If you paired Higgins with an elite weapon, he will be fine.

So, pay $30M for Higgins AND pay of an elite weapon?

With what we would pay Higgins, Higgins should be the elite weapon.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

Sign Higgins and trade for Deebo with an extension and then, along with Pop Douglas and Boutte as the #3 and #4, I think you can cross WR off the "need" list for 2 years. I'm not saying it's a perfect depth chart or some amazing value proposition, but IMO you'd be able to pretty confidently say that you have one of the most expensive/overdrafted positions in all of football locked in with a "good enough to win with" depth chart for 2 seasons. If you love a guy in the draft you can still take one because eventually you'll want to move one from one or both of Higgins/Deebo and Douglas/Boutte might not be worth paying on their next deals, but you remove the sense of desperation and urgency we have at the position. With the caveat that you'd like more individual speed, it's a really well-fitting depth chart. McDaniels is good at play design, Maye throws a great deep ball, and despite a lack of speed Higgins is a great downfield threat so even despite a relatively slow WR corps there's still good ability to generate explosive plays there.

We have $120M in cap space and very little budding young talent on the roster that will be up for extensions in the near future (only Maye and Gonzo look like guys we should be seriously focused on/interested in re-signing when their current deals are up). They don't have to hoard cap space.

 

[Steve102]

So, pay $30M for Higgins AND pay of an elite weapon?

With what we would pay Higgins, Higgins should be the elite weapon.

In theory, you'd be right. Unfortunately, Higgins isn't elite. I believe that anyone elite at any position doesn't make it to market unless they have baggage or they are beyond their expiration date.

I think they need to draft that elite guy. Don't ask me who that is, I don't know.

 

[TommyD4207]

In theory, you'd be right. Unfortunately, Higgins isn't elite. I believe that anyone elite at any position doesn't make it to market unless they have baggage or they are beyond their expiration date.

I think they need to draft that elite guy. Don't ask me who that is, I don't know.

This is actually a super-fair take, I respect it.

 

[turkeyneck]

I like Higgins size. But he's not fast. Pretty slow off the line, and has benefitted from Chase taking the #1 CB the last 4 years.
I DO NOT want to pay him $30M/yr that people are saying it will take to get him. That's insane.

That's the part that gives me pause. Too many times I've seen a guy who looks stellar because he played with a beast who took all the attention look meh when the beast wasn't there, and not just at WR.

 

[Brotherblues]

In theory, you'd be right. Unfortunately, Higgins isn't elite. I believe that anyone elite at any position doesn't make it to market unless they have baggage or they are beyond their expiration date.

I think they need to draft that elite guy. Don't ask me who that is, I don't know.

Elite or not, he is very, very good. He's top 20 at a position with 96 starters. He'd move our WR situation from critical to stabilized in one swing. And we'd be paying for years of future performance in a Pats uniform instead of past performance on another team (Kupp, Deebo, Godwin, Hopkins, Cooper, Diggs).

 

[Brotherblues]

That's the part that gives me pause. Too many times I've seen a guy who looks stellar because he played with a beast who took all the attention look meh when the beast wasn't there, and not just at WR.

When Chase missed a bunch of games in 2022, Higgins was still very productive while drawing top CBs.

 

[Vindicate]

Tee ain't staying there and Chase is better... Burrow can't do crap. Tee also have a new Agent again the writing on the wall.

It's the same agent as Chase. He did this on purpose. Higgins wants to stay with the Bengals.

 

[Vindicate]

That's the part that gives me pause. Too many times I've seen a guy who looks stellar because he played with a beast who took all the attention look meh when the beast wasn't there, and not just at WR.

Higgins was the #1 his first year before Chase came and he did fine. He isn't an elite #1, but he is definitely a great receiver. 67/908/6 TD's with a first year Burrow only playing 10 games because they had one of the worst OL's I've seen in a long time.

I do not think he'll be the savior by himself, he'll need to be paired with someone as good or better, but even him alone is a huge upgrade. Very clutch receiver.