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

[TheRainMaker]

Now you are assuming Higgins would refuse to be tagged and traded. He may be willing to do so. I am sure he will not be happy playing another year on the franchise tag since he can make far more money with a long term deal. $26 million may be a huge cap hit for the Bengals, but it less than he is likely to get a year in a long term deal.

I don't think the Bengals will want to tag him and pay him that number. They also have Jamar Chase coming up as well. This is where he could possibly fight the tag.

Also, this was debated back in 2018 when the question was asked why Bill didn't tag and trade Trey Flowers? The answer was once you tag a player, that money is immediately taken off the cap and they didn't exactly have a ton of money to play with.

Also, I mixed up Aiyuk and he wasn't tagged.

 

[lancerman]

I think this won’t work out well for them.

Higgins is going to be PISSED that the Bengals are, once again, denying him the chance to get his big long term deal. In his mind I’m sure he sees them as just repeatedly screwing him over every year for several years now.

I’m betting he tells them that he will refuse to sign or play on the tag. I don’t think Cincinnati actually wants to pay him and keep him this year anyway, this is purely a move to extract trade value. They can try to trade him, but teams may not offer much if they know that Cincinnati doesn’t actually want to keep him. Teams can call their bluff and low-ball or just wait it out. Higgins’ agent will also make it clear that he has no intentions of playing in Cincinnati in 2025 either, depressing their leverage further in trade talks.

If they wanted to pursue a tag and trade, they should’ve done it last year.

If they work out a deal, Higgins won't care and all this drama will die down. If they don't they will trade him, but he'll have a lot of leverage in that trade and a team will have to agree to his contract terms to even get the go ahead to negotiate on the trade compensation.

It was probably still the right move for them. They optically wanted people to see that they weren't just going to cheap on top talent and show their QB that they were committed. If Higgins forces his way out without coming to some sort of deal, then they can say "we tried and he wanted too much".

 

[Ross12]

If I was NE I wouldn’t really get too deep in trade talks but I would certainly keep the lines with Higgins’ agent open. Good chance he becomes available months from now, either with a withdrawn tag or for a cheaper trade price like a 2026 third, in the summer. At that point most teams won’t have the cap space to reasonably give Higgins the deal he wants, but NE should.

 

[Ross12]

If they work out a deal, Higgins won't care and all this drama will die down. If they don't they will trade him, but he'll have a lot of leverage in that trade and a team will have to agree to his contract terms to even get the go ahead to negotiate on the trade compensation.

It was probably still the right move for them. They optically wanted people to see that they weren't just going to cheap on top talent and show their QB that they were committed. If Higgins forces his way out without coming to some sort of deal, then they can say "we tried and he wanted too much".

But the problem is that Higgins will be kept from the true open market. Teams won’t just be offering him their best offer straight-up, the fact that they have to pay the Bengals to acquire his rights will factor into what they’re willing to offer. It will hurt his value. Not every team will be willing or able to part with the draft capital the Bengals ask for, reducing the available suitors.

 

[Joey007]

Higgins isn't going for a 2. We traded a 1 for Cooks for a 1 year flyer. The consensus is Higgins is a WR1. At best maybe you trade down and get an extra 2 and trade a first rounder in the teens or twenties for him.

Keep in mind this is a high 2 and that was a high 1 that was almost a 2. Pretty similar value.

Being on the tag is a flyer in the sense that the player is essentially refusing to play for the team doing the tag. It would be better for the Bengals to get the high 2 compared to nothing at all.

 

[WhatJustHappened]

He's going to get 30-32 from someone, I hope it ain't us.

 

[Patsgofor4]

Higgins isn't going for a 2. We traded a 1 for Cooks for a 1 year flyer. The consensus is Higgins is a WR1. At best maybe you trade down and get an extra 2 and trade a first rounder in the teens or twenties for him.

He may be a WR1 but is he a high-end WR1? Probably not. IMO, there are 10ish elite elite guys and he isn't one of them. He is definitely in the next tier (11 to 15) when healthy.

With his history of nagging soft tissue injuries, I'd be surprised if a team would be willing to give up a 1st AND then give him a $30m+ AAV contract but maybe a team in the 25 to 32 range would consider it. The Eagles paid that price for Brown and then gave him a record-setting contract after he had a bit of a down year during his last year in Tenn with 4 missed games, so there is precedent.

 

[JohnJH]

NESN was never very good but they have truly fallen off the cliff with their Pats reporting, the last few years have outright sucked

If I didn't know better, I'd swear that the "Writers" were paid by the article. I have a better pulse on the Team, a long with where it's at, what it needs to do, and realistic moves that could steadily improve it back to a legit SB Contender/Champion (and I've been living in Wisconsin since I left the Boston Area since 2001). NESN had gotten that bad. AI could probably do a better job of writing articles on the Team.

 

[maust]

We traded a 1 for Cooks for a 1 year flyer.

No 'we' didn't trade a 1 for a 1 year flyer on Cooks. We traded a 1st (32) and change for Cooks on a rookie deal with TWO years remaining on a rookie deal. The Pats paid him $1.5M and got a 1000 yd season out of him then shipped him (and change) out for a 1st (23) and change. It was actually a pretty slick sequence all the way around for New England and one they never would have made without that second year

Worth mentioning, if Cooks didn't get hurt early in the 2nd quarter of LXII...

 

[Love The Drake]

any chance Detroit would entertain Jameson Williams?
Would we part with enough picks to get him?

 

[maust]

If I didn't know better, I'd swear that the "Writers" were paid by the article. I have a better pulse on the Team, a long with where it's at, what it needs to do, and realistic moves that could steadily improve it back to a legit SB Contender/Champion (and I've been living in Wisconsin since I left the Boston Area since 2001). NESN had gotten that bad. AI could probably do a better job of writing articles on the Team.

I suspect most of their Pats stuff is written by various bloggers / "digital content producers"
I don't really care enough to look to verify that though lol

 

[WhatJustHappened]

No 'we' didn't trade a 1 for a 1 year flyer on Cooks. We traded a 1st (32) and change for Cooks on a rookie deal with TWO years remaining on a rookie deal. The Pats paid him $1.5M and got a 1000 yd season out of him then shipped him (and change) out for a 1st (23) and change. It was actually a pretty slick sequence all the way around for New England and one they never would have made without that second year

Worth mentioning, if Cooks didn't get hurt early in the 2nd quarter of LXII...

People can't give BB LOVE, IT'S PATHETIC.

 

[PatsFan2]

IF Tee Higgins is not an option #4 gotta be for sale now. Trade down get a Second in return...we are going to have to learn to Draft our own Wide Receivers.

 

[maust]

People can't give BB LOVE, IT'S PATHETIC.

The acquisition, 1 year use and subsequent trade of Cooks was brilliant. Pats were cap tight, they got a 1000 yd receiver for $1.5M AND moved up 9 spots in the 1st round in the process. Slick AF

 

[PatsFan2]

This move by the Bengals tells they don't trust their Drafting powers in finding another WR like Tee. And we thought we had problems with Drafting WR's.

 

[maust]

This move by the Bengals tells they don't trust their Drafting powers in finding another WR like Tee. And we thought we had problems with Drafting WR's.

In all fairness 'their Drafting powers' did manage to draft Chase and Higgins in the first place... just sayin'

 

[dliverey44]

@Headcase, do you not feel this would be great value for 4?

It's funny to me that in a post containing Pickens it was targeted to @Headcase

 

[dliverey44]

Yep. Do remember the Chiefs did this last year with Sneed for a 3. Wonder if we could trade a 2 for Higgins.

EWWWW do not

 

[JohnJH]

In all fairness 'their Drafting powers' did manage to draft Chase and Higgins in the first place... just sayin'

Although in the case of Chase, and given where they were drafting that year (and that Chase had played with Burrow at LSU), that pick was a no-brainer.

 

[maust]

Although in the case of Chase, and given where they were drafting that year (and that Chase had played with Burrow at LSU), that pick was a no-brainer.

So was taking Deebo or Brown over Harry and yet...