Cincinnati Bengals Expected to Trade Superstar Wide Receiver In Next Week
After all of the noise that the past offseason has brought, the most realistic trade opportunity that this organization may get for Higgins is with the Arizona Cardinals. With the current draft order and top-end talent, it is almost a guarantee at this point that Arizona will take prodigal wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. That means that the NFC West team will still have the 27th overall pick that they traded from the Miami Dolphins during the NFL Draft last season.
With Harrison already in the lineup, bringing in Higgins for a first-round pick while also likely pulling in an additional day two or day three pick would give Arizona arguably the most talented duo of receivers in the NFL after just one day. Factor in that this team still has tight end Trey McBride on a rookie contract for another two seasons and all of a sudden, this is an elite offense. At the very least, the organization will finally have the talent around talented quarterback Kyler Murray to properly assess his role in the future of the organization.
The deal would also be a massive success for Cincinnati since they could likely draft Higgins’ replacement in the bottom of the first round with the 27th overall pick and keep that player on a rookie salary for five full seasons. There has been speculation that after trading Higgins, the organization may have an interest in pairing talented LSU wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. with other LSU alums like All-Pro receiver Ja’Marr Chase and superstar quarterback Joe Burrow.
On top of the basic LSU argument, Thomas possessed similar gifts as Higgins with elite athleticism that would work well with the way that the Cincinnati offensive scheme. While fans may not enjoy losing Higgins after how dramatic the past few weeks have been, trading away a player that would likely cost over $25 million per season and getting a replacement with arguably more raw talent seems like a gigantic win for Cincinnati.