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The Chicago Bears will probably have a new quarterback in Caleb Williams under center in 2024, and the franchise will try to pair him with an equally exciting new wide receiver.
That player could come via the draft in the form of the University of Washington’s Rome Odunze, or he might arrive in free agency in the shape of Mike Evans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, a third option exists — trading with the Cincinnati Bengals for the recently franchise-tagged Tee Higgins.
Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report on Monday, March 4, named the Bears among the top-five trade destinations for Higgins, who the Bengals are open to dealing for the right price.
DJ Moore was outstanding in his first season in Chicago, setting career-highs in receptions (96), receiving yards (1,364) and touchdowns (8). But behind Moore, there isn’t much — tight end Cole Kmet was the only other player on the roster who surpassed 420 receiving yards.
That’s not going to cut it in an NFC North that saw two teams (the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers) win playoff games last year. If the Bears want to give Williams the best chance to succeed, Moore needs a running mate, and Moore and Higgins wouldn’t be a bad one-two punch.
Now, if the Bears really want Higgins, they could essentially make a “Godfather” offer. If the Bengals are serious about moving Higgins, Cincinnati would pounce on an offer involving the ninth overall pick. That’s a high price to pay for Higgins, but the argument can be made that supporting Williams in any and every way possible is worth it.
Bengals Likely to Trade Tee Higgins, Bears Can Easily Absorb His Contract
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GettyCincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins.
Some eyes may roll and/or eyebrows raise at the notion of Cincy bailing on Higgins at least one year before they must.
But ESPN’s Dan Graziano reported that the buzz around the league during last week’s NFL Combine was that the Bengals franchised Higgins specifically to deal him, thereby securing value in return potentially as high as a first-round pick.
“A lot of people in Indy seemed to think the reason the Bengals franchised Tee Higgins as early as they did was so they could trade him,” Graziano wrote on Sunday, March 3. “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.”
Following the tag, Higgins is set to play the 2024 campaign on a one-year contract worth just shy of $22 million. Spotrac projects his market value at $74.4 million over the life of a new four-year deal ($18.6 million annually). The Bears currently have nearly $79 million in salary cap space, which is the third-most in the NFL as of Monday.
Bears Won’t Maximize Draft Asset Value by Trading Top 10 Pick to Bengals for Tee Higgins
GettyFormer Washington Huskies wide receiver Rome Odunze.
If Chicago is willing to offer its No. 9 overall pick for Higgins, securing him is a near certainty.
The rub, however, is that pick can easily go toward a player like Odunze or an edge rusher like Dallas Turner — both of whom project to be star-level talents at premium positions of need for the Bears. And drafting either of them affords Chicago four years on an affordable rookie deal and a cost-controlled fifth season via the team options that come along with first-round picks.
Using that pick to land Higgins locks down a 25-year-old receiver with two 1,000-yard campaigns in four NFL seasons, despite playing second-fiddle to Chase for the past three years. Higgins is a legitimate No. 1, as is Moore, and pairing the two of them together would be a boon for the Bears’ offense.
The second edge of that sword is that Odunze could be just as good as Higgins, or even better. He will turn 22 years old in June and will be vastly less expensive. Chicago could then use the extra salary cap space to sign a three-technique defensive tackle or an edge rusher to pair alongside Montez Sweat. If the Bears need to trade for that player, they should be recouping a second- or third-round pick for quarterback Justin Fields.
The best case scenario would be to use the No. 9 pick on a player like Turner, then utilize the trade return for Fields and another asset to deal for a proven entity at receiver in Higgins. That could prove difficult for Chicago, however, as offers for Higgins will be competitive and the market for Fields didn’t prove quite as strong as the team thought, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.
