3 reasons the Jacksonville Jaguars are better off not trading for Tee Higgins
The Jacksonville Jaguars won the AFC South and made the playoffs last year. However, they’ll need to reload their roster and keep restocking their roster if they want to keep up with teams such as the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills next season. One player that could add a boost to their offense is Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins, who might be available via trade.
Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic reports Cincy could place Higgins on the trade block if they can’t sign him to a long-term deal. A second-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Higgins is an important piece of the Bengals’ offensive puzzle, having caught 215 passes for 3,028 yards with 19 touchdowns over the last three seasons.
All things considered, Higgins would be a great addition to the Jaguars’ locker room. He was teammates with running back Travis Etienne back and Trevor Lawrence back at Clemson, so he could quickly get acclimated in Jacksonville. On the other hand, there are several reasons it doesn’t make sense for the Jaguars to trade for Higgins. Here are three.
3 The Jacksonville Jaguars don’t have the cap to sign Tee Higgins
When it comes to an NFL roster, there’s no such thing as having too many good players but putting together Dream Team together is not simply realistic due to salary cap rules. You could have four or five blue-chip players in any given year. However, clubs will often have to make tough choices when assembling their rosters and move on from players they would otherwise like to keep. This is why you will see so much turnover from one offseason to another.
The Jaguars are currently over $20 million in the red and will most likely need to release a few players to get under the cap. They will then need to re-sign their own free agents before they consider bringing in someone else.
Once the Jaguars get their cap in order and re-sign whatever players they want back, they won’t have much space to trade for Tee Higgins. Sure, they could give him a big signing bonus and spread it over several years but that will limit their ability to make moves in the future. On top of that, the Jaguars would probably need to part ways with draft picks to land Higgins. Simply, that’s not a sustainable way to build a roster.
Building through the draft isn’t particularly an exciting process but that’s how the best teams get to the top and remain there. Look at the Kansas Chiefs, they will make a big move every now and then but they acquired the majority of their players throughout the draft. That’s what the Jags need to do moving forward.