Pros and cons of Jaguars trading for Tee Higgins

The Jacksonville Jaguars were a team that made sense for Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins if he didn't return to the team that drafted him. This was because of Higgins' relationship with Trevor Lawrence as the two played together at Clemson.

Higgins was slapped with the franchise tag but he made it clear what his thoughts were on that before the legal tampering window opened up by making it public that he wanted to be traded. The Bengals may or may not comply with Higgins' wishes (and their history indicates that they won't grant him his wish) but that won't stop teams from dreaming of adding Higgins to their offense.

With the Jaguars signing Gabe Davis to a three-year deal and reportedly still being interested in bringing back Calvin Ridley, why would they still want to add Higgins? Let's look at some pros and cons.

Pro: He's really freaking good

If the Bengals are serious about trading Higgins, he'll have plenty of suitors. While he had a weak season in 2023 (at least for him), Higgins was nothing but clutch in his previous three years in Cincinnati. He had over 1,000 yards receiving in 2021 and 2022 and continued to be a WR1-like weapon despite the Bengals also having Ja'Marr Chase.

One of the big pros that comes with swinging for the fences and acquiring Higgins is that he's a great player and he'll make an offense better.

Con: Asking price

If the Bengals end up trading Higgins, they're not going to do it for peanuts. The Jaguars would likely have to part with their first-round pick (potentially a second-rounder) and a few other draft picks as well. They'd also have to sign Higgins to a lengthy extension, which wouldn't be cheap.

Considering that Lawrence is approaching an expensive extension of his own, locking up so much money in two players might not be the best idea, especially considering how much money the team shelled out to Christian Kirk two years ago.

Pro: Connections to Lawrence

As mentioned earlier, Higgins and Lawrence have played together before, spending their college careers at Clemson and crushing it for the Tigers. Higgins tallied over 1,100 yards and 13 touchdowns during his final year at Clemson but he ended up being a second-round pick rather than a first-rounder.

Reuniting Lawrence and Higgins would be fun and clearly the two have chemistry on the field. This is one of the big pros to potentially adding him to the offense as well.

Con: It wouldn't make much sense

Now that Gabe Davis is joining the Jaguars roster, why would the Bengals want to make a massive trade for Higgins? Davis will be a starter and the team also has Kirk and Zay Jones there as well. Higgins is better than all of these receivers so obviously he'd be in a starting role but the move would raise some eyebrows because why sign Davis and then add a bigger name via trade when you could have just made the trade without bringing in Davis?

Higgins is a great player who will get paid at some point but the Jaguars don't need to make any sort of home run deal to bring him in. If they want to add more help at wide receiver, re-sign Calvin Ridley and/or draft a receiver.