BIG SETBACK: Bengals loses top profile player.
The Buffalo Bills have a major void to fill after trading wide receiver Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans, but there is at least one playmaker who could be on the market who would be an ideal fit in quarterback Josh Allen‘s supporting cast.
After the Bengals used the franchise tag on wide receiver Tee Higgins, the hope was that the two sides would reach a long-term contract that would keep him on the receiving end of passes from Joe Burrow but lower his cap number alongside Ja’Marr Chase.
However, the Bengals and Higgins have yet to reach an accord, which could lead to Cincinnati exploring options to trade the 25-year-old before the NFL Draft gets underway.
Bleacher Report suggests the Buffalo Bills are an ideal fit and could trade for Higgins.
The Bills effectively gave Diggs away, and if Buffalo has designs on competing for the Super Bowl out of a loaded AFC, replacing his production and ability to take the top off an opposing defense could prove critical to the franchise’s success in 2024.
There’s also a belief inside the NFL that Buffalo could act quickly to replace Stefon Diggs.
“I think it will be a net positive for Buffalo,” a rival AFC East executive told me after the Bills’ Diggs trade went down. “I think Josh Allen is that good. They will draft a receiver, they’ll sign another, maybe even use some of that extra draft capital to pull off a trade of their own to get a veteran wideout.”
Last season, Higgins caught 42 passes for 565 yards and five touchdowns, despite missing two games due to injuries and dealing with wildly inconsistent quarterback play after Burrow suffered a season-ending wrist injury in Week 11.
A consistent deep threat, not only did Higgins average a career-high 15.6 yards per reception during the 2023 season, but finished the year averaging a whopping 5.6 yards per reception, according to Pro Football Focus.
Higgins could be an ideal scheme fit for the Bills, and the deep threat that Allen and the offense were missing as Diggs’ production cratered over the final six weeks of the 2023 campaign.
Leave a Reply