If Tee Higgins Is Available, How Could The Jaguars Acquire Him?

Why Should The Jaguars Look At Another Receiver, Specifically Higgins?

As it stands, the wide receiving corps in Jacksonville isn't taking any applications for full-time roles. Christian Kirk and Zay Jones are only entering the second year of their contracts after career seasons while Calvin Ridley is the clear heir-apparent to Marvin Jones Jr. If anyone could come in and start for Jacksonville over one of these guys, specifically Zay Jones, they would need to be both affordable and a huge upgrade at the position. With a poor free agent class and a lot of top receivers already trading places last offseason, there's not a whole lot of candidates, but I've got one that easily fits all those requirements.

Tee Higgins is a No. 1 receiver who has been playing as the No. 2 throughout most of his time in Cincinnati. Despite deferring to Ja'Marr Chase, Higgins has eclipsed a thousand yards receiving in each of his seasons with him. That's nothing short of impressive. Having been a second round selection, Higgins doesn't carry a fifth-year option and is entering the final year of his rookie deal. There have been rumors floating around that Cincinnati doesn't want to pay what Higgins wants, so if that's true he could be floated around the trade market.

Along with those reasons, there's one even larger that most fans are familiar with or could recognize from the thumbnail. Tee Higgins was Trevor Lawrence's best receiver during their college days at Clemson. Higgins accumulated 2,103 receiving yards in his two seasons with Lawrence and was a huge factor in Clemson bringing home the National Championship that first season. How many stories are gonna sound cooler than reuniting two college teammates who won a National Championship with the purpose of bringing a Lombardi trophy to Jacksonville?

An Interesting Proposal To Bring In Tee Higgins Without A First Round Selection

If Tee Higgins leaves Cincinnati this offseason, expect it to be at a high cost comparable to Davante Adams or Stefon Diggs. Teams may be able to argue it down to a second round selection, but that's still a lot to give up. Don't get it wrong, Higgins would be worth it, but it's a big selection to give up, so how can the Jaguars look to assemble a trade package that doesn't hurt the team? Here's my proposal.

What if the Jaguars packaged Cam Robinson and a third or fourth round selection to acquire Tee Higgins? I think that makes a ton of sense. The Bengals have been hopeless on the offensive line and desperately need capable players, so a solid left tackle would fit that bill. Meanwhile in Jacksonville, Walker Little has been waiting patiently for a much-deserved starting role on this team and could fill the void immediately. The Jaguars would need to fill a hole at swing tackle, but I think that's a small price to pay when you think about it.

From a salary cap standpoint, the Bengals would likely have a net loss of $9.1M in cap space while the Jaguars would have a net gain of either $9.1M or $14.1M depending on the designation of the trade. The Bengals have a nice surplus of cap space available to make this move and could easily resign all of their players if wanted. For the Jaguars, not only do you acquire a top receiving talent, but you have enough cap space available to retain nearly everyone on your roster with some restructuring.

A new contract would have to be in the works for Tee Higgins, but the Jaguars would be able to backload that deal and have a minimal cap hit the first season. What that does is it opens up a two-year window with an all-star receiving group that would be unparalleled in the NFL. If you want to win a Super Bowl, you've got to be willing to make the big moves like that.

Final Evaluation Of A Tee Higgins Trade To The Jaguars

Bringing Tee Higgins to Jacksonville to join Calvin Ridley, Christian Kirk, and Zay Jones would make this receiving corps one of the best to ever take the field in NFL history. I don't take that lightly. Pairing him back up with Trevor Lawrence could be the catalyst that sees Lawrence firmly join the argument for being the best quarterback in the NFL. As a defense, how could you defend against a three-headed, perhaps four-headed monster like this?

What makes the trade even better is that it fixes the salary cap situation this year and would become affordable during his second deal as the cap takes on a meteoric rise. As of now, there are projections for the cap space being over $300M in 2026, essentially rising about $30M each season. You could sign him for $25M per year and still be able to afford it.

A move like this would be enough to throw the Jaguars deep into the Super Bowl conversation next season, so it's at least got to be considered. That said, there's two issues I see with it. One is that the Jaguars probably wouldn't be too interested to have three receivers earning roughly $20M a year or more. It may break opposing defenses but it would still be a monstrous 25% of your salary cap space. You've also gotta pay Lawrence in a few years.

Second, I'm not sure how demoting Zay Jones to playing a smaller role in the offense would be seen in the locker room. Jones is coming off his best career season and is deserving of a starting role, and this is a player who has been loyal to this organization during his time here. Maybe he could rotate in often, but he's still going to have a diminished role on the team.

With all this said, would I take this trade if it was accepted? Yes. If you were able to pair this with a good draft then this could turn into an unstoppable team. Honestly, my expectations would go from AFC Championship appearance to Super Bowl win. If I'm Jacksonville, I'm making the call and putting together an offseason plan for acquiring Higgins, but don't expect the actual front office to feel the exact same. After acquiring Calvin Ridley, we're likely finished with big splash moves this offseason.

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