Free Agency and Trades thread

[mistertim]

I assume the Bengals will listen to trade offers after tagging Higgins. Giving Higgins a likely $20+ million/year deal and Chase a likely $30+ million/year contract wile also having Burrow on a huge deal is going to be pretty tough to swing. It will also keep them very one dimensional unless they get lucky and pick up some defensive studs in the draft.

Burrow had what would have absolutely been an MVP season in any other context and they still didn't even make the playoffs due to their horrid defense.

[ACommanderNotCaptain]

I assume the Bengals will listen to trade offers after tagging Higgins. Giving Higgins a likely $20+ million/year deal and Chase a likely $30+ million/year contract wile also having Burrow on a huge deal is going to be pretty tough to swing. It will also keep them very one dimensional unless they get lucky and pick up some defensive studs in the draft.

Burrow had what would have absolutely been an MVP season in any other context and they still didn't even make the playoffs due to their horrid defense.

Could be an AJ Brown situation. It's pricey for the team acquiring Higgins between draft capital and contract, but the team's offense immediately improves after getting Higgins. So it's worth it.

[skinsinparadise]

This is an interesting idea for the Browns. "If you want Garrett, you have to take Watson" (or at least what's left of his contract).

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootba ... st-problem

I saw that from Florio. Wacky stuff. But he loves those off beat takes. I think zero chance that happens. I've seen no one echo that.

[skinsinparadise]

I have no interest in Higgins. I don't want to spend big on a WR. The idea of trading for him makes it even less attractive for me.

In that market for me: Slayton, Elijah Moore, Hopkins assuming all are cheap. Deebo am guessing gets released but not sure how much he has left or what type of contract he wants.

I used to love the idea of Godwin but no more with the 25 million or so projection.

[mistertim]

Could be an AJ Brown situation. It's pricey for the team acquiring Higgins between draft capital and contract, but the team's offense immediately improves after getting Higgins. So it's worth it.

Depends on the contract Higgins is looking for. AJ Brown was a full-on #1 WR stud when he was traded and got his huge contract. Higgins is good, but not a clear cut top 3-5 receiver like Brown. I don't think he's worth top 3 WR money, but he'll probably be asking for it. That + a 1st round pick isn't worth it IMO.

[skinsinparadise]

As far as how serious or not it is -- typically the combine reveals that as for rumors, etc.

[88Commanders00]

4pm is the start of the window to announce your franchise player. Think it’s a 2 week window.

[ACommanderNotCaptain]

Could be an AJ Brown situation. It's pricey for the team acquiring Higgins between draft capital and contract, but the team's offense immediately improves after getting Higgins. So it's worth it.

Depends on the contract Higgins is looking for. AJ Brown was a full-on #1 WR stud when he was traded and got his huge contract. Higgins is good, but not a clear cut top 3-5 receiver like Brown. I don't think he's worth top 3 WR money, but he'll probably be asking for it. That + a 1st round pick isn't worth it IMO.

No he wasn't. His stats were pretty comparable to Tee Higgins.

• Year 1: 1051 yards 8 touchdowns
  Year 2: 1075 yards and 11 touchdowns
  Year 3: 869 yards and 5 touchdowns

He wasn't dominant until his first year in Philly. It's not like he had a Jamarr Chase taking most of the targets either. Ryan Tannehill was throwing primarily at AJ Brown.

Yards Per Game
Tee Higgins - 65.6
AJ Brown (Titans) - 69.7

The thing that Brown was a bit better at than Higgins in the box scores were touchdowns. But Brown also had the lionshare of the Titans red zone targets whereas Burrows was happy throwing to Jamarr Chase.

The argument is, can Higgins production also jump if the main WR opposite him is Terry McLaurin instead of Jamarr Chase (who is the first Triple Crown winner since 2005)? I don't want to make it sound like he wasn't getting the ball in the red zone and wasn't getting touchdowns.

Touchdown Rate
Tee Higgins - 10.3%
AJ Brown (Titans) - 13.0% (for reference his Eagles rate is 9.6%)

Success Rate (catch converts on 3rd/4th down, or gets at least half the yards needed on 1st/2nd down)
Tee Higgins - 59.8%
AJ Brown (Titans) - 55.3%

Let's compare this to our group of non-Terry WR's last year.

Touchdown Rate (2024)
Noah Brown - 2.9%
Dyami Brown - 3.3%
Olamide Zaccheus - 6.7%

Success Rate (2024)
Noah Brown - 57.1% (career high, career average is 51.8%)
Dyami Brown - 51.6%
Olamide Zaccheus - 47.5%

I think there's a very real chance that Tee Higgins could outproduce what he did in Cincinnati, and he'd crush our non-Terry WR production from last season. The offense would be more efficient, and Jayden would not have to put his body on the line so he doesn't get that nagging rib injury that cost us several losses earlier. Jayden is on a rookie contract, Terry will be 30, now's the time to throw assets to ensure Jayden never has to work with bad WR's.

[88Commanders00]

The window has opened for next 2 weeks until Mar 4; for teams to put the franchise tag on players.

I don’t think we have any players we would franchise.

Tee Higgins, a potential player we may be interested in; seems like he will be franchised again.

[mistertim]

Could be an AJ Brown situation. It's pricey for the team acquiring Higgins between draft capital and contract, but the team's offense immediately improves after getting Higgins. So it's worth it.

Depends on the contract Higgins is looking for. AJ Brown was a full-on #1 WR stud when he was traded and got his huge contract. Higgins is good, but not a clear cut top 3-5 receiver like Brown. I don't think he's worth top 3 WR money, but he'll probably be asking for it. That + a 1st round pick isn't worth it IMO.

No he wasn't. His stats were pretty comparable to Tee Higgins.

• Year 1: 1051 yards 8 touchdowns
  Year 2: 1075 yards and 11 touchdowns
  Year 3: 869 yards and 5 touchdowns

He wasn't dominant until his first year in Philly. It's not like he had a Jamarr Chase taking most of the targets either. Ryan Tannehill was throwing primarily at AJ Brown.

Yards Per Game
Tee Higgins - 65.6
AJ Brown (Titans) - 69.7

The thing that Brown was a bit better at than Higgins in the box scores were touchdowns. But Brown also had the lionshare of the Titans red zone targets whereas Burrows was happy throwing to Jamarr Chase.

The argument is, can Higgins production also jump if the main WR opposite him is Terry McLaurin instead of Jamarr Chase (who is the first Triple Crown winner since 2005)? I don't want to make it sound like he wasn't getting the ball in the red zone and wasn't getting touchdowns.

Touchdown Rate
Tee Higgins - 10.3%
AJ Brown (Titans) - 13.0% (for reference his Eagles rate is 9.6%)

Success Rate (catch converts on 3rd/4th down, or gets at least half the yards needed on 1st/2nd down)
Tee Higgins - 59.8%
AJ Brown (Titans) - 55.3%

Let's compare this to our group of non-Terry WR's last year.

Touchdown Rate (2024)
Noah Brown - 2.9%
Dyami Brown - 3.3%
Olamide Zaccheus - 6.7%

Success Rate (2024)
Noah Brown - 57.1% (career high, career average is 51.8%)
Dyami Brown - 51.6%
Olamide Zaccheus - 47.5%

I think there's a very real chance that Tee Higgins could outproduce what he did in Cincinnati, and he'd crush our non-Terry WR production from last season. The offense would be more efficient, and Jayden would not have to put his body on the line so he doesn't get that nagging rib injury that cost us several losses earlier. Jayden is on a rookie contract, Terry will be 30, now's the time to throw assets to ensure Jayden never has to work with bad WR's.

I don't want to pay a 1st round pick + a top 3 WR contract to a guy with the hope that he morphs from a good #2 to an elite top 3 receiver. I have a feeling our FO might balk at that as well.

Either way, it's probably a moot point, as Higgins will likely be catching passes from Burrow again this season unless the Bengals get a huge draft haul offer for him.