Get ready to pour the cold water of reality on all of your big offseason dreams, Denver Broncos fans. Things are going to start happening very soon in the NFL as trades can be agreed upon in principle at any time (although not completed until March) and the franchise tag window is set to open up very soon.
And the tag window will likely end up eliminating wide receiver Tee Higgins from the list of options this offseason. The Cincinnati Bengals may be known for being overly cheap, but they aren't going to make the highest-paid player in franchise history upset by letting one of his top weapons go for nothing at the peak of his NFL career.
Higgins played this past season on the franchise tag, worth north of $21 million in guaranteed money. If he's tagged again -- which is a distinct possibility -- he would be guaranteed over $26 million. If Higgins were to reach the open market, he would be expected to sign a contract worth at least $30 million in average annual value.
No matter what way you slice it, the Denver Broncos' dreams of signing Higgins as a free agent -- if they ever had aims on doing that in the first place -- are likely about to go up in smoke.
Tee Higgins being franchise tagged would eliminate him from Broncos options
It's probably even a little far-fetched to think that Tee Higgins would be an option for the Broncos if he reached the open market. You're talking about getting into a bidding war over a player who would end up being paid as much as Justin Jefferson while not giving you even close to that level of playmaker. With all due respect, of course.
Higgins is a very good player, but he's not on par with a guy like Jefferson or even Ja'Marr Chase, his own teammate there in Cincinnati. And the Bengals appear poised to make other sacrifices on their roster in order to fit Higgins on the cap.
They have north of $46 million in salary cap space this coming offseason. With over $26 million being occupied by Higgins, they could end up saving a bunch of space by re-structuring Joe Burrow's deal and possibly trading away Trey Hendrickson, who could save them $16 million this offseason.
No matter what, the dreams of acquiring Higgins and getting him out of Cincinnati at the age of 26 are likely up in smoke before they ever had a real chance to get any legs at all. Teams around the NFL rarely let guys like this hit the open market and especially when you have Joe Burrow doing public campaigning to bring him back, even saying he'll re-do his contract to make it happen, you have to assume the Bengals are not going to let him walk.
It also just doesn't make any sense for the Bengals business-wise to let Higgins walk in free agency. With the franchise tag both affordable and available, it would be horrible roster malpractice to simply let the guy walk for nothing. In a worst-case scenario, we'll likely see Higgins moved in a sign-and-trade. But that would be extremely costly in multiple ways.
The Broncos can take a different approach this offseason. There are veterans available who could help this roster tremendously, and more likely on the way as roster cuts start trickling in. How about the idea of Davante Adams if he's cut from the Jets? Unless Adams is married to the idea of playing with Aaron Rodgers, that could be a huge fit for Bo Nix for a couple of seasons.
The ideas of Cooper Kupp and Deebo Samuel have been floated out there. The Broncos could use a veteran receiver to help them this offseason and while Higgins would have been the free agency Holy Grail, that doesn't appear to be in the cards anymore.