Tee Higgins going foward.

[casear2727]

(03-26-2022, 06:05 PM)impactplaya Wrote: For whatever reason AJ simply could not rise to the
Occasion in.the playoffs. I recall vividly vs the Texans
A.J dropped a catchable pass in the end zone. 
AJ had a tendency to put the ball on the ground 
In crucial times.

Some of these AJ takes are really, really bad.  I love Tee, hope we can keep him, but AJ was one of the league's leading WR with constant double coverage.  7 time pro bowler. 

I wasnt happy with us keeping AJ his final year here but geez..... every single team that didnt have Julio Jones or Calvin Johnson would had taken AJ as their #1.  Tee is no where near that level at this present time.  

Tee's agent is the same as Bate's so I have little faith we have him for the long term.

[Ell Prez]

(03-26-2022, 11:35 AM)Luvnit2 Wrote: I think his role and his talent is far superior to another guy I really like, Tyler Boyd.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cincinnati-bengals/cap/2023/

I would rather cut Boyd and eat only 1.4 in dead money and gain an additional 10 million in cap space in 2023 than not give Higgins a new contract. We may draft the Boyd replacement in 2022, if not in 2023.

This 100x. And I’d cut Mixon too if it meant keeping Higgins. We can and should keep Burrow, Chase, Higgins for their entire careers. I’d also let Bates walk just to keep Higgins. Walking away from 2 of those 3 should allow us to keep Higgins.

[*Go Cards*]

(03-26-2022, 05:28 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Great post. I love Higgins. So much so that he's a big reason I was leaning towards passing on Chase last year (which thank God we didn't do). That said, we now have the problem that the best teams have: We can't afford everyone.

The Chiefs just traded Tyreek for this reason. The Packers traded Adams. Those were their #1 WRs. If they can't keep their #1's, we surely won't be able to keep our #2 who clearly is capable of being a WR1.

It'll suck to see him go, but the smart move would be to trade Higgins for a good pick. We'd almost certainly get a 1st rounder for him, which will be a good value both in trade and contract.

That's the right play with Higgins when the time comes. We might not be able to keep Boyd, either. If we want to keep Burrow and Chase, that's going to take a ridiculous chunk of our cap.

I'd also evaluate this every step of the way, and - don't shoot me - it may eventually make more sense to keep Higgins over Chase if the difference in contract is monumental. I doubt it, but it'd be wise to keep our minds open.

Said the same thing in my second to last line but leaning toward them finding a way to figure it out per him and Burrow being buddies.  Burrow may take slight cut to keep his friend. 

Yet maybe not, money talks

[Ell Prez]

(03-26-2022, 10:39 PM)Go Cards Wrote: Said the same thing in my second to last line but leaning toward them finding a way to figure it out per him and Burrow being buddies.  Burrow may take slight cut to keep his friend. 

Yet maybe not, money talks

Zero chance I’d let chase walk to keep Higgins. And there’s no reason we can’t keep burrow and chase.

[Ell Prez]

(03-26-2022, 11:35 AM)Luvnit2 Wrote: I think his role and his talent is far superior to another guy I really like, Tyler Boyd.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cincinnati-bengals/cap/2023/

I would rather cut Boyd and eat only 1.4 in dead money and gain an additional 10 million in cap space in 2023 than not give Higgins a new contract. We may draft the Boyd replacement in 2022, if not in 2023.

This 100x. And I’d cut Mixon too if it meant keeping Higgins. We can and should keep Burrow, Chase, Higgins for their entire careers. I’d also let Bates walk just to keep Higgins. Walking away from 2 of those 3 should allow us to keep Higgins.

[Bengalstripes9]

I work with all Packers fans and we were talking about how much better off the packers would be if they didn’t pass up drafting TJ Watt and Tee Higgins. They could have won a championship for sure.

Tee’s great. I think he has room to improve as well. His route running and ability to get separation definitely can improve. He’s made some drops here and there and just allowed himself to get balls batted away because he doesn’t have enough separation.

To me AJ Green was definitely better right away and was easily a top 5 wideout or better during his prime. I don’t see Tee in the top 10 yet, but he can definitely get there if he keeps at it. I would love to see him break out next year. He’s a huge part of our offense.

[*Go Cards*]

(03-26-2022, 10:46 PM)Ell Prez Wrote: Zero chance I’d let chase walk to keep Higgins. And there’s no reason we can’t keep burrow and chase.

Hope not either but the Packers just had to let the best WR in NFL for 2 years running in Devante Adams and kept Allen Lazard.

The Chiefs just let Tyreek Hill go and kept Juju Smith Schuster. 

Bet their fans are not happy about those moves. 

When you have to pay your QB  $966,762 a week salary like GB had to do then hard decisions have to be made. That's only 33,000 and some change away from a million a week. 

It's crazy and glad Bengals don't have to make that decision yet. Heck there may even be injuries by then that changes everything, who knows. Thats why we must go all in the next two years, and looks like the Bengals understand that fortunately. 

[Nicomo Cosca]

(03-26-2022, 09:59 PM)casear2727 Wrote: Some of these AJ takes are really, really bad.  I love Tee, hope we can keep him, but AJ was one of the league's leading WR with constant double coverage.  7 time pro bowler. 

I wasnt happy with us keeping AJ his final year here but geez..... every single team that didnt have Julio Jones or Calvin Johnson would had taken AJ as their #1.  Tee is no where near that level at this present time.  

Tee's agent is the same as Bate's so I have little faith we have him for the long term.

This.

Between all the injuries towards the end, and then his final season here - people seem to somehow be forgetting just how good prime AJ was. And how many circus catches did we see him make over the years? I can’t even imagine what kind of numbers he could have put up with a much more accurate QB like Burrow in his prime.

And speaking of Tee and Bates’ agent, apparently he also represents Deshaun Watson. I saw the guys from the Locked On podcast talking about him. They brought up how much the family still hates the Browns, and that he’s probably not going to be their most favorite particular agent to deal with going forward.

[Nicomo Cosca]

(03-26-2022, 10:46 PM)Ell Prez Wrote: Zero chance I’d let chase walk to keep Higgins. And there’s no reason we can’t keep burrow and chase.

Agreed. Gotta keep the two guys that have made history at multiple levels together . I love Tee, but between him and Chase it’s a no-brainer for me.

[Nicomo Cosca]

(03-26-2022, 11:06 PM)Go Cards Wrote: Hope not either but the Packers just had to let the best WR in NFL for 2 years running in Devante Adams and kept Allen Lazard.

The Chiefs just let Tyreek Hill go and kept Juju Smith Schuster.

Bet their fans are not happy about those moves. 

When you have to pay your QB  $966,762 a week salary like GB had to do then hard decisions have to be made. That's only 33,000 and some change away from a million a week. 

It's crazy and glad Bengals don't have to make that decision yet. Heck there may even be injuries by then that changes everything, who knows. Thats why we must go all in the next two years, and looks like the Bengals understand that fortunately. 

Probably a good thing we aren’t paying a guard $22 million (Thuney’s 2023 cap hit). Just sayin…

[Whatever]

(03-26-2022, 11:06 PM)Go Cards Wrote: Hope not either but the Packers just had to let the best WR in NFL for 2 years running in Devante Adams and kept Allen Lazard.

The Chiefs just let Tyreek Hill go and kept Juju Smith Schuster. 

Bet their fans are not happy about those moves. 

When you have to pay your QB  $966,762 a week salary like GB had to do then hard decisions have to be made. That's only 33,000 and some change away from a million a week. 

It's crazy and glad Bengals don't have to make that decision yet. Heck there may even be injuries by then that changes everything, who knows. Thats why we must go all in the next two years, and looks like the Bengals understand that fortunately. 

The Chiefs really got stuck because they are a team that relies heavily on restructuring deals to clear cap space.  That works fine when your highest paid guys are in the early years of their contracts, but the needed to go to Hill to get an extension done because he was in a contract year.  Hill put them over the barrel and told them he wanted Adams money or he wouldn't sign an extension.  Teams have to be careful in managing their cap like that, because they give their players(and the agents) a ton of power.  Mahomes deal is basically made to restructure and push cap dollars into future years.  If he's not happy, though, he can simply refuse and demand a trade once his cap number has ballooned enough.

GB allegedly offered Adams more money than LV.  He just wanted to be a Raider.

[THE PISTONS]

WRs are signing for $30 million a year...and people want Boyd...who is on a reasonable contract waived.

His contract is one of the best values on the team.

Cut Boyd and when Chase or Higgins miss a game...we're in trouble.

[*jason*]

(03-26-2022, 11:06 PM)Go Cards Wrote: Hope not either but the Packers just had to let the best WR in NFL for 2 years running in Devante Adams and kept Allen Lazard.

The Chiefs just let Tyreek Hill go and kept Juju Smith Schuster. 

Bet their fans are not happy about those moves. 

When you have to pay your QB  $966,762 a week salary like GB had to do then hard decisions have to be made. That's only 33,000 and some change away from a million a week. 

It's crazy and glad Bengals don't have to make that decision yet. Heck there may even be injuries by then that changes everything, who knows. Thats why we must go all in the next two years, and looks like the Bengals understand that fortunately. 

I have to think the WR market will even itself out quickly... It's ridiculous. Either that, or QB salaries need to not count against the cap.

[*bfine32*]

For those saying Tee is not as good as AJ.

Is Chase as good as Chad?

[Whatever]

(03-26-2022, 11:21 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: This.

Between all the injuries towards the end, and then his final season here - people seem to somehow be forgetting just how good prime AJ was. And how many circus catches did we see him make over the years? I can’t even imagine what kind of numbers he could have put up with a much more accurate QB like Burrow in his prime.

And speaking of Tee and Bates’ agent, apparently he also represents Deshaun Watson. I saw the guys from the Locked On podcast talking about him. They brought up how much the family still hates the Browns, and that he’s probably not going to be their most favorite particular agent to deal with going forward.

There have been a lot of weird comps in this thread.  I think folks are forgetting about CD Lamb when saying Tee is the 2nd best WR in the '20 class.  Then there's omitting Chase from the "greatest 2nd gear" talk.  

I don't think keeping Tee is wise or realistic.  Tee is a high end WR2 on what should be one of the top teams in the league when he hits free agency.  He is exactly the type of player a bad team with a poor WR corps will throw monster money at to be a WR1(and probably have buyer's remorse later because they massively overpaid for him).  

I don't see it as being wise, either, because historically the Bengals have done a very good job at drafting WR's(Ross aside).  If the Bengals spend a 1st and/or 2nd on a WR in the next year or two, the odds are pretty high that they will get a guy that can replace Higgins production when he leaves.  Now, what are the odds that they're going to be able to draft a T to replace Collins or Jonah in that same time frame?  A lot worse.  It makes sense to spend your draft capital on positions that you know you can scout well and spend your FA dollars on positions you don't do such a good job of drafting.  

[Whatever]

(03-27-2022, 12:03 AM)bfine32 Wrote: For those saying Tee is not as good as AJ.

Is Chase as good as Chad?

Tee was not as good as AJ  during their respective first two years in the league.  Could he catch or even surpass him?  Possibly.  However, I find it unlikely.  AJ was a true three level target catching everything from WR screens to deep bombs.  Tee is nowhere near the deep threat AJ was.  AJ caught 14 40+ yard passes his first two years in the league.  Tee caught 4.  We can't really compare prime Tee to prime AJ because Tee(probably) hasn't hit his peak, yet.  It will be hard for anyone to top AJ's total career.  I mean, the guy is already Top 50 All Time in receiving yards and presumably still isn't done.

Chase was certainly better as a rookie than Chad.  I don't think anyone will argue that Chase has the tools to be better, but Chad's Top 40 in All Time receiving yards.  Chase will have to play a lot of years at a high level to surpass that.  There's a much better case to say Chase is better than Chad in that Chase has already statistically surpassed Chad's best single year, so you could take the angle that Chase is better when both are at their best.  However, longevity has to count for something, too.

[EasyPeasy]

(03-26-2022, 10:06 AM)impactplaya Wrote: Rewatching the Ravens and Chiefs game on NFL Network last night
I  became more impressed with Tee Higgins.
I know Chase Burrow and Collins are the rock stars of this offense
But Tee Higgins importance to this offense cannot be overstated

How do you **** up your grammar so bad but so consistently? Are you accidentally hitting your mouse pad mid-sentence on a laptop? 

[CKwi88]

He's a bit of a better Marvin Jones IMO, and will likely be the same result. We're going to lose him to a WR needy team in FA that will give him WR1 money, and after this offseason, WR1 money is looking ridiculous.

[Bengalbug]

(03-27-2022, 03:53 AM)EasyPeasy Wrote: How do you **** up your grammar so bad but so consistently? Are you accidentally hitting your mouse pad mid-sentence on a laptop? 

Probably on an iPhone. But nice addition and critical thought to the content of the post.

[Bengalbug]

(03-27-2022, 08:15 AM)CKwi88 Wrote: He's a bit of a better Marvin Jones IMO, and will likely be the same result. We're going to lose him to a WR needy team in FA that will give him WR1 money, and after this offseason, WR1 money is looking ridiculous.

I think he is a pretty substantial upgrade to Marvin Jones. I think Marvin was a fine receiver, but Higgins first two years are similar to any two in a row that Marvin Jones had.

Higgins will likely continue to get better. Putting up 140 catches, 2,000 yards and 12 tds in your first two seasons is impressive.

For comparison aj green was 162, 2,407 yards and 18 tds.

I’d like to think that Higgins is in that Mike evans category of really good but not great. 70-80 catches a year for 1,000-1,200 yards and 8-12 tds.