Bengals GM on Tee Higgins trade speculation: 'Go find your own' receiver

Updated Mar 1, 2023 4:17 pm EST

Could Tee Higgins become the next wide receiver to get a big-money contract extension with a new team? Not if Bengals general manager Duke Tobin is to be believed.

"I'm in the business of making the Cincinnati Bengals better, and so trading Tee Higgins is not on my mind," Tobin said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. "That's their problem. They want a receiver, go find your own. … The trade stuff is a little ridiculous right now."

Higgins has been mentioned as a potential trade candidate when he inevitably seeks a lucrative extension of his rookie contract, as the Bengals will also have to prioritize extending quarterback Joe Burrow and star wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase.

The 33rd overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft has played a major role in the Bengals' resurgence over his three seasons in the NFL. Cincinnati has made back-to-back trips to the AFC Championship Game, led by an offensive core of Burrow, Chase and Higgins. Burrow was the first overall pick in that same 2020 draft, and Chase, his national champion LSU teammate in college, was the sixth overall pick in 2021.

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Keeping all three young stars in striped helmets for the foreseeable future will likely prove more challenging than Tobin would like, especially given the recent trend of top wide receivers forcing trades in order to get the most money on a new contract.

Despite Tobin's stern message to other teams, Higgins would likely be the odd man out among the trio of young, talented extension candidates in Cincinnati, as FOX Sports' Ben Arthur explained in February.

"If Cincinnati were to deal Higgins, it could net similar compensation as Tennessee received for Brown: a mid first-round pick and a late third-rounder," Arthur wrote. "Higgins might be the Bengals' No. 2 receiver, but he would be the No. 1 option on most teams in the NFL."

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That is, if the thought of trading Higgins does eventually enter Tobin's mind.

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