Bengals could consider trade if contract demands for star receiver are too much

The Cincinnati Bengals might have a big decision to make with wide receiver Tee Higgins this offseason.

Higgins is entering the final year of his contract, and is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after the 2023 season. 

That means it is time to start talking contract extension, and the Athletic's Paul Dehnar Jr. wrote earlier this week that the Bengals could consider following the A.J. Brown and Stefon Diggs route if Higgins' contract demands turn out to be outrageous. 

That would mean a trade. 

The Tennessee Titans and Minnesota Vikings found themselves in similar situations in recent years with Brown and Diggs, and instead of paying them big-money deals dealt them to the Philadelphia Eagles (Brown) and Buffalo Bills (Diggs) for first-round picks.

In an ideal world the Bengals would almost certainly prefer to keep Higgins, who has developed into a star wide receiver and a key part of their offense. On most teams would be a clear No. 1 pass-catcher. In his first three years he has never had less than 900 yards receiving and has topped the 1,000-yard mark in each of the past two years.

Along with Ja'Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd, Higgins has given the Bengals one of the deepest wide receiver groups in the NFL. 

The problem is the Bengals have to pay all of them, along with superstar quarterback Joe Burrow. 

The salary cap is going to make it extremely difficult, and perhaps even impossible to keep all of them together. 

Burrow and Chase are going to be the priorities, and they are going to take up the most significant portion of the team's salary cap space. That is going to cost the Bengals some good players around the rest of the roster.

Higgins might end up being one of them. 

Given the presence of Chase, Boyd and tight end Hayden Hurst, as well as the probability that they end up losing Higgins in a year anyway, a trade for a first-round pick might be the best course of action this offseason. They could get a significant return to either help find Higgins' cheaper replacement, or a better draft pick to help improve the offensive line to better protect Burrow, while still having several impact pass catchers. 

There are a lot of options there. 

The Bengals have had a massive advantage in building their roster the past two years because they have had several impact players (Burrow, Chase, Higgins) playing on their rookie deals. That has enabled them to really load up around them. But when those players start to cash in, maintaining that depth becomes difficult. 

That is why losing the Super Bowl a year ago and losing the AFC Championship game this year is so disappointing for the Bengals. When they have to start paying the guys that helped them get there, that means the rest of the roster may never be as good as it was the past two years. That means a much more difficult path to get back.