Patriots' Tee Higgins Dream May Officially Be Dead

Throughout the entire 2024 NFL season, we heard that the New England Patriots would heavily pursue wide receiver Tee Higgins on the free agent market.

Well, the Cincinnati Bengals prevented that from occurring, slapping a franchise tag on Higgins earlier this month. However, due to the Bengals' financial constraints, there was still hope that the Patriots could possibly swing a trade for the 26-year-old.

But now, it looks like that dream may be dead, as well.

Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Media have reported that Cincinnati has made "significant progress" on contract extensions with both Ja'Marr Chase and Higgins, further increasing the likelihood that Higgins will be with the Bengals for the long haul.

It's a rather stunning development given the fact that Cincinnati is pretty tight against the cap as is, and it's very rare to see a team invest heavily into two receivers. But evidently, that is what the Bengals plan on doing, and it's devastating news for New England.

Just like last year, the Pats have failed to land any true impact pass-catchers in free agency, only signing auxiliary receiver Mack Hollins. There are still some veteran options available for the Patriots, but all of the best names are off the market.

Considering that New England currently has the worst receiving corps in football and really needs to cultivate young quarterback Drake Maye, this spells disaster for the Pats.

Of course, the Patriots can always attempt to rectify the problem in the NFL Draft, but they tried that last spring and failed miserably.

It also didn't help New England that this wasn't a very good free agent class for wide receivers, making it difficult for the Pats to outbid anyone for the top options.

We'll see if the Patriots are able to pull a rabbit out of a hat here in the coming weeks.