Insider notes on Davante Adams and Tee Higgins' futures: Jets may find conversation difficult, Bengals lay out gameplan

With the start of the NFL Combine just days away and the franchise-tag period underway, news of players expected to receive the tag is leaking out. So too is the possibility of players being traded in the near future. Here’s a look at two receivers who fall into both categories.

NFL Free Agency: Will Tee Higgins still be catching passes from Joe Burrow in 2024?

There is a lot of talk as to what the future holds for Cincinnati Bengals receiver Tee Higgins. The 33rd pick of the 2020 NFL Draft has been a dynamite receiver for the team and one of the top targets for quarterback Joe Burrow. He’s caught 257 passes during his four years with the Bengals, including 24 TDs, and he has started all but three games he’s dressed for.

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Higgins’ contract expired at the end of the 2023 season, and he’ll be one of the hottest names in free agency if he hits the market, but that’s unlikely to happen.

Media reports say the Bengals are expected to place the franchise tag on Higgins to keep him with the team in 2024. But I’ve been told the team wants him longer than just next season.

Sources close to the Bengals tell me the team is trying to negotiate a contract extension with Higgins to lock him up for the next several years. If the team cannot agree to terms with the wideout by March 5, they’ll tag him but continue to negotiate with the hopes of signing him long term before the start of the season.

Any way you cut it, the Bengals hope Higgins’ long-term future resides in Cincinnati.

What's the latest on the Davante Adams to the Jets speculation?

Whether it be spoken about on ESPN or New York sports talk radio, the prospect of the New York Jets trading for Davante Adams seems to be real, even imminent. The Jets need a receiver heading into he offseason, and who better to pair with star wideout Garrett Wilson than Davante Adams, a favorite target and friend of Aaron Rodgers from the past.

Yet as I initially reported back in November, no one in Las Vegas believes trading Adams to the Jets is remotely possible. That was true in November, and that is still true as we move through the third week of February.

The reasons given to me just this week run parallel to those I reported more than three months ago. Adams is valued by the Raiders’ franchise on the field and in the locker room, he’s part of the winning culture new head coach Antonio Pierce wants on the team and, more than anything else, the Jets won’t meet the asking price.

The Jets own the 10th pick of Round 1 as well as the 72nd pick (third round), a pair of fourth-round picks (111 and 113), and a pick in Round 6 (187). They are expected to be awarded three compensatory selections. The Jets don’t have a pick in the second, as that was surrendered to the Green Bay Packers as part of the Rodgers trade.

Sources outside the Raiders and Jets tell me a first-round choice and third-round choice in the 2024 draft won’t be enough for the Raiders to move Adams. More likely, the Raiders will demand the Jets’ first-round picks in 2024 and 2025 in return for their All-Pro wideout. And with desperate needs on the offensive line as we head towards a draft rich with offensive tackles, many question the wisdom of giving away so much early draft capital for a receiver.