Cincinnati Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin saw the Tee Higgins trade ideas and finally broke his silence on the matter.
Speaking with reporters at the scouting combine, Tobin called trade chatter “ridiculous” and followed up with an all-important comment, as captured by Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic: “I’m not in the business of making other teams better. You want a great receiver go find your own.”
Noise about a Higgins trade always came from outside the Bengals merely because it’s easy to look at the roster and see he’s entering the final year of his rookie deal and the team already has to pay up Ja’Marr Chase, potentially next season.
Logic and how the team does business always said otherwise. Tobin said the plan is for Higgins to be in Cincinnati for a long time, as noted by Marisa Contipelli of the team’s website:
Duke Tobin on Tee Higgins: “He’s exactly what we’re hoping for when we draft a guy… I envision him being a vital part of what we do for a long time. That’s the hope.”
— Marisa Contipelli (@BengalsMarisa) February 28, 2023
Higgins himself has said he wants to stick with the Bengals for the long-term too.
While it’s not going to be easy and certainly won’t stop the speculation, the Bengals and Higgins still have every intention of working something out.
Duke Tobin on Tee Higgins 👀 pic.twitter.com/PVivw1aRxC
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) February 28, 2023
