The Jacksonville Jaguars already made a trade to acquire Calvin Ridley in October, but running back Travis Etienne Jr. seems down for his team to make another deal for a star receiver.
After trade rumors swirled about Cincinnati Bengals receiver Tee Higgins last week, Etienne posted a not-so-subtle message on Instagram on Friday.
Looks like Travis Etienne is in favor of playing with Tee Higgins again with Trevor pic.twitter.com/IagZjo0XHF
— Demetrius Harvey (@Demetrius82) February 4, 2023
The post from Etienne linked to another Instagram post with a video of Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence throwing a touchdown to Higgins while the pair were at Clemson. It also included several photos of the quarterback-receiver duo, as well as a couple of photos of Higgins with Etienne.
Lawrence and Higgins played just one year together at Clemson, but connected on 13 touchdown passes during a national championship-winning season in 2019-20.
Higgins was then picked with the 33rd overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft by the Bengals and has 3,028 yards and 19 touchdown grabs in three seasons with the team.
Unfortunately for Cincinnati, keeping its highly productive, young offensive core in tact will be a real challenge. Quarterback Joe Burrow is eligible for an extension this offseason and it’ll be difficult for the team to also keep its talented trio of receivers: Higgins, JaMarr Chase, and Tyler Boyd.
While the “report” that Higgins could be traded seems to be little more than speculation from a reporter spun into something more, it also wouldn’t be surprising if teams come calling for the receiver as he enters the last year of his rookie deal.
As much as Jacksonville could use a player like Higgins, and as much as Etienne would love for it happen, don’t expect the Jaguars to be one of the teams giving the Bengals a call.
With the team currently more than $20 million over the salary cap for the 2023 season, the Jaguars are an even less equipped team to pay Higgins than the Bengals. Jacksonville shouldn’t have too much trouble finagling their way under the cap, but Higgins is likely to get a contract that averages at least $20 million per year.
Getting the Clemson band back together would be fun, but it’d be significantly less fun when the Jaguars had to make concessions across the roster to fit in another massive receiver contract.
Sorry Etienne, this trade probably isn’t happening.
