Bringing Higgins into the fold won’t be quite so easy as Watson made it sound.
During the draft later this month, Cleveland’s front office will finally pay off the third of three first-rounders it sent to the Houston Texans to acquire Watson more than two years ago. Without a first-round pick to deal and the No. 54 selection as their best asset in 2024, the Browns would probably need to dip into future picks just to open meaningful conversations with the Bengals about a trade for Higgins.
More problematic, though, is the money Cleveland will have to pay Higgins should the team acquire him. Spotrac projects his market value at $18.6 million annually over a new four-year contract ($74.4 million total).
Browns Will Need to Employ Salary Cap Magic, Further Mortgage Future to Acquire Tee Higgins
Paying Higgins that sort of money won’t be simple, especially as the franchise appears to be preparing to offer Cooper an extension to cut his nearly $24 million cap number in 2024 and keep him around long-term. The Browns also extended Jeudy on a three-year deal worth $52.5 million that includes $41 million in full guarantees.
That said, structuring Jeudy’s contract with four built-in void years will allow the Browns to keep his cap hit to $4.7 million in 2024, roughly $8 million in 2025 and just over $9 million in 2026. Cleveland can, and likely will, employ the same sort of cap magic to Cooper’s extension to keep the next couple of his contract years reasonable.
The team can probably do the same thing with Higgins, thereby maximizing the Super Bowl window it created by assembling one of the league’s best defenses. The Watson variable to the equation remains a relative unknown, as he missed all but six games in 2023 due to injury and was mediocre, at best, most of the time he was on the field.
But Cleveland has already mortgaged its future to build the competitive roster it has now, so doubling-down on a play for Higgins isn’t actually all that big of a stretch. The larger questions are can the Browns put together the draft capital to acquire him and, if they can, will the Bengals be willing to deal the talented wideout within the AFC North Division?
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