Boyd and Mixon are two common names thrown around when it comes to who might leave next season, personally, I’d like to keep both, but I’m not sure that’s realistic. What do you guys think their future looks like with the team?
Boyd and Mixon are two common names thrown around when it comes to who might leave next season, personally, I’d like to keep both, but I’m not sure that’s realistic. What do you guys think their future looks like with the team?
The decisions don’t have to be linear. Deadline to franchise tag is before free agency opens. So yo not tag Higgins would be GM malpractice because they have $75m in cap space and tagging Higgins would cost $22m (only in theory if they immediately trade him). At the very least you trade him away and get a high second rd pick or a mid 2nd rounder and a day 3 pick swap.
In any case, before FA begins they will know the decision on Higgins (because they will not be able to retain him in free agency) and go aggressive on Boyd if they want him.
They could tag Williams instead of Higgins too but that would be a terrible decision imo. Higgins is worth the tag and will fetch you at the very least equivalent of a second rd pick, while Williams will be a waste of money at the tag value (top 5 OT level money) and he is average at best and won’t even get you a 5th or 6th rounder in a trade or comp pick.
Bengals ought to be tactically smart and tag Higgins because it gives them several options to address the roster. If you keep him, then you only need to address RT, IOL, IDL as priority positions in the draft or FA and depth at TE, CB, pass rush and RB. If you trade Higgins, you get 1-2 extra picks to them still address RT, IOL, IDL, WR and depth at TE, CB etc. their pick will be high enough to be top 10 that they get one of the top 3 offensive tackles(assuming Williams, Maye, MHJ, Bowers all go top 10). The draft next year is heavy on good OTs.