2024 NFL Draft rumors: Bengals-Lions trade could secure $21,000,000 WR Tee Higgins a new home

Tee Higgins has been involved in a saga with the Bengals this whole offseason about wanting to stay or go, and the Lions might swoop during the 2024 NFL Draft and give him an escape route and fresh start. At least that is how Nick Wright envisages the whole thing going down.

In his mock draft, the NFL commentator and analyst sees the Bengals mounting a furious offensive ploy to break his beloved Kansas City Chiefs' hegemony in the AFC. Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid have taken their franchise to four Super Bowls in the last five years, with the only exception being when Cincinnati made it to the final only to lose to the Los Angeles Rams.

Last season they failed to make it to the playoffs, despite a winning record, and much of it came down to Joe Burrow struggling with a calf strain early in the season before going out with a wrist injury towards the end of it. Hence, in this mock of the 2024 NFL Draft, they select Brock Bowers by trading up with the Denver Broncos first to give their quarterback an elite offensive weapon.

Then they trade up again up to the 29th spot that the Lions currently hold to give Joe Burrow better protection by drafting offensive tackle Amarius Mims out of Georgia. To do so, having added a generational tight end from the same college earlier in the first round, they are happy to send Tee Higgins in the other direction.

Tee Higgins might end up losing if the Bengals trade up with the Lions in the 2024 NFL Draft

For much of the offseason, Tee Higgins has given indications that he would like to move on from the Bengals. And going to a team like the Lions, which made it to the NFC Championship game last year, does not seem like a bad trade destination for him at all.

But recently he has changed his tune and said that he would like to stay back in Cincinnati and the move Nick Wright imagines in the 2024 NFL Draft will hardly be conducive to his latest pronouncements.

It could mean that he ends up with a different team despite having made a public declaration of loyalty to another franchise. It would show that the Bengals are not willing to entertain anyone whose commitment to the cause wavers in Cincinnati. And it would put Tee Higgins under scrutiny for whatever he does in Detroit.

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Dive into Sportskeeda's free 2024 NFL Mock Draft Simulator with trades across up to 7 rounds including user-to-sim, sim-to-user, and sim-to-sim trades. Powered by NFL Draft Expert Tony Pauline

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