Bengals are making a delusional mistake with Tee Higgins at the trade deadline

Most of the larger dominoes have presumably fallen ahead of the NFL's upcoming Nov. 5 trade deadline. Yet, moves can (and probably should) be made. Chief among them is how the Cincinnati Bengals proceed with standout wide receiver Tee Higgins, a well-chronicled and obvious candidate to get dealt.

Sitting at 3-5, the projections aren't in Cincinnati's favor to make the playoffs this season ($). Meanwhile, Higgins is in the final year of his current contract and the Bengals are prioritizing fellow teammate/wideout Ja'Marr Chase's inevitably massive extension. Given the circumstances, shopping the former rather than risk losing him for nothing this upcoming offseason makes sense. Nonetheless, the franchise is taking a bafflingly backward approach to the situation.

Dianna Russini of The Athletic recently highlighted 13 players and 18 teams and where they stand ahead of the mentioned cutoff point ($). She discussed Higgins and the Bengals, clearly stating Cincy won't be shopping the stud pass-catcher -- despite the organizational state of affairs.

Bengals are making a delusional mistake with Tee Higgins at the trade deadline

"I was told they are not trading wideout Tee Higgins," Russini reported, virtually shutting down the idea the 25-year-old could be made available. What makes Cincinnati's stance even more intriguingly perplexing is that they aren't only choosing not to sell before the deadline, but they want to buy.

As Russini notes, the Bengals are uncharacteristically looking to add talent. She points out that the franchise that "only acquired two players via trade in 52 years" is open to bucking that trend.

"This isn’t the Bengals’ style," Russini states before acknowledging "strong [internal] belief." Despite their sub-par win-loss record, Cincy "intend[s] to get back to, at least, the AFC Championship game."

Frankly, the timing to stray away from conventional operational practice is puzzling. The Bengals plan to pay Chase over Higgins when the time comes, and reasonably so. With that in mind, why not recoup any assets you can for the latter before it's too late? Furthermore, considering the combination of talent, age and positional market value, Cincy would undoubtedly fetch a solid return package.

Sure, we've seen what Cincinnati's core can do when healthy and firing on all cylinders, but you can argue their championship window has closed. So, keeping Higgins will only hurt the Bengals in the long run if he doesn't re-sign.