Higgins ‘For Sure’ Thought Packers Were Drafting Him, Not Love

When he was watching the 2020 NFL Draft, Tee Higgins saw the Packers had moved up four spots in a trade. He thought he would be their pick.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Feb 11, 2023 8:32 AM EST

In this story:

Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – In 2019, the Green Bay Packers made a surprise run to the NFC Championship Game behind first-year coach Matt LaFleur.

To take that next step, the Packers had to improve in a few areas. One of those was receiver. Davante Adams led the team with 83 receptions despite missing four games. Among receivers, Allen Lazard was a distant second with 35 catches.

With Green Bay on the clock in the 2020 NFL Draft, general manager Brian Gutekunst packaged his first- and fourth-round picks in a trade with the Miami Dolphins to move up four slots to No. 26.

Watching the draft, Tee Higgins thought the Packers had traded up for him.

“For sure. For sure I did,” Higgins told Adam Schein on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio on Friday at the Super Bowl Media Center in Phoenix.

Of course, the Packers didn’t select Higgins. They took quarterback Jordan Love.

“I was just like, ‘Wow. Well, it is what it is. Somebody’s going to take me,” Higgins said.

The decision set off a league-changing turn of events.

The draft pick upset quarterback Aaron Rodgers and, perhaps, ruined the Packers’ chances of taking that next step and finally getting back to the Super Bowl.

Tee Higgins tries to run through Kevin King when the teams met in 2021 in Cincinnati. (Photo by USA Today Sports)

Green Bay didn’t draft any receivers in 2020. It did draft one in 2021, a third-round pick used on undersized Amari Rodgers, who was such a bust that he didn’t even make it through his second season. Thus, when Gutekunst traded Adams this past offseason, there was no established, waiting-in-the-wings receiver to fill the No. 1 void. That was one reason why Green Bay plunged to 8-9 in 2022.

The decision changed the Cincinnati Bengals’ fortunes, too. After using the first overall pick on quarterback Joe Burrow, they used the first pick of the second round on Higgins.

“I definitely … thought they were going to draft me in that spot, but they didn't,” Burrow said. “I fell to the second round, which I'm OK with. I fell in a perfect situation with Cincinnati, Joe Burrow. So, I was like, ‘Oh, I'm about to go play with Joe Burrow. He just beat me in the national championship. I know what type of quarterback he is, so I don't mind going out there and play with him.’ And then that very next year we drafted [Ja’Marr] Chase and, you know, the rest was history.”

Burrow and the Bengals reached the Super Bowl last season and got back to the AFC Championship Game this year. With back-to-back seasons of 74 receptions and 1,000-plus yards, Higgins has 215 receptions for 3,028 yards and 19 touchdowns in three seasons.

Obviously subject to change – Love could flip the conversation dramatically if he becomes Green Bay’s next great quarterback – but trading up for the quarterback and not drafting a premier receiver ranks as one of the worst draft decisions in franchise history.