Patriots Named Top Three for Star WR

An NFL insider feels the New England Patriots are one of the favorites to land the best wide receiver on the free-agent market.
Dec 22, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins (5) acknowledges fans during warmups before the game against the Cleveland Browns at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
Dec 22, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins (5) acknowledges fans during warmups before the game against the Cleveland Browns at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images / Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
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The New England Patriots are entering the offseason with massive cap space and are in desperate need of weapons, so it's no secret that they want to pursue Tee Higgins in free agency.

Higgins is widely viewed as the best wide receiver on the open market, and with the Patriots having expansive financial resources, they are viewed as a top potential destination for the Cincinnati Bengals star.

While some have expressed trepidation about whether or not Higgins would actually want to play in New England due to the current state of the franchise, NFL insider James Palmer thinks that the Pats are one of the most likely landing spots for the 26-year-old.

"To me there's kind of three [destinations] that I'm keeping an eye on," Palmer said. "One's the Patriots. They have an ungodly amount of cap space, they have a young rookie quarterback in Drake Maye."

Palmer goes on to note how important it would be for the Patriots to land Higgins, who would represent a truly dependable target for Maye during his sophomore campaign.

Higgins has spent the first five years of his career with the Bengals and is coming off of a 2024 campaign in which he played in 12 games and caught 73 passes for 911 yards and 10 touchdowns.

The Clemson product was selected by Cincinnati in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft and logged back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2021 and 2022.

Injuries have been a concern for Higgins recently, as he missed a combined 10 games over the last couple of years, but none of his issues have been particularly serious.

It really may come down to whether or not Higgins is willing to head to Foxborough, and there is always the possibility that the Bengals slap a franchise tag on him once again.

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Matthew Schmidt
MATTHEW SCHMIDT

Matthew Schmidt is a sportswriter who covers NFL, MLB, NBA and college football and basketball. He has been writing professionally since 2011 and has also worked for Bleacher Report, FanRag Sports, ClutchPoints, NFLAnalysis.net and NBAAnalysis.net. He was born and raised in New Jersey and has a rather eclectic group of favorite teams: the Boston Celtics, New York Giants and Miami Marlins.