While Zac Taylor and the Cincinnati Bengals may want Tee Higgins to play for them next year, he was not pleased to be slapped with the franchise tag. Higgins was a second-round pick out of Clemson in the 2020 NFL Draft by Cincinnati. Although he was a great No. 1 receiver playing for Dabo Swinney, he has mostly been a No. 2 throughout his Bengals tenure, mostly because of Ja’Marr Chase’s play.

Higgins has been tied to a number of teams this offseason, but perhaps the best thing for the Bengals to do is to orchestrate a trade to essentially take Higgins’ roster spot away, thus forcing a subsequent trade. Maurice Moton of Bleacher Report outlined a possibility of getting Tyler Lockett from the Seattle Seahawks for a fifth-round pick (No. 149 overall). It doesn’t math, but I like the idea.

Here is what a trade between the Bengals and Seahawks could look like to make the money work out.

The money is about even, with the Bengals needing to pick up only $1,000. Financially, this works!

Here is why this potential trade could make sense for both parties, beyond even just the deal itself.

Since Moton was thinking more along the lines of a day-three pick for Lockett, I did my best to build a comparable trade package to make that happen financially. Unfortunately, the Bengals would have to give up someone of substance on their defense to Seattle to make it work. I have been a big fan of Logan Wilson’s game since coming out of Wyoming. He could be akin to Bobby Wagner for Seattle.

For Cincinnati, you do this trade to necessitate moving on from Higgins. If they just get picks back, that’s fine, as the Bengals could easily bring back another veteran receiver of theirs in Tyler Boyd. The additional compensation the Bengals can get for Higgins in another trade with someone else will help offset losing a pair of day-three picks for Lockett, as well as an opportunity to draft their next Wilson.

For Seattle, as Moton explained, the Seahawks didn’t draft Jaxon Smith-Njigba for nothing out of Ohio State. As soon as he was picked by Seattle, Lockett’s time in the Pacific Northwest was ticking. They were always going to prioritize DK Metcalf over him. With Ryan Grubb coming over from Washington, expect him to have a good working knowledge of receivers in the upcoming NFL Draft.

Lockett has been almost as good as he was at Kansas State for Seattle, but it is time to move on.