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When it comes to NFL draft grades, it’s hard to knock the Cincinnati Bengals for standing pat at the top of Round 2 and taking Tee Higgins.
Put bluntly, Higgins is a ridiculous talent. He’s a big 6’4″ wideout with 25 touchdowns over his last two seasons for Clemson. And yeah, he played with Trevor Lawrence, but one pass on the film shows a big-play artist with big upside.
Even better, Higgins has played all three wideout spots. He’s the sort of chess piece Zac Taylor can use all over the field right away to help Joe Burrow.
And that’s the goal with this draft — helping Joe Burrow. Higgins can have an instant impact for Burrow via the fact he’s played all three spots. Ideally, he’ll be getting moved around and so will John Ross and A.J. Green — he should feast while exploiting matchups.
Keep in mind Higgins is only 21 years old. He’s a big-time player and prospect already who probably should have come off the board in Round 1. But where his ceiling actually lands is hard to say, which is wildly encouraging.
So why a B grade? It’s a minor thing, really, but one could argue Denzel Mims or Michael Pittman were better wideout prospects on the board. There were also massive talents at safety (Xavier McKinney), defensive line (Ross Blacklock) and offensive line (Josh Jones). Wideout is also arguably the deepest position in the draft.
But again, it’s a very, very minor distinction. If Burrow was a unanimous “A” then Higgins is right behind it. In the end the grades could end up not mattering at all if Burrow and Higgins is as potent as Dalton-Green was for all those years.
Grade: B
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