Stefon Diggs trade gives Patriots realistic price tag for Tee Higgins

The New England Patriots no longer have to worry about defending Stefon Diggs as for the second time in his career, Diggs has been traded. The Buffalo Bills have traded Diggs to the Houston Texans for a 2025 second-round pick, 2025 fifth-round pick and a 2024 sixth-round pick.

After losing Gabe Davis in free agency, Buffalo's best receiver is now Khalil Shakir or Curtis Samuel. Without Diggs the Bills have one of the worst wide receiver rooms in the entire sport; while it is good for the Patriots, it also highlights just how badly the Bills wanted to get Diggs out of the building.

While this obviously makes the Bills a lesser challenge to overcome next season, it also may directly impact what the Patriots do at this juncture of the offseason. The Patriots have been tied to a potential Tee Higgins trade all offseason and this Diggs trade may have put the spotlight on how much it would theoretically cost for the Pats.

Patriots have a clearer price tag for Tee Higgins trade thanks to Stefon Diggs

The situation with Higgins is different than that with Diggs. Higgins is playing on the franchise tag this season and is seeking a new deal that the Cincinnati Bengals seemingly don't want to offer. Whereas with Diggs, he already signed his next extension but the Bills just had to get him out of the locker room.

Diggs has a higher ceiling than Higgins and has been a true WR1, but there are less character concerns with Higgins. Those factors offset each other, and likely make Higgins' price tag around the same as Diggs.

It is reasonable to expect the Patriots to have to send at least one second-round pick, along with two picks on day three for Higgins. If the Pats send the 35th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft then they probably only have to send one additional pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. If the Patriots want to trade a second from next year's draft, they are going to have to trade more from this year.

We can also compare this to the A.J. Brown trade from the 2022 NFL Draft. The Tennessee Titans received the 18th and 101st pick in that year's draft for Brown. Brown needed an extension like Higgins and was the same age as Higgins is now.

Higgins is not quite as good of a receiver as Brown, so instead of the 18th and 101st pick it is reasonable to expect the Pats to have to trade the 35th, 103rd, and a future fifth/sixth-round pick.

Is it worth it? Well that is for the Patriots to decide. But if New England is serious about trading for Tee Higgins, that will be the likely price tag.