The Cincinnati Bengals’ offense is showing signs of life under quarterback Joe Flacco, and with that, it may be near impossible to trade for wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase in fantasy football and rather difficult to acquire his teammate, Tee Higgins, as well.
The Bengals added the 40-year-old via trade from the Cleveland Browns after Jake Browning encountered struggles in place of superstar Joe Burrow, who is reportedly out until at least December with a Grade 3 turf toe injury.
Flacco made his first start last Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. The Bengals were shut out in the first half before Flacco led a furious finish, guiding Cincinnati to 18 second-half points in a 27-18 defeat.
Cincinnati kept up the pace on Thursday evening against the Pittsburgh Steelers, scoring 27 points through the first 45-plus minutes.
Of note, Chase and Higgins have formed an impressive rapport in a short amount of time with Flacco.
Chase caught 12 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown on 16 targets in the first three quarters. Higgins snagged three passes for 54 yards and another score.
Chase had a great game the week before against the Packers, catching 10 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown on 12 targets. Higgins had a solid game as well with five receptions for 62 yards on eight targets.
In short, Chase looks like the player who was picked as the No. 1 consensus option on fantasy football rankings, per FantasyPros.
He had an uneven start to the season. In Week 2, Chase caught 14 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars. In Week 1 and Weeks 3-4, Chase had 12 receptions, 99 yards and no touchdowns combined.
However, it appears he’s now back to providing elite production on a regular basis. With that, Chase is virtually untouchable at this point. The window to potentially “buy low” on adding Chase when he had a tough stretch from Weeks 1-4 is officially closed. He’s a top-three wide receiver at this point alongside Puka Nacua of the Los Angeles Rams and Amon-Ra St. Brown of the Detroit Lions.
Like Chase, Higgins had a mostly rough start to the year, outside Week 2, when he caught three passes for 56 yards and a touchdown. In Week 1 and Weeks 3-4, Higgins caught seven passes for 80 yards and no scores.
Higgins is the WR2 in this offense and doesn’t see as many targets as Chase. Of note, he hasn’t been targeted more than eight times in a game all season.
However, Higgins has clearly fared better of late with Flacco. In Eric Karabell of ESPN’s latest end-of-season rankings, Higgins ranked 32nd among wide receivers. FantasyPros’ aggregate rankings have Higgins at 34th. He could easily be top 30 after the end of this week’s games if not creeping toward the mid-20s.
Ultimately, Higgins is clearly a WR3/flex option and perhaps not far off from being considered a WR2 in fantasy if the Bengals’ offense stays hot, and that should be kept in mind when considering trades.
Higgins was the 13th-ranked wideout in FantasyPros’ aggregate rankings before the season, after all, and his production of late indicates a potential strong end to 2025.
