Bengals head coach Zac Taylor speaks to the media following the 47-42 loss to the Bears on Nov. 2.
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Subject: Cincinnati Bengals smell big opportunity at NFL trade deadline
Message: I’ve been a Bengals fan forever, so I understand how they operate. However, I really hoped they would be active at the trade deadline. The Flacco trade (last month) got my hopes up, thinking the Bengals were committed to doing everything they could to fix things now and save the season. Unfortunately disappointed again.
Reply: Yes, there was an optical illusion created by some of the daily reporters and social media superfans around the idea that the Bengals would actually be active at the trade deadline for once. They made a minor move by trading linebacker Logan Wilson for a seventh-round draft pick. It was simply a salary dump.
If ever there was a deadline to get everything done, this was it. Typically, the NFL trade deadline is pretty dead. But this one had the feel of baseball’s trade deadline, with teams looking to shed players for a rebuild or try to win a championship.
The Bengals should have done one thing or another to try to fix their defense. They did neither and maintained a long tradition of sitting on their hands at the trade deadline. The logical approach would have been to tear down the defense by trading as many players as possible and, in return, stockpile future draft picks.
However, the Bengals’ record in drafting even competent defensive players has been terrible in recent years. So you could argue that the best approach might have been for the Bengals to give up future premium draft picks in exchange for proven defensive players like cornerback Sauce Gardner and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. The New York Jets, in teardown mode, traded former Cincinnati Bearcats star Gardner to Indianapolis and Williams to Dallas.
Look, it’s easy to push Monday morning’s quarterback past the trade deadline. There are no guarantees that the Bengals would have landed the best players, but they should have tried to compete for those guys at the deadline. Getting proven players via trade would have been the quickest way to fix what is shaping up to be one of the worst defenses in NFL history and give the Bengals a chance to make the playoffs again in 2026 once quarterback Joe Burrow is presumably fully healthy.
Instead, the Bengals signaled they will rely on a handful of young defensive players and future draft picks to try to turn things around. Good luck with that. The front office made the decision after the Super Bowl run to spend large amounts of money on the offense and build the defense during the draft.
The Bengals’ inactivity at the trade deadline simply showed that they are doubling down on their plan. It’s not about having patience. It’s about being stingy and stubborn. The only chance this plan has of succeeding is if the Bengals endure some rough seasons and finish among the worst teams in the NFL. They would then be rewarded with top-5 or top-10 draft picks.
They’re trending toward that this season. The Bengals could receive a top defensive player in the 2026 draft, such as Ohio State safety Caleb Downs or Miami Hurricanes running back Reuben Bain Jr. (or another marquee defensive end like Clemson’s Peter Woods or Auburn’s Keldric Faulk).
Hey, this is the approach the Bengals originally took to building their offense. Terrible results in 2019 and 2020 gave them top 5 picks in the draft, ultimately producing Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase.
But this is a “it will get worse before it gets better” approach. The Bengals have a lot to lose. Are they really willing to risk wasting more of Burrow’s time building their defense? Apparently yes.