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Writer's pictureIan Altenau

The Bengals Are Missing Out on the Trade Block, and It Could Cause Them to Miss the Playoffs

Of course this would happen.  NFL front offices are trading receivers like nine-year-olds trading Pokémon cards – why wouldn’t the Kansas City Chiefs be looking to trade for a three-time All Pro like DeAndre Hopkins?


Quality players are available, and the prices, surprisingly, haven’t been exorbitant.  Hopkins only cost a conditional fifth, but if 32-year-old receivers aren’t your jam, then maybe Amari Cooper (traded for a third-rounder) is more your speed.  No?  All it took for the Jets to snatch Davante Adams from the Raiders was a conditional third.


The Bengals do have Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, so receiver isn’t exactly high on their priority list, but what about pass rusher Matthew Judon, who was traded from the Patriots to the Falcons for a third-rounder?  Judon’s best days are behind him, and he’s having a disappointing year, but even with all of his struggles, his 1.5 sacks on the season would still rank third on the Bengals.  At the very least he could have provided depth and competition to a defensive line that sorely needs it.


Instead of taking advantage of the opportunities that are out there – and oh yeah, those players are out there – the Bengals have been content to sit out the trade block.  Why?


The Chiefs might be the NFL’s last unbeaten team, but that hasn't made them satisfied with being Week Eight champs.  Despite their 6 - 0 record, 2024 hasn’t been easy-going for the NFL’s model franchise.  Free agent deep-threat Marquis Brown was lost for the year before playing a single snap, while Rashee Rice, a yards-after-catch maestro, was lost for the year in Week Four.  Hall-of-Fame-bound tight end Travis Kelce’s 246 receiving yards to start the season are the fewest he’s had through six games since his rookie year, and Patrick Mahomes, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, has more interceptions than touchdowns amidst all the flux.


The Chiefs may have a goose-egg in the loss column, but that doesn't quite reflect their play so far.  Offensively, in almost every respect, the Chiefs are the definition of mediocre.


Total Points?  18th in the league.  Yards per play? 17th. First downs?  17th.


Many teams in Kansas City’s position would simply stand pat, trust their roster, and wait for the tide to turn.  The Cincinnati Bengals certainly would.  The Chiefs, though, grabbed a potentially Canton-bound receiver to give Mahomes some help.  Complacency just doesn't exist in Kansas City.


The Chiefs aren’t being run by a group of super-human geniuses. The Bengals are choosing to play the game on hard mode.  They haven’t made an in-season trade since moving Billy Price for B.J. Hill back in 2021.  Given how well that move turned out, you’d think the Bengals would be gung-ho about midseason moves.  Wrong.  It’s been all quiet on that front.


A couple weeks ago, there was a report that the Jacksonville Jaguars were shopping defensive end Travon Walker for as little as a fifth-round pick.  Walker, the top pick in the 2022 draft, may not be a superstar, but he’s arguably the most athletic guy at the NFL’s most athletic position – and the Bengals can’t bring themselves to part with a measly fifth-rounder for his services?!


Alright, maybe that report was a stretch.  Walker’s availability might very well be wishful thinking.  But impact players are available – for whatever reason, the Bengals won’t bring themselves to dip more than a toe in the trade pond.


The Seahawks acquired defensive tackle Roy Robertson-Harris before Week Seven for a sixth-round pick.  The Bears landed pass rusher Darrell Taylor for a sixth as well.  The Chargers nabbed defensive back Elijah Molden for a seventh.  Walker may not be available in reality, but these players were.  The Bengals, maddeningly, didn’t take any action.


Trading for DeAndre Hopkins might not have turned the Bengals into Super Bowl contenders overnight, but he absolutely would have been an improvement over Andrei Iosivas as the third receiver.  Besides, Hopkins wasn’t that expensive (the Bengals could easily manage his $12 million cap hit), and his services didn’t cost that much to obtain (a fifth-round pick).  This didn’t have to be a pipe-dream for the Bengals, but because this team is perpetually stuck with an outdated football philosophy, the NFL continues to pass them by time and again.


There are moves to be made.  All the teams that made trades got better.  The Bengals, because of their inaction, didn’t.  And if the Bengals miss out on the playoffs for the second-consecutive season, you won’t have to look very far to find out why.

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