Normally, one wouldn’t advise the Cincinnati Bengals to become sellers at an NFL trade deadline.
No team is less willing to use the deadline. Few teams are less willing to move away talent. Few teams, simply, are as conservative.
But this time is different.
Should the Bengals lose on Sunday to the Las Vegas Raiders (a team with a minus-66 point differential!) and drop to 3-6 (a game 97 percent of experts pick them to win!), it’s probably time to pack it up on this version of the Bengals.
Past mistakes are the biggest reason. The Bengals are projected to have roughly $67 million in cap space next offseason. But Joe Burrow’s cap hit climbs to $46.2 million. The team waited to extend Ja’Marr Chase, so it’s going to cost even more than it would have last summer. The whole Trey Hendrickson contract drama is going to pop up again. And Tee Higgins is as good as gone.
Past mistakes have created the biggest holes on the roster, too. The interior of the offensive line needs help. Cornerback needs help. Safety is a mess. There’s no guarantee anyone can replace Higgins. And there’s zero pass-rush after Hendrickson, who is aging.
Simply put, the Bengals have too may needs to properly address in one offseason. A team isn’t going to magically find upgrades in both trenches, premium secondary starters and more, all while needing to pay Chase and be as conservative as the Bengals usually are.
But at the same time, poor team management is already wasting a season of Burrow’s prime right now, if not an MVP-caliber effort. It can’t afford to do it again.
Hence, next week’s trade deadline. The Bengals have assets other teams would like. Higgins would fetch at least a second-round pick (Chase Claypool even did, for crying out loud). And it’s foolish to suggest there aren’t long-term, upside-minded players possibly available for trade, such as Giants pass-rusher Azeez Ojulari or even Titans star Jeffery Simmons, to name a few.
Stacking picks and even rotational players now, in addition to another draft and free-agent class next offseason, might just be enough (possibly with some coaching changes, too) to rebound in 2025.
Yes, technically, the Bengals would still be alive at 3-6, even with a loss to the Raiders. Yes, they’ve played some good teams (Baltimore, Kansas City) close. But being one of eight teams with three or fewer wins in the AFC shouldn’t exactly be something to hang a hat on and keep pushing.
Right now, the future is too concerning to keep the same feedback loop going. If they luck their way into the playoffs but come up just short and the team convinces themselves that just a few small changes will make things better, well, that’s how teams waste franchise quarterbacks in their prime.
It starts on Sunday, where the front office will need to finally modernize in one last important way, should they lose to the Raiders. Otherwise, fans will have every right to accuse the Bengals of not using every possible avenue to put a contender on the field.
