Cincinnati Bengals: Standing pat at the trade deadline isn’t terrible

Despite being 0-8, the Cincinnati Bengals have given every indication that they won’t make any major moves on or before Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline.

There is plenty of logic behind why the Bengals should be trying to move A.J. Green and other pieces before the deadline. Frankly, it is the course of action I would take. Cincinnati is clearly more than one player away from truly being competitive.

A way to remedy that is to ship the team’s most valuable players elsewhere and stockpile draft picks. However, there is part of that equation that is taken for granted. The Bengals, or any other team that might consider doing this, must know what to do with the extra picks they acquire. There is no room for high drafts picks being “busts.” That is no sure thing for any front office.

Moreover, in the specific case of the Bengals front office, assuming they nail the draft in any given year is assuming an awful lot. The last Pro Bowler drafted by Cincinnati was Tyler Eifert in 2013.

It isn’t hard to see why the Bengals may not be eager to get their hands on a slew of draft picks. Again, I would still make trades on or before Tuesday’s deadline, but there is another side and the above paragraph is it.

Obviously, the draft is important for every team and the Bengals need to improve in that area regardless of how many picks they have in 2020. However, the best way to help expedite the rebuild of the Bengals is to invest heavily in free agency. That way, they are spending resources on guys who have already proven themselves at this level.

Unfortunately, even though the organization keeps preaching a “New Dey” this year, history is the only thing we have to go on. That tells us that Cincinnati nailing the draft or investing heavily in free agency are both equality extremely unlikely. Thus, it is hard to see how or when this franchise turns things around.