The Cincinnati Bengals haven't drafted well in recent years. No secret there. I've made my thoughts known on Duke Tobin, who deserves to be fired yesterday, yesteryear, and so on.
Given that 2024 third-round pick McKinnley Jackson has played only six snaps and been active for one game this season, we can safely say Tobin took a blowtorch to that premium draft asset. Tobin did the same with wide receiver Jermaine Burton. And so many others.
So yeah, big shock. Bengals draft pick is working out badly. The more disturbing trend is the attempted mass exodus from an already-bad Cincinnati defense...
Bengals DT McKinnley Jackson isn't the only who's tried to get out of Cincinnati lately
ESPN's Ben Baby reported that McKinnley Jackson requested to be traded or released ahead of Week 9's home matchup against the Chicago Bears.
Don't think many teams will come a knockin'. Jackson is terrible by NFL standards. He'd be on the practice squad or off the team already if he weren't drafted so early.
This comes in the wake of the Bengals granting a request to be released to defensive tackle Mike Pennel, who rejoined none other than the Kansas City Chiefs. Jackson evidently was told he still wouldn't be up for the Bears game, hence the trade/release request.
Linebacker and team captain Logan Wilson was relegated to backup duty behind rookie fourth-round pick Barrett Carter in recent weeks. Wilson has also requested a trade, and is nursing a calf injury.
You know what the Bengals' league-worst defense could use right now? Leadership. The Wilson benching preceded Week 8's 39-38 loss to the previously winless New York Jets. Now that Wilson has started to check out, or at least tried to get his way out of town before the Nov. 4 NFL trade deadline, it seems to have started a movement.
3 requests for release/trade on defense so far.
— Goodberry (@JoeGoodberry) October 31, 2025
Two directly after the "defensive players only meeting"
This is what it looks like when the locker room starts to break.
But also, sometimes it has to break before it gets better. This also happened the first year under Lou…
Jackson feels more like a symptom of larger problems in Cincinnati. The coaching staff can't develop players on defense. The front office can't draft well enough. It's a vicious cycle. Maybe it's reached a breaking point to where the players recognize it, too, and don't feel they're being positioned for success by landing with the Bengals in the first place.
Pennel leaving and Jackson still failing to crack the rotation — or so I'm inferring based on his trade/release request — speaks volumes about what Pennel thought of the direction of the team. As somebody who's won two Super Bowls in KC, Pennel must've seen several red flags to ask out.
It'll be hilarious if McKinnley Jackson gets released (or traded, unlikely), goes somewhere else and balls out. I'm angry that he produced so little as the nose tackle hopeful the Bengals desperately needed, but at least I'll be able to laugh about it.
McKinnley Jackson has now requested a trade only 18 months after being picked in the Top 100.
— Gridiron Grading (@GridironGrading) October 31, 2025
He has played 6 snaps this season so far.
Truly questionable use of draft resources to force a premium NT pick on a prospect that never fit as a NT. https://t.co/OskHZKG5Fz
Beyond that, however, it's more a feeling of, "What the heck is going on with this team to where three players want to outright leave?"
Trey Hendrickson requested a trade this offseason, too, amid his contract dispute. Rookie first-round pick Shemar Stewart looked like he wasn't going to even sign to play for a while.
Stewart, Carter, and second-round linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. look horrible as pros so far. It's costing the team the season. Maybe the rest of the Cincinnati locker room isn't digging this youth movement.
I don't know. Just not a good look when you have this many mates abandoning ship. I don't care how awful McKinnley Jackson is relative to other NFL defensive tackles. There's something larger at play here. Somebody needs to spill the tea!!