Low-key Bengals trade possibilities to pave way for major roster overhaul

The Cincinnati Bengals' roster has enough holes and weaknesses to where oneself wonders if one offseason is adequate to fix most of them.

Oneself would think after three years running of no playoff football, it'd be high time for dormant-developing players to ascend, and for the Bengals to actually get aggressive to acquire talent upgrades. Scientific chances of that reality coming to fruition? Twenty-five percent feels fair.

What's more likely is that Cincinnati finds a way to reboot, cut costs, and cheapen key positions with an eye toward the future at the expense of the now.

Thus, we have arrived. Here are three trade candidates Who Dey Nation should brace itself to lose, whether they're moved this offseason or moved on from in 2027.

Bengals could move off Dax Hill on 5th-year option to avoid paying two CBs

All-Pro-caliber cornerback DJ Turner is eligible for an extension. He's entering a contract year. Dax Hill is playing on his fifth-year option. If Hill keeps playing as well as he did at the end of 2025 opposite Turner, he'll command an eight-figure per-year payday next offseason.

If you think this team is about to shell out some $30+ million annually for two cornerbacks in the coming years, I have a bridge to sell you.

Trading Hill would save the Bengals over $12.6 million in 2026 salary cap space. I'd love to see a full season of Turner and Hill as boundary corners, but it's easy to see a preemptive cheaping-out maneuver pulled off by this Cincinnati front office, is it not?

There's a certain pride point that would sting Duke Tobin and Co. for giving up on their 2022 first-round pick. However, Hill was supposed to replace Jessie Bates at safety to being with. That never came to pass. The coaching staff started him at nickel this past year, despite Hill's best position clearly being on the outside.

I'm ready for the pain of losing Dax Hill. Might as well rip the Band-Aid off and draft LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane with the 10th overall pick. Or uh...Jermod McCoy? Oof.

Read More: Bengals mock draft punts on $180 million investment to anger Joe Burrow

Trading Orlando Brown Jr. could radically shift Bengals' 2026 NFL Draft strategy

Cutting or trading left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. would give the Bengals an extra $14.2 million in cap room for this year. Again, not advocating for a move like this, but it wouldn't stun me to see Cincinnati line up Brown's successor in the first round or two of the 2026 draft regardless.

If you're going to move off Brown anyway for a younger, cheaper player instead of rewarding him another contract extension, why not let him go before the draft?

It's a pretty rough free agent class of left tackles. Although the Bengals trading Brown would all but confirm what they'd proceed to do in the first round — draft a tackle at No. 10, or trade down and get one thereafter — at least they'd avoid some drawn-out soap opera, a la Trey Hendrickson.

I doubt Joe Burrow would take too kindly to this move. Then again, with the 10th pick, the Bengals would have their pick of the litter at left tackle from this 2026 draft class. When will they be in that spot again?

Youth at defensive tackle could push B.J. Hill into the trade market

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A fire sale of Hill, Brown, and Hill, combined with restructuring Burrow's contract, would give Cincinnati $99.5 million in 2026 cap space, per OverTheCap.com.

Worth it? Maybe. I hate that I'm actually talking myself into this.

Mock draft & free agency for Bengals to replace Dax Hill, Orlando Brown Jr. & B.J. Hill

Free agency: Freakify the secondary with Riq Woolen; DT double-dip

I know Riq Woolen just did what he did in the NFC Championship Game. Boneheaded taunting penalty after a 3rd-down stop. Puka Nacua dunking on him for a long TD the next play. He still has sub 4.3-speed like Turner. What a tandem that'd be in Cincinnati.

Plus, Riq probably cost himself $5 million a year at minimum with that comically bad sequence from Championship Sunday. His loss would be the Bengals' gain in this scenario.

As for the DT double-dip, that'd entail John Franklin-Myers as an interior pass rusher, plus a reunion with D.J. Reader.

Bengals Mock Draft: The OBJ succession plan

With the 10th overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals select...nobody. They can't pass up a trade package from Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman to backslide all the way to No. 23.

Let's try that again. With the 23rd overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals select...

Monroe Freeling, left tackle, from the University of Georgia.

Ridiculous movement skills. Strong pass blocker. Upside for days. Freeling checks in at No. 13 on my initial top-115 big board.

The Bengals' paper-thin scouting department doesn't need to overextend themselves here or think too far outside the box. Keep it simple. Pair Freeling with another ex-Georgia tackle in Amarius Mims and call it a day. Enjoy the extra draft capital from Philly, too.

Does this not sound like a carbon copy of what folks were saying about Mims when he declared for the '24 draft?

Let's see what that Eagles/Howie trade nets us just for fun while we're here. Mind you, the PFF simulator cleared the deal, and it included a 2027 second-round pick as well.

• Round 2, Pick 41 — A.J. Haulcy, S, LSU
• Round 2, Pick 54 — Omar Cooper Jr., WR, Indiana

Yes please!

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