The Cincinnati Bengals aren't a team known for making splashy trades but could this year be different? One of the flashiest moves they could make ahead of the October 31 trade deadline would be adding Derrick Henry to what could be the most explosive offense in the NFL.
Henry faced the Bengals in Week 4 and ran roughshod over them, tallying 122 yards and one touchdown off of 22 carries while averaging 5.5 yards per carry. Henry also had a passing touchdown in the game. Yes, you read that right -- A passing touchdown.
Alex Kay of Bleacher Report wrote about four teams who could use Henry's services and came up with trade proposals for all four teams. The Bengals were one of the four teams listed (the Bills, Eagles, and Ravens were the other three).
Bengals/Derrick Henry trade proposal
Kay proposes that the Bengals part ways with a second and fifth-round pick in next year's draft to acquire Henry. He notes that the Bengals' run game has not been very good to this point.
"Unfortunately for the Bengals, there doesn't seem to be anyone capable of picking up the slack here. Trayveon Williams is the only Cincinnati player aside from Burrow to log more than two carries on the year, but he's totaled just 20 yards on his five totes. With Mixon slumping and appearing washed up at the age of 27, the Bengals have little choice but to swing a trade if they want to fix this backfield in time to salvage the 2023 campaign."Alex Kay
Joe Mixon hasn't been super effective to this point but the Bengals also aren't running the ball as much as they could be. They were asking Joe Burrow to throw the ball 40-50 times when he was hurt when they could have been running the ball. That right there might have cost them a few wins.
"The Bengals even have the salary-cap room to make this trade work almost seamlessly. The franchise has the third-most cap space in the league right now with an estimated $12.6 million in available finances. If Cincinnati is willing to send over some decent draft capital to the Titans in exchange for their superstar running back, this deal should get done."Alex Kay
While It'd be a lot of fun to see Henry in this offense, this does not seem like the kind of deal the Bengals are going to make. They've been fiercely loyal to Mixon and hopefully will try to give Chase Brown more opportunities to show what he can do.