The Cincinnati Bengals might look into trading Jonah Williams after the first-round offensive tackle requested them to do so. This came days after the Bengals signed Orlando Brown Jr. to take over at left tackle with the plan to move Williams to right tackle.
Williams clearly didn't like this plan and that's why he wanted out. The Bengals have said to be fielding calls regarding a Williams trade but they're not going to trade him if they don't get decent compensation in exchange. Their right tackle situation isn't great without Williams but moving him, gaining a second-round pick (which I don't think teams would give up for him but who knows) and getting back the $12.6 millon he's set to make this year would be huge.
That being said, this recent Williams trade proposal makes no sense for either the Bengals or the Jets, who ESPN has them doing business with in the hypothetical scenario.
From an ESPN insider article. It has the Jets trading for Jonah Williams and his $12.6 million cap hit in exchange for Mekhi Becton and his $5.8 million cap hit. So the Jets would be taking on someone who allowed more sacks than any other tackle last year and doubling the cap hit pic.twitter.com/FP48aVJc6D
— David Wyatt-Hupton (@DWyattHupton) March 22, 2023
Bengals should absolutely not trade Jonah Williams for Mekhi Becton
One of the big knocks on Williams is that he's been injury-prone throughout his career. Why then, would the Bengals want to trade for a guy who has been even more injury-prone? Seriously, since going to the Jets in the first round in 2020, Becton has played in just 15 games and missed nearly all of the past two seasons.
This trade also doesn't make sense for the Jets, as David Wyatt-Hupton mentions in the tweet above. New York would be taking on a major cap hit by acquiring Williams and doing so for a guy who led the league in sacks.
Now look, Williams isn't a terrible tackle by any means but he's not worth that kind of a cap hit. The Jets would be stupid to make this trade and so would the Bengals.