The Cincinnati Bengals botched the NFL trade deadline as only they can

You cannot make this up. It’s NFL trade deadline day, and the Cincinnati Bengals, fresh off a Joe Burrow-catalyzed tremendous international performance in Madrid to extend their winning streak to four, so one of the most hilariously stupid things you could possibly imagine.

Par for the course for Duke Tobin and his underfunded minions. I don’t really blame Duke. Zero accountability assigned to the guy who’s held his post as GM-but-not-GM (??????) since the last Clinton administration.

But like…this really is a new low. Even for Duke and Co. A 6-2 team almost got better and scored a winning trade with the ultimate GM, multiple Super Bowl champion Howie Roseman of the Eagles, only to botch it at the finish line.

Arnold Ebiketie trade debacle with Eagles underscores Bengals’ lingering organizational issues

Because the Bengals a) didn’t fully understand how compensatory draft picks and/or b) didn’t want to sacrifice a pick somewhere in the 90s in favor of improving their team right now, they called off a would-be trade for Eagles edge defender Arnold Ebiketie.

Here's a deeper explanation from SI's Albert Breer, which gets into why, despite the initial trade for Ebiketie only being for a sixth-round pick, they'd have lost the third-round compensatory selection:

"The rule in question was put in years ago to close a loophole teams could exploit by executing a sign-and-trade with other teams—and basically says that if you trade for a player in the first year of his contract, he counts against the comp-pick formula as if he was a free agent you signed. Had the Bengals gone through with this trade, they'd have gained three compensable free-agents, and lost three, leaving them without a pick for Trey Hendrickson. So while on paper, they'd have gotten Ebiketie for sixth-rounder, as a practical matter, they'd have traded him for third- and sixth-round picks (the third being the comp pick they'll likely get for Hendrickson). That's why the trade is off."

Admittedly complicated but still. Isn't it, uh, a football operation's job to know the rules before they make a trade?

I think the larger point is, who gives a crap about a third-round comp pick!? Especially for Ebiketie, who's a past second-rounder out of Penn State and did have two straight six-sack seasons in 2023 and 2024.

Back in my Barstool Sports days, I advocated for Ebiketie (as well as Boye Mafe but who’s keeping track?) to be Cincinnati’s first-round pick. They went with Myles Murphy instead. Meh.
But that’s neither here nor there. Point being Ebiketie is the type of high-upside, high-end athlete with *proven* production who you take a chance on.

Alas, I guess the Bengals are in the business of hoarding, um, third-round compensatory picks. Because those have worked out SO WELL (see: Jackson, McKinnley).

It’d be one thing if this was a one-time thing, but it isn’t

Remember the Jessie Bates situation? And how the Bengals were just gonna roll with getting a sixth-round compensatory pick if not for Nick Korte spotting a calculation error by the NFL? Yeah. That netted them the third-rounder eventually used on the Year 3 camp-waived Jackson.

So Korte, the same guy who broke that news and prevented a Bengals debacle in that instance, was on the case AGAIN today.

The reactions to the rescinded trade have been none too kind. And since I'm coming back from seeing the Madrid game in person off an 11-hour layover in Lisbon and multiple delays, only to see this news upon reemerging from off the grid, I'll just do what I'm about to do instead of getting super in the weeds about my feelings on the matter.

What's the saying? An X/Twitter snapshot is worth a thousand words?

Cincinnati’s pursuit of Ebiketie is yet another damning indictment of Shemar Stewart

With Cashius Howell out for a long time due to wrist surgery and Cedric Johnson banged up, Shemar Stewart had a real chance to get some run in Madrid. He played all of 10 snaps.

The fact that the one move the Bengals were about to follow through on was to do with Stewart's position is yet another sign that the 2025 17th overall pick is not That Guy. I'm sorry but any reasonable ball knower in this fanbase knew drafting him was a mistake. Near-miss trading for Arnold Ebiketie is the latest proof that Cincinnati recognizes the mistake.

And hey at least they weren't doubling down on it like they've often done in the past. It's just frustrating as can be.

Anyway, I really hope that third-round pick gained for Trey Hendrickson goes to better use! That'd be fun! maybe it'll be packaged in another player trade. Haha. What am I even saying? Must be the jetlag. Not holding my breath on that whatsoever.

Long punctuating-paragraph rant incoming to bring us home. I guess I do have more to say in my slap-happy semiconscious state.

I just love how certain Bengals fans and content creators act like the front office can do no wrong, or that every negative narrative about them is blaspheme or some gross miscarriage of justice. Days like this are precisely why those takes linger like a bad crop dusty stench. Whether reality matches perception or not, setbacks like this Ebiketie non-trade disaster are what keep Cincinnati stuck in the mud, and not quite on the level of other legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Joe Burrow can only mask so much odious musk.

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