Bengals Should Break Historical Precedent and Be Aggressive at Trade Deadline

All three AFC North teams won in Week 7. The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday, October 31st at 4 p.m. ET.

Author:
James Rapien
Publish date:
Oct 23, 2023 8:08 AM EDT

In this story:

CINCINNATI — The Bengals should be open for business.

Players and coaches return to Paycor Stadium on Monday following the bye week. Sunday was a stark reminder of how challenging the next 11 weeks are going to be for a Cincinnati franchise that entered the season with Super Bowl expectations.

The Bengals are also hoping to become the first team in AFC North history to win three-straight division titles. There's a reason no one has done it before.

All three AFC North teams won on Sunday. The Bengals are still in last place with a 3-3 record. The Ravens lead the pack at 5-2 followed by the Steelers and Browns, who are both 4-2 on the year.

Cincinnati is a talented team, with a great quarterback and can compete with anyone. They also play in the best division in football.

Even with Joe Burrow and Tee Higgins expected to be healthier coming out of the bye, they should be aggressively trying to upgrade their roster ahead of the trade deadline on Oct. 31.

Everyone knows that Cincinnati doesn't usually make deals at the deadline. They don't like giving up future picks or assets to acquire a veteran that may or may not help them win this season.

Their last midseason trade was in 2020 when they shipped a disgruntled Carlos Dunlap to Seattle for B.J. Finney and a seventh round pick. Prior to that, it was the Carson Palmer trade in 2011.

They don't make midseason trades often and rarely do the acquire a player in the process.

That strategy should change over the next eight days. They have some obvious holes, plenty of future picks and a talented roster that has overcome plenty of adversity during the first six weeks of the season to post a 3-3 record.

It could be a tight end, running back or even a defensive tackle. Adding another piece could give the Bengals the boost they need, to not only win the AFC North, but to push for a Super Bowl Championship.

The Bengals have done things differently over the past few seasons. They've been aggressive in free agency. They've traded up in the draft. They gave Joe Burrow $220 million guaranteed. Not bad for a franchise that doesn't like to hand out large guarantees with their contracts.

Most of those moves have paid off. They've benefited from doing things that they haven't done historically.

Part of that means trusting their evaluations, which shouldn't be any different at the deadline.

They shouldn't make a move just to say they made one. They should be aggressively pursuing the right player or players that they believe can help them accomplish their ultimate goal.

The challenging part about the trade deadline is not knowing who's available and who isn't. We don't know the asking price for the players that are on the trading block.

The unknown is the tricky part of the deadline, but even without having every detail, it's reasonable to expect the Bengals to be aggressive between now and the 4 p.m. ET deadline on Oct. 31.

They are projected to have nine picks in the 2024 NFL Draft (including two compensatory selections). There's no reason why they can't part with one pick to land a veteran running back, tight end, defensive tackle or another veteran that they believe can help them this season.

Their aggressiveness has helped them land guys like Trey Hendrickson, DJ Reader, Orlando Brown Jr., Chidobe Awuzie and plenty of other key contributors in free agency.

Adding one more piece will only help their chances of winning the AFC North for a third-straight year and making the Super Bowl push that fans and the team expected to make at the start of the season.

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