Cincinnati Bengals Embrace Status Quo, Stay Quiet at NFL Trade Deadline: Will That Work?

The Cincinnati Bengals are about to find out if their trade deadline approach was the right one as they enter the final two months of the regular season. 

Sticking with their approach of hanging onto most of their draft capital, the Bengals decided once again to stick with the players they have instead of being aggressive like the two teams ahead of them in the AFC North.

With the Bengals on the verge of playoff contention at 4-5, the team’s only move was to acquire Khalil Herbert, a backup running back with eight carries and 16 yards in eight games for Chicago. The Bengals made the move only because they were desperate for an experienced running back to take the load off second-year back Chase Brown.

Herbert, a sixth-round pick out of Virginia Tech in 2021 to the Bears, will give the Bengals depth at a position that is becoming more and more featured in the offense. 

"I think he'll help us in a lot of different ways," head coach Zac Taylor said. "He's played a lot of football in his time in Chicago. We had good reports on him coming out of college, evaluated his play over the last couple days." 

Those on the outside thought this would be a good time to improve the wide receiver room, with Tee Higgins and Charlie Jones injured and rookie Jermaine Burton benched for the game against Las Vegas for missing team meetings. 

They decided that their pass rush was good enough, despite having only one consistently productive pass rusher in Trey Hendrickson. Their secondary has been up and down with third-year corner Cam Taylor-Britt, second-year corner DJ Turner and Dax Hill out with a torn ACL. 

But the team did nothing. 

On the surface, that should shock no one, as the Bengals just don't part with future draft picks. Before acquiring Herbert, the Bengals had made exactly two in-season trades in the previous 52 years under the Brown family ownership that resulted in adding a player to the roster.

Anyone who expected the Bengals to be aggressive and bring in talent to a defense that is mostly healthy would be grossly disappointed—coaches, players and fans.

Still this year, there was some hope and speculation that the Bengals would be in the market for an edge rusher, corner or defensive tackle. 

The Bengals passed on all three areas and decided that their group was good as is. This despite the Steelers adding edge Preston Smith from the Packers and the Ravens adding corner Tre'Davious White from the Rams. 

The Ravens and Steelers have eight Super Bowl titles between them. The Bengals have none. Yet, it’s the Ravens and Steelers who continue to make moves while the Bengals sit and watch, for better or worse.

One can argue the merit of dealing a draft pick away for a player who may not have a lot left in the tank. But there is the intangible value of sending a message to the locker room by adding a veteran piece with the expressed purpose of reloading for the stretch, getting to the playoffs and then making a run. 

The Steelers, Ravens, Commanders and Lions all made moves to improve their playoff chances while sending a message to their players. 

In Cincinnati, the status quo will have to do.

Maybe the front office doesn't believe this is the team to take that chance on. Maybe the asking price for names like Azeez Olujari, Za'Darius Smith or Chase Young was too much. Or maybe it's all of the above.

Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin didn't address the media after Tuesday's trade deadline. He really didn't need to. The Bengals are what they are on defense and the organization just wasn't prepared to meet the asking price for depth at the defensive tackle, edge or cornerback positions.

Maybe trading for a backup running back for a seventh round pick was all the front office could stomach—or permitted by ownership, which regards draft picks as the highest commodity in the NFL marketplace.

The status quo has always been the way in Cincinnati. They are about to find out if that path is good enough to lead them to the postseason this year.