Well, this was a disappointing day for the Cincinnati Bengals. There was some hope that, with all of the activity around the AFC during the trade deadline, the team was going to do something as well. And they did! They executed a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles that seemed good on paper… up until Cincinnati reneged on the deal all of a sudden.
Now, the Bengals are left in a weird position after the trade deadline. What was their biggest mistake this trade deadline?
Bengals' biggest mistake at 2026 NFL Trade Deadline: Not checking their compensatory picks properly
The biggest mistake that the Bengals made at the trade deadline isn't necessarily their decision to back out of the Arnold Ebiketie trade. It's not the fact that they didn't swing for the fences for a star running back or more defensive pieces. The fact that they didn't do anything at all at the trade deadline isn't the biggest mistake they made today.
No, their biggest mistake was agreeing on the Ebiketie trade without seemingly doing their research.
Cincinnati's whole reason for backing out of the Ebiketie trade with the Philadelphia Eagles was because they did not know that they would lose a compensatory pick in the process. The Bengals were going to lose the compensatory pick they got when Trey Hendrickson left in free agency this season. That decision alone is a mistake already: why is this win-now team this worried about a compensatory pick?
What's truly baffling, though, is the fact that the Bengals did not know this beforehand. Yes, the compensatory draft pick system is needlessly convoluted and gives every fan a headache. There's a lot of math and weird cancellations that go into the process. It's understandable for your average Joe to not have a good grip on this system.
The Bengals aren't your average Joe. They are an NFL organization with the tools to hire people knowledgeable about this topic. You'd expect a front office to have someone on hand to know about this. Yet, it seems like the whole reason why the Bengals backed out of the trade is that a post from some analyst on X alerted them to the pick they would lose. It reeks of incompetence from the front office, as it looks like they didn't do their due diligence.
Was a third-round pick for an edge player who's better against the run an overpay? Maybe. But that move would have been infinitely better than suddenly backing off trading for a good player just because you're going to lose a compensatory pick.
Would the Bengals have been better off not trading for anyone? Probably not, but that's par for the course for the Bengals nowadays. The fact that they traded for Ebiketie was already shocking on its own. No one would have been surprised if Cincinnati didn't do anything at the deadline.
Now, not only do the Bengals come away from the trade deadline empty-handed, but they also look completely incompetent in the eyes of the general fanbase. It's just a bad look on a front office that's been much maligned by its fans for the last few decades.