The Cincinnati Bengals are 5-2 for the first time since the 2021 season and very bad for the AFC North title as we near the midway point of the season.
They are fresh off two exciting games, both of which fell behind 13-0 before coming back to win. Their most recent heartbreaking win came against the Tennessee Titans in overtime by a score of 43-36.
While they’ve been leading the way lately, they’ve also lost several players to injury and will likely need to address multiple positions before the trade deadline, either through trade or free agency.
Before we get there, though….
The Colts will trade Jonathan Taylor. It will happen, and the Bengals are reportedly one of five or six teams “aggressively pursuing” a possible trade for Taylor, according to Jordan Schultz.
So, before we think about Sunday’s game and the upcoming match against Spain, here are some pros and cons of a possible trade for Taylor.
- The first is obvious—Jonathan Taylor is a stud of a running back, and he’ll immediately upgrade the Bengals’ rushing attack. The Bengals have the second fewest rushing yards of any team in the NFL and are averaging just 3.7 yards per carry. The coaching staff desperately tried to create a balanced offense, putting Burrow under center more often than usual. It doesn’t work. Defenses can focus on Burrow, his receivers, and the passing game without thinking about the rushing attack. If the Bengals trade Taylor, that will change, and the offense should be better because of it.
- The Bengals also don’t have to worry about replacing Chase Brown after the 2026 season. Brown and Samaje Perine are both in contract years, and Taylor, a true three-down workhorse, could replace both of them going forward.
- He will take an insane amount of pressure from the Burrow. Right now, even when the Bengals are trying to force a running game, the offense is flowing to Burrow and his elite receivers. They scored just four rushing touchdowns, and two of those belonged to Burrow. Can you imagine if defenses can’t drop five or six defensive backs in coverage to tackle Chase and Higgins because they really have to worry about Taylor? What happens when the defensive backs have to crawl in run support and the safeties can no longer bracket Chase? Taylor will immediately make the Bengals offense unpredictable.
- And he is a workhorse. Brown averaged just 13 carries per game, while Perine averaged nearly five. Taylor is capable of 20-plus carries per game and has proven he can carry the load of an NFL rushing attack.
- Defense needs all the attention now. If we had discussed this a few weeks ago, I would have been on board. That’s no longer the case, though. The second is dealing with injuries and inconsistent play, and linebacker depth is a concern. On the outside of the defensive line, the Bengals should seriously consider adding a veteran cornerback or linebacker, especially if DJ Turner misses significant time.
- The cost will be enormous. The Bengals are already on the hook for Burrow’s $275 million, Chase’s $161 million, and Higgins’ $115 million contracts. The last thing they need is to add Taylor’s $44 million deal to the books. While it would be fun to see Taylor line up behind or next to Burrow, they don’t need to spend that kind of money on a running back when the offense will still flow to Burrow and his receivers more often than not. Taylor makes more sense for a team with a quarterback that needs a strong running game to help carry the offense. There is a possible out after the 2026 season, but the Bengals will still spend $10 million in dead money.
- The running back position is devalued in 2026. While there are elite guys capable of doing elite things, some of the NFL’s best offenses have relative nobody carrying the football. In the 2020s, it’s all about moving the ball through the air.
- The shelf life of the running back is also relatively short, which is part of the reason the position’s value has decreased in recent years. It’s a punishing position, and bell-cow running backs usually don’t last long. The Derrick Henrys of the world are few and far between. Taylor is now 27, and there’s no guarantee he’ll be able to hold up to heavy use in his early 30s.
- The trade compensation could also be more than the Bengals are willing to pay. If there are indeed several teams aggressively pursuing Taylor, the Bengals could be in a bidding war, forcing them to give up more draft capital than they feel comfortable giving up.
Again, if this conversation had taken place even a week earlier, I would have been all for adding an elite running back to a ridiculously overpowered offense.
The Bengals need help at cornerback first and foremost. Once they address that, they could still look to add a veteran linebacker or another edge rusher to help replace Cashius Howell.
Taylor would be a luxury the Bengals don’t really need and certainly can’t afford moving forward.
I don’t think he’ll get them any closer to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy than Chase Brown did in 2026, and they certainly don’t want to pay him more than the $21 million he’s due in 2027.
Now, if you’re still with me after all that….
Here are some random thoughts on the Bengals’ overtime win over the Titans:
- Dexter Lawrence’s sack late in the game that pushed the Titans away from a field goal was exactly why the Bengals traded a top-10 pick to get him. That was an elite play from an elite player at a crucial moment in the game. If he hadn’t made that sack, the Bengals might be 4-3 right now.
- Teams continue to do everything they can to bracket Chase, taking their chances with Higgins at their own peril. Higgins finished the game with 11 receptions for 155 yards and two touchdowns. As the Titans tried to adjust, so did Chase, finishing with 11 catches for 141 yards and a touchdown. Pick your poison, I guess.
- When the defensive line can’t generate pressure on the quarterback, the secondary struggles to lock down the receivers. That’s why trading for a cornerback might be the best move the Bengals make before the deadline.
- This is the kind of game the 2024 and 2025 Bengals lose.
- Burrow was both brilliant and strangely reckless on Sunday. He completed 38 of 48 passes for 462 yards and five touchdowns. However, he also threw three interceptions, some of them pretty ugly, including an underthrow by a wide open Chase that should have been a touchdown. As long as he’s brilliant more often than he’s reckless, I don’t think it matters.
- Boye Mafe is an outstanding signing.
- The defense’s inability to tackle continues to be a major issue as the Bengals head into Week 9. At this point, what needs to change?
- The running game wasn’t necessarily ineffective against the Titans, but it was underutilized. Brown averaged 4.6 yards per carry Sunday, his second-highest average of the season, but carried the ball just 12 times. However, they were in a shootout, so I got it.
- Five of the Titans’ seven losses have come by six points or fewer. They are better than their 1-7 record suggests.
- That said, the Bengals are the better team, and I’d like to see them dominate Tennessee instead of allowing Cam Ward to throw for over 300 yards for the first time in his career.
If you’re still with me, the Bengals will travel to Spain to face the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday morning as part of the league’s slate of international games this season.
The Falcons are 3-5 and are coming off a strange shutout loss to the Buccaneers where Tampa Bay had ZERO pass completions.
The Falcons are better than the Titansand the Bengals can’t afford to let them jump out to 13-0 leads like the Ravens and Titans have done in the past two weeks.
That kind of football is not sustainable, and the Bengals have to count their blessings that they were able to pull off wins in both games.
It probably won’t happen a third time.
Being an international game, everything will be thrown into harm’s way. The Bengals leave for Spain on Tuesday (today!) to adjust to the time change before taking the field at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid on Sunday morning (for us).
They should win, but they’ll have to put together a complete game that doesn’t include a bunch of self-inflicted injuries to do it.
Go down to Lucky Town
Down to Luck Town
The blues I found will disappear
Down to Lucky Town
Baby, down to Lucky Town