CINCINNATI — The Bengals traded for running back Khalil Herbert on Tuesday morning, kicking off trade deadline day with hope that this could be the year Cincinnati ditched late-round draft capital and invested in the current version of a team in need of a boost to dig out of their hole to the postseason.
Yet, as 4 p.m. came and went, Cincinnati was essentially the same team it has been been this year, this century, this always.
Herbert was a direct product of a devastating injury to a position already concerningly thin. They were desperate and had to make a move or risk perhaps not having a running back for Joe Burrow to hand the ball to come December and January. Zack Moss is out for the year. A cliff existed after him on the depth chart. Herbert is the new Moss.
Zac with immediate thoughts on today’s trade for Khalil Herbert ⤵️#RuleTheJungle pic.twitter.com/fn8lda02Cs
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) November 6, 2024
The Bengals made a deal and it looks as good as it was necessary.
The defense, however, otherwise known as the primary reason this team will or will not return to the postseason, remained unchanged. No defensive tackle, no cornerback, no edge rusher.
As they always do, the Bengals made calls. The need, talent and compensation levels never intersected as has traditionally been the case. They passed.
I imagine director of player personnel Duke Tobin sitting in a tie on a wooden bench like Gene Hackman in “Hoosiers”: “My team is on the floor.”
Meanwhile, every team the Bengals might compete against in a potential playoff run, which could include three consecutive road games as a sixth or seventh seed, loaded up over the last few weeks.
The Ravens added cornerback Tre’Davious White and receiver Diontae Johnson.
The Steelers added outside linebacker Preston Smith and receiver Mike Williams.
The Bills added receiver Amari Cooper.
The Chiefs added receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who was doing the “Remember the Titans” dance after one of his two touchdown passes from Patrick Mahomes on Monday Night Football.
The AFC contenders are fueling for the home stretch.
The Bengals are preparing to run on their own gas.
The NFL trade deadline tends to be a largely overrated media and fan creation. Obsession with the fantasy football side of the NFL world, the power of social media rumor mills, gamesmanship and the new, shiny object proving to be some missing piece places an undue amount of attention on the day on the calendar. The Christian McCaffrey and Roquan Smith examples of exponential impact exist, of course. There are always exceptions.
Failing to make a deal to supplement this Bengals defense doesn’t mean the front office failed the franchise, as some might contend. The asking price proved too high for everyone involving many players who filled trade-scenario clickbait in recent weeks.
No single player traded on Tuesday was changing the gloomy outlook surrounding this defensive group. The defensive tackle market proved to be almost nonexistent in terms of real impact. Popular edge trade candidates Azeez Ojulari and Arden Key stayed put. Maybe cornerback Marshon Lattimore counts as a game-changer, but coughing up third- and fourth-round picks as the Commanders did is a steep price for a Bengals team living the paid-franchise-quarterback-and-receiver life.
They solely depend on the young players they have spent draft picks on in recent years finally developing. If Myles Murphy, Cam Taylor-Britt, DJ Turner, Jordan Battle, Joseph Ossai, McKinnley Jackson and Kris Jenkins don’t become significantly more impactful, the Bengals won’t reach their Super Bowl aspirations — or even the tournament. That’s the all too real truth.
Josh Uche, Baron Browning, Tre’Davious White, Ray Robertson-Harris, Lattimore or whatever player a team would be willing to ship out of its building wouldn’t change that unfortunate reality for the Bengals.
I say all that to say this: It’s still a missed opportunity.
Both can be true.
They still increased the difficulty by failing to offer more support for the defense. Championships in the NFL are won in the margins. They will have to live with that in the fourth quarter against Pittsburgh or Thursday night in Baltimore or the playoffs in Kansas City.
The Bengals were involved and made calls. They typically do. Just like when they couldn’t complete a deal sending AJ McCarron to the Browns in 2017 for multiple picks or failed to add an extra piece to championship contenders in 2021 and 2022, they merely go down as missed opportunities they had to live with.
Herbert was exactly what the offense needed and an explosive find in exchange for a seventh-round pick. He’s extra motivated in the final year of his rookie deal after stewing on the bench in Chicago this year. That could end up as impactful as any in the division. It sent a message.
“I think that shows they believe in the players on this team to go and do what we want to do this year,” Burrow said. “Maybe there was holes here and there but they wanted to go out and improve the team for this stretch. That is exciting and positive for our team.”
How exciting and positive would it be to land any form of pass rusher? It proved more challenging to execute than talk about for the entire league.
It might not have changed the state of the defense, but it wouldn’t hurt.
Balds Don’t Lie w/ @MoEgger
‼️ The #Bengals made a trade. Reaction to the Herbert deal
☕️ Jermaine Burton. Discuss.
😡 Was this Joe Burrow’s latest moment?
🔗: https://t.co/CsRcgF0Vsu
📺: https://t.co/0EU0N3LtOm pic.twitter.com/QdWS05Ubdc— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) November 5, 2024
Just as Burrow said Herbert’s addition sent a message of belief in the rest of the players, standing pat did too in a different way. It tells Ossai, who defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said Tuesday is creating chaos with his effort and first-round pick Murphy who used a Reggie White hump move to put a big hit on Gardner Minshew on Sunday, that they see the progress. It tells Jenkins they see his sack and game ball. It tells Jackson the steady increase of snaps he’s earning is noted. It tells rookie cornerback Josh Newton to stay ready and that preseason which sparked proclamations of finding a hidden gem isn’t forgotten.
That’s the other side of adding players. For every new piece expected to show up and soak up snaps, there’s a young player working toward his opportunity left to wait longer.
That doesn’t mean that development shouldn’t be tabled in the name of the 2024 club, but that’s part of the equation.
Tobin and the Bengals’ front office (over?)value their players. They (over?)value their draft picks. That’s because, in the history of the organization, there’s been one universal truth: Greatness has stemmed from great drafts. When they hit a drafting heater from 2009-’13, they ran off five consecutive playoff appearances from 2011-’15, two division titles and one of the most consistently good half decades in franchise history. When the next few drafts stunk, so did the Bengals.
When they selected Burrow, Tee Higgins, Logan Wilson, Ja’Marr Chase and Evan McPherson in back-to-back drafts, they reached back-to-back AFC title games and nearly won the first Super Bowl in franchise history. As the last few drafts have whiffed, the team has fallen from grace.
They don’t fix the current problems by having fewer picks and adding someone to steal valuable snaps from a prospect they still believe can grow from prospect to producer. That philosophy is understandable. It’s the core of who they are as a franchise. Every pick is gold. That’s not a throwaway Day 3 pick, Tobin is known to say, that’s Andrei Iosivas or Matt Lee or Tycen Anderson or Erick All or Chase Brown.
They don’t all hit. Too many haven’t for this team. It’s why they sit in the current predicament. The problems on defense are of their own doing. The only way out is for recent picks to make good on the bets personnel placed on them.
That doesn’t mean refusing to add one defensive piece is beyond reproach. It would have been nice. It would have sent an even stronger message. It could have been a win in the margin.
It didn’t happen. No matter the outcry, it won’t make or break the season.
Both can be true. Staring down a daunting uphill climb to January, the Bengals must live with each of them.
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(Top photo of Myles Murphy: Katie Stratman / Imagn Images)
