Bengals trade deadline: Why Cincinnati — and Tee Higgins — are content to stand pat

If looking for the Bengals to break with their history and become active at the trade deadline, go looking somewhere else. Just like nearly every year, Cincinnati doesn’t have plans to make moves with the trade deadline approaching next Tuesday.

The Bengals don’t plan on waving the white flag on this season. They also don’t plan on giving up assets that would help with the next stage of rebuilding the roster.

They have no shortage of issues. Some were exposed by the Eagles this past Sunday, while others are simmering on injured reserve and the injury report.

Hearing that the Bengals won’t deal at the deadline because that’s not what they do infuriates the club’s fans. Watching the Chiefs, Ravens and Bills all give up minimal assets to add receivers to augment their attacks only fans the flames.

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Since trading disgruntled, retirement-threatening quarterback Carson Palmer to the Raiders in October of 2011, they’ve only made one deal near the deadline and that was unloading a disgruntled Carlos Dunlap in 2020 as he was posting defensive rotations and taking shots at everyone from the coaching staff to ownership to force his way out.

That’s it. So, barring an openly hostile relationship beyond repair with a player, the Bengals haven’t been willing to complete deals.

Many aspects of the franchise have changed in the Joe Burrow era from the approach to free agency to the quarterback’s contract structure to even valuing interior offensive linemen, but this one remains clinging to the past, not buying into the waves of midseason activity.

They’ve been forced in recent weeks to look at trade options, free agents and practice squad players, specifically at offensive tackle where three players are on injured reserve and Orlando Brown Jr. has been dealing with a calf/knee ailment.

In a world where everyone needs offensive line help, they plucked Andrew Stueber off the Falcons practice squad and added him to their 53-man roster and added rookie Andrew Coker to their practice squad. Not exactly a splash, but it’s where those conversations landed. Those conversations have now passed.

The big names associated with the Bengals in trade talks — Tee Higgins and Trey Hendrickson — are two who have openly requested trades this calendar year after expressing displeasure with their contract situations. The Bengals still very much see a path to making the playoffs in a mediocre AFC, so there is no shot either of those two would be shipped.

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Remember, this is the same team that refused to trade an aging A.J. Green and Geno Atkins despite being winless and rebuilding at the 2019 deadline. They will never concede games or give a semblance of a surrender to a season.

That’s why Higgins is a non-starter as the Bengals continue to find themselves in a confounding situation with him. He’s proven to be the key that makes the offense go this season but missed three games with soft-tissue injuries. He tweaked a hamstring the Thursday before the opener, missing the first two games, then tweaked his quad this past Friday keeping him out against the Eagles.

He will be a free agent at season’s end and get paid handsomely in guarantees in March. Burrow and the Bengals have already experienced how stark the outlook can be without Higgins.

Tee Higgins 2024 on/off field splits

Stat	On field	Off field
Plays	228	231
Yds/play	7	4.4
Yds/att	8.8	6.1
EPA/play	0.23	-0.1
Success%	52%	42%
Passer rating	120.2	89
ANY/A	8.37	4.98
Record	3-2	0-3

The idea of giving up Higgins now would be crazy for a team that always has a chance with Burrow under center and a complete give-up move with reverberations felt throughout the organization. That’s why it was never a thing.

The same goes for Hendrickson, who has created havoc in most games this year, ranking in the top five among qualifying edge rushers in total pressures, sacks and win rate. He’s been the team’s only pass rusher capable of creating consistent pressure. When that goes away, it can get ugly. When Philadelphia neutralized him with Fred Johnson and chips Sunday, the Bengals only created pressure on three dropbacks, the second-fewest by any team in a game this season. They also produced the fifth-lowest pressure rate in a game this season in Week 4 at Carolina, a game where an injury limited Hendrickson to a season-low 51 percent of snaps.

Hendrickson’s contract expires after the 2025 season.

Why not add pass-rush help?

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They could, but they already have a plan in place for 2023 first-round pick Myles Murphy and 2021 third-round pick Joseph Ossai to add juice opposite Hendrickson with run-stopping captain Sam Hubbard still soaking up snaps as well. The picks must develop or the season is sunk. The same goes on the interior where rookie Kris Jenkins Jr. was picked in the second round to augment starters Sheldon Rankins and B.J. Hill.

Developing and believing in the young players will almost always take precedence over giving up future assets for temporary help. For better or worse regarding the blood pressure of an angry, anxious fan base.

Just as they have been this entire season, this year will continue to rely on a leap coming from a collection of recent top draft picks they hope will eventually live up to their draft slots. That and the Burrow-Chase-Higgins trio proving strong enough to overcome all the club’s other weaknesses.

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All of this amounts to what looks to be a boring deadline in Cincinnati. Again.

Maybe a year will come when the front office finds a situation that sets up to buy or sell. Living in a world where the Bengals couldn’t possibly part with their most valuable assets while still attempting to win and being uninterested in giving up future picks to patch an underperforming area, there’s no path for this to be the year.