The Bengals Almost Blew a Third-Round Pick on a Trade, and a Guy on Twitter Caught It First

The Cincinnati Bengals might have one of the most incompetent front offices in the NFL, and their latest disaster is a perfect example of why. They apparently needed a guy on Twitter to point out that a trade they had already agreed to was going to cost them an additional THIRD-ROUND DRAFT PICK. Seriously, how does something like that even happen when you have an entire department of people getting paid to understand this stuff?

The Bengals had agreed to send the Philadelphia Eagles a 2027 sixth-round pick for defensive end Arnold Ebiketie. Nothing crazy, just a depth move after Cashius Howell suffered a wrist injury. Then Nick Korte from Over the Cap hopped on Twitter and pointed out a pretty significant problem. Because of the NFL’s compensatory-pick formula, acquiring Ebiketie would also cost Cincinnati its projected third-round pick from Trey Hendrickson leaving for Baltimore.

For anyone unfamiliar with the NFL’s ridiculous compensatory-pick rules, teams can receive extra draft picks when they lose qualifying free agents. But certain free-agent additions can cancel those picks out, including players acquired through trades. Ebiketie qualified under that formula, which meant Cincinnati was essentially looking at giving up a sixth-rounder AND losing a third-rounder for a rotational pass rusher. That’s an absolutely terrible deal.

Here’s where it gets embarrassing. About an hour after Korte pointed out the issue on Twitter, the Bengals backed out of the trade. Now, nobody has officially confirmed that Cincinnati discovered the problem because of his post, but COME ON. The timing is pretty damn suspicious, and even NFL Network acknowledged that the tweet appeared to have played a role in the decision.

I understand that the NFL has complicated rules. That’s fine. They’re supposed to be confusing to fans sitting on their couches watching football, not the people responsible for running a billion-dollar franchise. How do you get far enough into negotiations to AGREE to a trade without someone in the building checking the full cost? Does nobody double-check this stuff? Are they just throwing draft picks around and hoping somebody figures out the paperwork later?

And I actually give Cincinnati credit for backing out once they realized what was happening. Losing a third-round pick for Ebiketie would’ve been insane. But congratulations on realizing the house was on fire before you finished pouring gasoline on it. You probably shouldn’t have been playing with matches in the first place.

The most ridiculous part of this entire situation might actually be what happened afterward. When reporters wanted an explanation, did Duke Tobin, the guy responsible for the Bengals’ personnel decisions, come out and take responsibility? OF COURSE NOT. He sent head coach Zac Taylor to answer questions for him.

According to Yahoo Sports, Taylor openly admitted that he wasn’t comfortable delivering the message but was doing what Tobin had asked. He explained that the trade became more expensive than Cincinnati originally anticipated and made sure everyone knew Philadelphia hadn’t done anything wrong.

So let me get this straight. The Bengals’ front office nearly screws up a trade because they apparently didn’t account for a third-round pick, some guy on Twitter catches the problem, and then the person in charge sends the HEAD COACH out to apologize for it? What the hell is Duke Tobin getting paid to do?

Taylor has enough on his plate trying to coach an NFL team. He shouldn’t have to be the front office’s designated apology guy because the person responsible doesn’t want to answer uncomfortable questions. If you’re running personnel for an NFL franchise, you should probably be able to handle both the draft-pick math AND a microphone.

Meanwhile, Nick Korte is sitting there publicly explaining the consequences of NFL transactions before the teams involved have even finished processing them. The guy clearly knows his stuff, and Cincinnati should be grateful somebody caught this before the deal became official.

At this point, maybe the Bengals should just require Duke Tobin to get Nick Korte’s approval before making another trade. It might save them a few draft picks and keep Zac Taylor from having to do somebody else’s damn job.