Insider notebook Why Bengals may not be
The haven't had consecutive top-10 selections in drafts since 2008-2009. They haven't had consecutive top-5 picks since taking Peter Warrick and with the No. 4 picks in 2000 and 2001, respectively. The franchise is now hurtling toward top-10 picks in consecutive years with its unimpre sive 1-4-1 record. The Bengals have no chance of competing in the top-heavy AFC North this season (or 2021, in truth) and should be planning for the future. That means trading off pieces before the Nov. 3 trade deadline and ama sing picks and cap space for the coming years. Instead, all's quiet on the Cincinnati front. "I'm hearing a lot of chatter but asking prices seem unreasonable," one NFC executive told me this week. Veteran defensive end has regularly spoken out about his frustration with his reduced role in the defense. Defensive tackle has been mostly relegated to third-down duty. Wide receiver A.J. Green is the third-leading receiver on the team and appeared to mouth "trade me" on the bench recently. Offensive lineman could probably use a fresh start elsewhere. And receiver has had his agent . And the Bengals may not make any moves before the deadline. Some of these frustrations can individually be Pressley Harvin III Jersey explained away, of course. Dunlap, who has played le s than half the defensive snaps in the past two games, feels that, as a Black man, he wants to communicate more as a mental health matter. He repeatedly said he'll do what head coach Zac Taylor and the Bengals organization feel is best. A league source told me Atkins' limited role is due solely to the health of his shoulder. The Bengals don't wish to put him in obvious run-stopping roles, and there is no indication he'll be traded away soon. The Bengals have a world of i sues along the offensive line and trading away any warm body used to protect franchise quarterback wouldn't be wise. Ro s, coming off the best season of a so-far disappointing career for the first-round pick, was a healthy scratch for two games as the team sought more work for . And then there's Green, whose injury history and diminished play make it almost impo sible for a team to trade for his prorated franchise tag for the remainder of the season. But the Bengals should do , right? Taylor is now 3-18-1 as head coach, and that includes a miserable 1-11-1 mark in games decided by eight points or fewer. Burrow's the future of the franchise but is getting hit at historic rates behind this offensive line and has completed just two throws 20 or more yards downfield. (Meanwhile, continues to thrive in Los Angeles, as the decision to lowball the left tackle back in 2017 gets worse with each pa Najee Harris Jersey sing season.) Cincinnati refused to a semble draft picks last year in a hopele s season and wound up with seven picks in seven rounds of the 2020 draft. That was a mistake then, even without the benefit of hindsight. The Bengals once again have just their seven picks in next year's draft. With a below-average ability to attract free agents to a team housing some of the worst facilities in the league, the Bengals franchise realistically can Dwayne Haskins Jersey only hope to build a winner through the draft. That would mean trading players for future picks now and either claiming players off the waiver wire or bringing in street free agents. But as one GM noted to me, claims have been down this year as teams try to keep their rosters tight to prevent against COVID-19 outbreaks. "Also, there is so much uncertainty with what the cap will be next year that most teams will be more reluctant to trade for a large cap number next year," one GM told me. Maybe we won't see fireworks acro s the league at the 4 p.m. deadline in a week and a half. But for the Bengals, where there's frustration and bad play and hopes for the future, the organization can't be stagnant. The traded a third and conditional fifth-round pick in order to obtain Yannick Ngakoue's services for their 2020 march back to the . They don't have to commit any future cap dollars to the pa s rusher, and they retain the right to franchise tag him come March, once they know exactly what the salary cap number is. It makes a world of sense for a Ravens team that has to construct itself to beat and the , and getting a great pa s rusher who can affect the quarterback while rushing four and dropping seven into coverage is truly the only way to beat the Chiefs offense. What doesn't make sense is why the are trading Ngakoue now. A league source tells me Baltimore was the aggre sor in pursuing Ngakoue and initiated talks Joe Haeg Jersey . But Minnesota has long known it'd be without for most, if not all, of the season, and that was confirmed just as they pre sed the button on the trade. Ngakoue got off the couch and recorded five sacks, seven quarterback hits and two forced fumbles for the Vikings. But GM Rick Spielman swears they aren't giving up on this season despite now being without their two best pa s rushers for the rest of the year. It's a curious decision by the organization that, after texting around the league Thursday, I couldn't find a logical explanation for. The team signed to a two-year, $66 million extension in the offseason and then made the fifth highest-paid running back in the league. It's a bad year to already punt on this season, but that's the only conclusion I can draw. The Cowboys defense looks lost. The front has no gap integrity and the backend is allowing bombs each week. Still, as we all know, the Cowboys are still in playoff contention at 2-4 thanks to belonging to the NFC East. They need a playmaker in the secondary, and at this point going out and getting Earl Thomas can't hurt anything. This an idea that one agent pitched me and it makes plenty of sense. Dallas's scoring defense is the worst, by far, in the NFL. They've generated a league-low three takeaways, including just one interception. The team barely had a chance when was healthy, and it's hard to fathom how they'll win the division over Philadelphia without the defense growing competent. Thomas's contract would certainly be for the remainder of the season and nothing beyond. Why not get to a playoff contender sooner rather than later? Especially one like the Cowboys where he can stand out and make even more plays to 1) refurbish his reputation and 2) make more Pittsburgh Steelers Golf Sporting Goods money on his next contract? He's been without a job for nearly two months, so the sidelining has likely humbled him by now. He'd be an instant upgrade to the Dallas defense and could pave the way to a big payday for himself with his hometown team in 2021. The Washington Football Team coaching staff obviously no longer believes can win them football games. I'm told they'd be open to trading the former first-round pick for any reasonable compensation (read: above a sixth-round pick) but there's not much appetite on the market for Haskins. As such, there's not a great need to shop him so that doesn't become another story. Head coach Ron Rivera has sent mixed me sages in the media about his plans at quarterback, a