Bengals nearly made a costly trade-deadline blunder, and Zac Taylor had to explain it

The Bengals agreed to acquire Ebiketie from the Eagles before discovering the deal could cost them way more than they thought

Nov 11, 2026 at 7:08 pm ET • 2 min read

There were six trades on trade deadline day Tuesday, but a trade that didn't happen provided one of the more entertaining moments of what was already a wild day.

The Bengals agreed to send a sixth-round pick to the Eagles for edge defender Arnold Ebiketie, a fairly run-of-the-mill deal on the surface: Ebiketie figured to join the Bengals' pass-rush rotation with Cashius Howell (wrist) on IR. But it seemed the Bengals failed to realize or understand that the trade would have meant also forfeiting the compensatory 2027 third-round pick they are due after losing Trey Hendrickson in free agency.

The trade fell through after the Bengals, it seems, learned about that part of the equation. Wednesday, Bengals coach Zac Taylor addressed the near-trade.

"I feel good (about the EDGE depth)," Taylor said. "Obviously we tried something yesterday, and [director of personnel] Duke [Tobin] was very explicit with me when he came and spoke to me of how he wanted this portrayed, and I'm not comfortable doing it, but I'm going to do what he asked. 

"We did make an effort to kind of put some depth in there in place of Cashius. As we got into it, obviously it was going to be a little more costly than we initially anticipated. He's really apologetic about it and wants to make clear Philly was a great trade partner. It was on our, and that's just the way things go, but certainly have a ton of confidence in our front office and how they do things, and they've given us the players that have allowed us to be 6-2 right now and playing at such a high level. So, we'll put that behind us and move forward ..."

Nick Korte, who contributes to the contract source site OverTheCap, was first to point the potential snafu out. The Eagles signed Ebiketie as a compensatory free agent this offseason, meaning he counted against the compensatory pick formula. That status carries over if he is traded in-season, per the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Here's the full chart:

The Bengals may have believed Cordell Volson counted as a CFA lost, but he has not played this year, rendering his departure moot in the compensatory picks balance.

Bengals call off Arnold Ebiketie trade with Eagles after nearly botching compensatory pick situation

Zachary Pereles

To his credit, Taylor said the failed trade didn't interrupt his Tuesday preparation, aside from the very brief conversation he had with Tobin, and that it would not impact the team's preparation for a crucial Week 10 "Sunday Night Football" matchup with the Steelers. Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are tied for the AFC North lead at 6-2.

The Bengals ended up not making any in-season trades this year, even while most other top AFC teams, including the Jaguars, Chiefs and Broncos, did. Taylor had a lot of confidence in the group he has, which has won four straight.

"I really like where we're at," Taylor said. "I think Duke really likes where we're at. So this is a team with a lot of confidence right now. I know it's a fun period of time, the weeks leading up to the trade deadline, for fans and people to generate a lot of media attention of of it, but the truth is we really do like where we're at."