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A Bengals-Steelers trade idea landed Cincinnati a treasure chest of picks
After a trip to the Super Bowl and the AFC Championship in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, the Cincinnati Bengals have since disappointed. They are fresh off their worst season since 2020 as the team went 6-11 and missed the postseason for the third consecutive season.
Despite possessing superstar talent at the quarterback position with Joe Burrow and one of the best receiving duos in the NFL, the team has been unable to overcome their defensive woes. After finishing with the fifth-best defense in the NFL in 2022, the Bengals have finished with a bottom-12 unit over the past three seasons.
The end result has left quarterback Joe Burrow frustrated. After a heartbreaking loss in the 2025 regular season, Burrow’s future with the team came into question after he said, “If I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing it.” While Burrow clarified that his comments had nothing to do with Cincinnati, instead they were about his mindset and football, that did not stop speculation that Burrow might become available for other teams in the future.
Cincinnati Bengals Trade Pitch
Recently, former Pittsburgh Steelers and brief Bengals player James Harrison revealed on his podcast that he has been talking to Joe Burrow and suggesting he go to the Steelers. Harrison said, “I’ve been conversating with him (Joe Burrow) here on a weekly, bi-weekly basis. We’ve been having conversations. I talked to him on the phone yesterday,” Harrison said, “We’ve been talking about him. He’s going to go up there and talk to Mr. Brown to see what he needs to do to do whatever he needs to do to maybe get into some black and gold.”
While Harrison’s comments probably need to be taken with a grain of salt, it seems unlikely the Bengals would ever trade Burrow, Sports Illustrated’s Noah Strackbein projected what a possible trade between the two division rivals might look like. Strackbein wrote:
“Let’s start with the three first-round picks for Burrow if another team were to call. Then, add the AFC North tax, which is likely at least a third-round pick but could be a second-round pick. Again, if the Bengals are going to give up their franchise quarterback to their division rival, it’ll need to be an offer they cannot refuse.”
Bengals’ Joe Burrow Trade
Strackbein then argued that despite the steep price of three first-round picks plus a day two pick, the trade made sense for the Steelers as adding Joe Burrow to their roster would potentially make them contenders. The Steelers won the AFC North last season with 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers at the helm. Adding a top-10 quarterback in the middle of his prime would likely be worth the price for Pittsburgh.
On the Bengals’ end, trading away the face of their franchise to a division rival would probably be a non-starter. Franchise quarterbacks are rarely traded in the NFL, and the Bengals do not seem like the type of team to break that trend.
However, teams have had success after trading away star quarterbacks. For example, prior to the 2022 season, the Seattle Seahawks traded Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos in exchange for two first-round picks and two second-round picks. Wilson was coming off five consecutive Pro Bowl appearances, but struggled after getting traded. Meanwhile, Seattle made the postseason that very season and then won the Super Bowl in 2025 with a team that featured many of the players they selected with Wilson’s trade compensation.
Jose Esquer Jose Esquer is a Mexican-American sportswriter and communications student based in San Diego, CA. His work spans football, basketball, baseball, and soccer. He has written for platforms like RotoWire and DolphinsTalk. You can find him on Twitter/X @JEsquer8, usually talking Dolphins, world football, or both. More about Jose Esquer
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