{"id":768476,"date":"2026-02-22T08:09:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T08:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/768476\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T08:09:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T08:09:23","slug":"bengals-dream-trade-scenario-with-giants-would-jump-start-rebound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/768476\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals\u2019 dream trade scenario with Giants would jump-start rebound"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 21, 2026, 9:55 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

The Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> don\u2019t often get aggressive in trades.<\/p>\n

But this offseason might be different. There\u2019s an air of urgency after the Bengals<\/a> did the bare minimum by throwing Duke Tobin into a season-ending press conference for the first time.<\/p>\n

A slim NFL draft pool (thanks to NIL and other factors), plus a slim free-agency pool (thanks to the ever-rising cap)<\/a> could force their hand a bit.<\/p>\n

The Bengals will certainly have chances to strike up big trades. Consider this one from Bleacher Report\u2019s Alex Ballentine<\/a>, which has them sending a second-round pick and change to the New York Giants for defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 6’4″, 340-pound nose tackle is one of the most unique interior defenders in the league. Not only can he two-gap and stuff the run, but he also posts better pass-rush production than a lot of 3-techs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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RELATED:6 Bengals veterans who won\u2019t be on Zac Taylor\u2019s roster next year<\/a><\/p>\n

Lawrence is 28 years old and had last season derailed a bit by an elbow injury. But in the three seasons before that, he had 21 sacks and was a versatile force all over schemes.<\/p>\n

The Bengals love their do-it-all defensive linemen. Putting Lawrence on the same line as first-rounders Shermar Stewart and Myles Murphy could certainly provide a major boost.<\/p>\n

There are red flags. The elbow injury is one. So is Lawrence\u2019s roughly $27 million cap hit in 2026 on top of the cost to acquire him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But in this scenario, the Bengals haven\u2019t exactly been knocking their second-round picks out of the park anyway. In fact, Kris Jenkins, the second-rounder from 2024, has been pretty much nowhere to be found so far at Lawrence\u2019s same spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Likely it happens? No, but the Bengals might just be better for it. Their best contention seasons lately have come after signing players other teams developed, after all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED:Bengals’ key offseason dates for NFL free agency, draft and more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 21, 2026, 9:55 a.m. ET The Cincinnati Bengals don\u2019t often get aggressive in trades. But this offseason…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2067],"tags":[95878,7,519,1917,56,2321,2469,6,13078,95905,95882,95913,96713,95896,95888,95895,95899,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-768476","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-giants","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-giants","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-giants","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkgiants","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-sstssportsnflbengals","17":"tag-sstsnbengals","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagcincinnati-bengals","20":"tag-tagdexter-lawrence-ii","21":"tag-tagnational-sports","22":"tag-tagnfl","23":"tag-tagnfl-hub","24":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","25":"tag-tagsports-news","26":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116113268321584274","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}