Free agency is set to kick off with the \u201clegal tampering period\u201d starting next week. As toothless as those words are, it\u2019s essentially the official unofficial start of the league year as teams are \u201callowed\u201d to negotiate and come to terms on deals with impending free agents. Of course, \u201ctampering\u201d is about as prevalent in the NFL as there are pieces of trash in the ocean. With another season on the horizon, the Cincinnati Bengals are losing the top defensive player on the roster and will be getting nothing. Well, that is, of course, unless they don\u2019t do anything in free agency and net a compensatory pick. However, if that is the Bengals\u2019 mindset, they might as well just give up because that\u2019s a loser mentality.<\/p>\n
Once again, a top talent is on the move, and the Bengals are getting nothing but worse on the field. There was no way Trey Hendrickson<\/a> was coming back after how the last two offseasons have gone. The bridge connecting Hendrickson and the team was demolished just like the Fourth Street Bridge. His walking was the most obvious route.<\/p>\n For as frustrating as Bengals\u2019 neighbor is when it comes to team building and ownership putting feet in their collective mouths, the Cincinnati Reds have been able to flip outgoing free agents for lottery tickets. As a \u201csmall market team,\u201d this is reality; the Reds cannot go out and sign the top free agents and defer the payments until Generation Gamma is born, like its West Coast rivals. Reds\/Bengals fans, prepare yourself for that Elly De La Cruz trade in a few years, but we digress.<\/p>\n The Bengals need to take a page from the Reds\u2019 book.<\/p>\n The Bengals Could Afford to Look Across the Street Regarding Roster Building<\/p>\n To be fair, it\u2019s far too late to talk about Hendrickson and any other free agent hitting the market. However, it\u2019s time to look to 2027 at the same time. Of course, this is a strenuous task for a tiny front office with its own meddling ownership group. Flipping players for picks is fine in theory. In practice, you still have to hit on those picks, just as the Reds and other MLB teams have to be able to hit on and develop those prospects. The strategy has worked for the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Reds are currently in a competitive window thanks to that infamous 2021 teardown.<\/p>\n Looking around the NFL, teams already do this. At the trade deadline, players on expiring deals on losing teams are flipped for whatever they could get. Last year, the Bengals sat on their hands because they expected Joe Burrow<\/a> to be able to dig them out of the hole the defense dug. At the time, the team was 3-6, fresh off six losses in seven games, with the toughest part of the schedule coming up. It didn\u2019t work. Just this week, the Kansas City Chiefs flipped what looks to be a future superstar at corner in Trent McDuffie<\/a> for a first-round, fifth-round, and sixth-round pick in 2026, and a third-round pick in 2027 instead of trying to extend him when they knew he was going to be too expensive. They did the same last year by flipping L\u2019Jarius Sneed<\/a> for two picks, and even traded away a player of Tyreek Hill\u2019s caliber in 2022.<\/p>\n Heading into 2025, the Bengals knew Hendrickson was not going to be a Bengal long term. While they called Hendrickson\u2019s agent\u2019s bluff that he could go find a team that would fork over a first-round pick, not trading him in the offseason was a mistake. Even then, tagging and trading him this offseason could have been an option. Even if a fourth-round pick was the best a team would be willing to send, it\u2019s better than nothing. It feels like the team is playing the compensatory pick game.<\/p>\n Do you remember who the Bengals picked with the third-round compensatory pick they received after Bungling the Jessie Bates<\/a> situation? It was McKinnley Jackson<\/a>.<\/p>\n Defacto GM in name only, Duke Tobin infamously said, \u201cwe aren\u2019t in the business of making other teams better,\u201d in regards to the entire Tee Higgins<\/a> saga. If the Bengals continue to just sit on expiring contracts when they know they won\u2019t re-sign, they aren\u2019t really in the business of making their own team better, either.<\/p>\n Expand The Scouting Department<\/p>\n Of course, the biggest issue of all of this is the fact that the Bengals\u2019 scouting department is paltry in comparison to the rest of the NFL. The team hasn\u2019t hit on a first-round pick that wasn\u2019t a slam-dunk in quite some time. Outside of the Joe Burrow and Ja\u2019Marr Chase<\/a> picks, who has been the best first-round pick over the last decade? Daxton Hill<\/a>, the guy the coaching staff took five years to figure out where he belonged? Neither defensive end has shown first-round production to this point. Amarius Mims<\/a> is an ascending player and looks like a slam dunk, credit where it\u2019s due. Jonah Williams<\/a> and Darqueze Dennard<\/a> were fine, but neither really stuck around. John Ross<\/a> and Billy Price<\/a> were awful picks.<\/p>\n If you CTRL + F \u201cscout\u201d at Bengals.com\/team\/front-office-roster\/, there are four names flagged. There are two \u201cscouts,\u201d one \u201cScouting Research Analyst,\u201d and one \u201cScouting Executive.\u201d That\u2019s it. Meanwhile, the Baltimore Ravens<\/a> have eight with varying degrees of specificity, the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> have 19, and the Cleveland Browns<\/a> (as embattled as their drafting has been) have 26.<\/p>\n The coaches absolutely should have some say in these picks, but it seems like the Bengals lean on the coaches for their picks. Look back at the 2024 NFL Draft, there is video of head coach Zac Taylor literally pounding the table for Jermaine Burton<\/a>, who is an uncovered sneeze away from being out of the NFL.<\/p>\n Al Golden will have a large say in who the team picks on the defensive side of the ball after fielding the statistically worst unit in recent memory. Was he handed a lemon of a defense? Absolutely. However, that performance is not just due to the lack of talent.<\/p>\n Now What<\/p>\n Honestly, this lets the organization off the hook.<\/p>\n It should say <\/p>\n JUST BE OWNERS \u2014 Goodberry (@JoeGoodberry) December 19, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Attacking roster building in a way that rhymes with MLB only works if you nail the picks. Over the last few drafts, that hasn\u2019t quite been the strength of the team. At the same time, neither has attacking free agency. A lot of the inactivity of last year\u2019s offseason from the Bengals is obscured due to the extensions of Higgins and Chase. Who was the best free agent from last year to sign with Cincinnati?<\/p>\n The solutions for the Bengals have been beaten into the ground: form a real scouting department, hire a real GM\/let Duke Tobin do his job instead of having the ownership fail to negotiate with players year after year, and understand when the relationship is over. The third part is probably the only one that is semi-realistic with the history of this team. Even if the Hendrickson saga is over, it\u2019s time to look to the future.<\/p>\n The Bengals enter free agency with some of the most cap space in the NFL before restructuring Burrow\u2019s contract (which is something the team has never done, for what it\u2019s worth). Be aggressive. Don\u2019t bank on that 2027 compensatory pick. Then, when the draft rolls around after taking care of the gaping holes in free agency, draft players who can immediately contribute. Picking projects with athletic upside despite no college production has not worked. You need great coaches to develop those kinds of players, and the Bengals haven\u2019t proven that they have those.<\/p>\n One good offseason would turn morale around. Another inactive offseason will only further antagonize a fanbase that knows what it has in Burrow, Chase, Higgins, and what looks to be the first competent offensive line in a decade. If the Bengals squander that again, billboards<\/a> won\u2019t be the only way the city lets the team know of its frustration.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
HIRE A GM
SAVE BURROW https:\/\/t.co\/2WH71PxmKJ<\/a><\/p>\n