The Bengals are sitting at 4-2 through Week 7, and the comeback against Baltimore was as loud as it gets: 35 unanswered second-half points. But the first half told a different story, with Tyler Huntley piling up more than 200 passing yards before halftime and Cincinnati getting blanked for two quarters.
That kind of uneven performance is exactly why Duke Tobin shouldn’t treat the trade deadline like a finish line. Of course, that doesn’t guarantee anything big will happen. But if the Bengals stay away from a splashy deal, the free-agent market still offers a few long-shot names that could actually matter.
Bobby Wagner is the cleanest answer at linebacker
Barrett Carter has held up fine as the green dot linebacker, and Demetrius Knight Jr. has done solid work against the run even if coverage isn’t his strength. Still, neither player should keep Cincinnati from pursuing Bobby Wagner.
Even at 36, Wagner was still elite against the run last season. He’s the kind of veteran every contender should at least be checking on, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he ends up with one after the deadline.
Cincinnati has a little more than $8 million in cap space, which should be enough to bring him in for the rest of the season. That kind of move would give the Bengals a proven leader with Super Bowl pedigree, and it would upgrade a linebacker room that could use help.
Taysom Hill would give Cincinnati a new layer on offense
Erick All Jr. injuring his right knee again changes the tight end picture, at least for now. Until there’s more clarity on the severity, Taysom Hill starts to make sense as both insurance and something more than that.
Hill isn’t just a tight end candidate. He’s started and won NFL games at quarterback, and he can also line up as a short-yardage Wildcat option, a fullback, or a ball carrier out of the backfield.
He would give the Bengals a different kind of weapon. Picture Hill as the pass protector or leak outlet instead of Drew Sample, and then layer in what he could do to expand the run game. His presence would make Cincinnati’s personnel looks harder to read and less predictable overall.
Some will point to his age and wonder if he has much left. But Hill didn’t even start his first NFL season until he was 27, and he hasn’t played this season to date, so there should still be plenty on the tires.
Raheem Mostert could bring the burst the run game is missing
At first glance, adding a 34-year-old running back might sound like a sideways move at best. But Raheem Mostert has only 781 career regular-season carries, so he hasn’t been overworked.
Last season with the Las Vegas Raiders, he averaged 4.7 yards per carry, ran for 104 yards on 22 attempts, and averaged 29.3 yards per kickoff return with a long of 54 yards.
That’s still real juice. Mostert even made it clear not long ago that he wanted a larger role in Vegas while Ashton Jeanty struggled to get his rhythm and was clearly dealing with injuries.
What makes Mostert appealing is simple: he’s faster and more explosive than Chase Brown or Samaje Perine. If Cincinnati wants to keep the run game basic, then adding a back who can hit the hole with burst could change things in a hurry. He also brings outside-zone ability, which could add another wrinkle to the playbook.
It’s a long shot, sure. But if the Bengals want anything to spark the run game and help keep Joe Burrow protected as the season rolls on, Mostert would fit the bill.
In Other News...
Bengals Just Gained A Real AFC North Edge Over Pittsburgh
The Bengals win over the Ravens did more than bump Cincinnati to 4-2, it also strengthened the feeling that this team has a real path in the AFC North. A strength-of-schedule breakdown from Computer Cowboy on Twitter points to one of the more favorable remaining slates in the league for 2026, which helps explain why the Bengals are drawing plenty of attention as a playoff team with division-title upside.
November is where that edge starts to take shape on the field, with a run of games that should tell a lot about how sturdy Cincinnatis position really is. The Bengals still have to handle the week-to-week grind, but the combination of their early record and the schedule in front of them has them sitting in a better spot than most of their division competition right now. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Just Raised A Franchise-Altering Question After Crushing Baltimore
For one half, it looked like Cincinnati was staring at the same familiar problems. Then the Bengals flipped the game on Baltimore completely, rolling to a 35-13 win that suddenly gives this season a different feel. The offense did not find the end zone before halftime, but once the second half began, Joe Burrow and company turned the matchup into a showcase, and the defense matched it by keeping the Ravens out of rhythm and limiting them to 13 points.
Burrow finished with four touchdown passes, and the pass rush added four sacks as Cincinnati put together its most convincing performance of the year. It was also the kind of result that changes the conversation around a team, especially with the Bengals now riding a two-game winning streak and owning a plus-41 point margin on the season. After a start that left plenty of questions, the bigger issue now is what this version of Cincinnati might look like if it keeps showing up. [Read more 🡒]
Joe Burrow Just Turned The Bengals Into An MVP Watch Team
Joe Burrow and the Bengals came out of Week 7 looking much more like the kind of team that can hang around the AFC race than the one that stumbled through stretches earlier in the year. Cincinnatis 35-13 win over Baltimore was not just a divisional statement, it was another reminder that when Burrow is locked in, the offense can look every bit like one of the leagues most dangerous units. The victory gave the Bengals a marquee result against a Ravens team that had been one of their measuring sticks, and it came with Burrow steering a second-half surge that strengthened his case in the NFLs award conversation.
Burrows MVP buzz is no longer just a byproduct of big-name recognition. He has climbed into the thicker part of the race, and the next stretch of games will go a long way toward showing whether this is a real push or just an early-season spike. The competition at the top is crowded, which means every efficient outing and every win matters even more for Cincinnati, especially if Burrow keeps pairing production with results in games that carry real weight. [Read more 🡒]