Cincinnati’s attempt to bolster its pass rush ended with a public apology instead of a new edge rusher.
On Wednesday, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor spoke for Duke Tobin after the team’s proposed trade for Philadelphia Eagles edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie collapsed. Cincinnati had lined up a deal to send a 2027 sixth-round pick to Philadelphia before Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline, but the Bengals backed out once they realized the move would also cost them a projected third-round compensatory pick.
Taylor explained the situation to reporters in Cincinnati and said Tobin wanted the organization to take the blame, according to ESPN’s Ben Baby.
“Duke was very explicit with me when he came and spoke to me about how he wanted this portrayed. I’m not comfortable doing it, but I’m going to do what he asked.
We did make an effort to put some depth in there in place of Cashius [Howell]. 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 [that] Philly was a great trade partner. It was on our end.”
The extra cost was tied to Cincinnati’s compensatory-pick formula, which was affected by Trey Hendrickson’s departure for the Baltimore Ravens. Because Ebiketie had signed as a compensatory free agent during the offseason, bringing him in would have altered that formula and pushed the price beyond the sixth-rounder the teams had originally agreed on.
That left Ebiketie in Philadelphia and Cincinnati still searching for help after placing rookie edge rusher Cashius Howell on injured reserve on November 3 because of a right wrist injury. Howell, a second-round pick from Texas A&M, has not been ruled out for the season.
The Bengals head into Sunday night’s home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at 6-2, with the trade off the board and Howell still on injured reserve.
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