2 Winners & 2 Losers From Bengals 2026 Trade Deadline

Cincinnati had a chance to make their first deadline addition in two years at clear positions of need like starting linebacker, safety depth, and tight end depth, but did nothing.

No one was asking them to go through with the rough cost for Ebiketie earlier in the day, but adding somewhere would've been huge for the team's depth on paper.

The cap appeared to be a sixth-round value or worse for what they were willing to dive into with this market. Maybe Burrow's good enough to carry this roster as is to the ultimate prize, but everyone they're directly battling against in this conference (outside of Pittsburgh) added to their talent pool, and Cincinnati bowed out.

Not knowing the rules around how adding players affects your draft-pick pool isn't an ideal look either.

Winner: Chase Brown

Adding a running back like Jonathan Taylor had been the marquee talking point around the deadline in recent weeks, and now it's definitely Chase Brown's backfield for the rest of the season.

He and Samaje Perine ran well in Madrid on Sunday, and Brown has been steady overall all season (32nd in yards after contact per rushing attempt, 27th in PFF grade, sixth in pass-blocking grade). It never made sense to trade the curious haul the Colts wanted for a position that Brown and Perine have covered.

Now, he gets to play for some type of new deal in the offseason from Cincinnati or another team.

Loser (A Winner's Case Is There): Joe Burrow

Burrow is playing better than any quarterback on earth right now and leading an offense miles better than any other in the NFL over the past month.

Since Week 5, Burrow's offense is notching 0.25 EPA/play (no other team higher than 0.16), and he is atop Ben Baldwin's EPA/PFF grade blend leaderboard this season.

He's going to win MVP if this heater keeps up against one of the three easiest schedules left in the NFL, yet Cincinnati did nothing. The fact his MVP competitors added around him while Burrow has to trudge on with this roster could help him a bit in that pursuit.

He wants a different trophy much more, and Cincinnati didn't do anything on paper to boost the chances they carry the Lombardi Trophy in February. We may look back on this February like we did with some roster choices on the last Super Bowl roster.

Winner: Team Camaraderie

The front office has stamped their approval of this roster; now go show you can do it.

Linebacker's been a hammered talking point for over two years now for good reason. Barrett Carter is improving at a palatable rate this season, but Demetrius Knight's posting another sub-50 PFF grade like he did as a rookie. The missed tackles improved a bit from 14% to 12% this season, but he has to step up for Cincinnati's defense to really maximize.

The whole locker room reportedly bonded heavily across their trip to Spain, and the ultimate team sport can come down to those tight-knit bonds in the big moments. Cincinnati seems to have that and didn't throw any starter into an uncomfortable spot with a splash move.

They get the ultimate chance to reward the front-office faith facing the Steelers on Sunday.