The Cincinnati Bengals turned everyone’s heads when they traded the No. 10 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. It is unheard of to make a straight-up swap like that for a player with such a high pick, but it ultimately shows how committed the team is to jump-starting the turnaround on the defensive side of the ball.
Not everyone was impressed with the move, though. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell is one of the more respected NFL analysts. In a recent summary of his thoughts on the best and worst move by each
team so far in the offseason, he pegged the Lawrence trade as the worst move the Bengals made this offseason:
Given how much they’re spending on their big three on offense (Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins) and a handful of other players (Cook, Boye Mafe, Orlando Brown Jr. and breakout cornerback DJ Turner II when he signs an extension), the Bengals need cost-controlled talent to make their roster construction work. Giving up the No. 10 pick to get a proven quantity like Lawrence feels like a win for Bengals fans who are sick of seeing the team whiff on first-round picks. But is it enough to propel the Bengals forward into Super Bowl contention? And if Lawrence isn’t as known of a quantity as it seems, this deal could be disastrous for Cincinnati.
Barnwell also wrote previously about the good and bad of the trade specifically, so it is fair to give the whole picture on how he views this.
There is a reason the Bengals have opted to build through the NFL Draft for quite a while. Especially after the rookie wage scale was introduced, it has made it easier to acquire cheap talent for four to five seasons. It is why they seem to be competitive after about three years of not being good. That is when the last few draft classes are reaching their prime, but then ultimately some key players walk without being replaced by more than an inexperienced player.
There are some obvious exceptions to that, but even the 2021 run was aided by hitting on a couple of drafts in a row. But they also spent on free agents going into that run since they had money to spend after whiffing on a number of drafts and not needing to re-sign people.
This is a known issue. Al Golden replaced Lou Anarumo at defensive coordinator last year almost exclusively because Anarumo hated playing young players and living with their growing pains. Golden and the staff now have to make sure these young players develop quickly, but last year didn’t give much confidence in that respect.
So, acquiring some veterans like Lawrence, safety Kyle Cook, or pass rusher Boye Mafe should hopefully put less importance on those players needing to hit the ground running.
It does make things a bit harder for a team like Cincinnati, which is not as willing to do modern-day cap-avoiding moves that open them up to possible issues down the road. We have already seen them decline the fifth-year option on Myles Murphy’s rookie deal that would have guaranteed him a lot less money than he is likely to negotiate for.
But all of this becomes less of an issue if Lawrence is a missing piece that helps the Bengals get to where they want to go. Whoever they picked at No. 10 was unlikely to help anything close to as much as Lawrence will in 2026.
