The Cincinnati Bengals don’t feel like a team willing to meet the high asking price for Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor at the NFL trade deadline.
But the NFL trade rumors aren’t going to stop linking Taylor to the Bengals just yet.
During an appearance on The Pivot podcast, NFL insider Jordan Schultz again name-dropped the Bengals as one of the teams in the hunt for Taylor.
"My understanding is that five to six teams have been aggressively pursuing him: Giants, Packers, Broncos, Seahawks, Bengals, Vikings," Schultz said. "I believe he also would be open to a fresh start, and I think it'll take at least a second-round pick plus. Call it plus additional compensation to get it done. And I actually do expect that to happen."
The knee-jerk
takeaway? It’s easy to slap "aggressively" on a group of teams. Taylor to the Bengals makes sense on the field with Chase Brown and the under-center looks struggling. They probably reached out to get an idea of the cost, just in case.
Overall, some of these other teams are probably much more all-in on this idea than the Bengals, who very much like Brown as lead rusher. The asking price here means they might be more liable to look at someone like Tony Pollard instead.
Keep in mind, too, that positional value matters. The Bengals might be quite a bit more focused on defensive ends at the trade deadline after the slew of injuries there, never mind the issues at cornerback and linebacker.
Still, the Bengals are a fun team to throw out as a topic because of the Dexter Lawrence trade. And that’s just it: Fun. Until Taylor gets moved somewhere, Joe Burrow’s squad will keep getting mentioned.
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Making sense of latest Bengals-Jonathan Taylor trade rumors
