The Cincinnati Bengals might be one of many teams that get active before the NFL’s trade deadline early next month.
And with the interior of the line still something of a problem, it only makes sense that the Bengals feature in some interesting trade ideas for that area.
One such idea comes from Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus, who suggests the Bengals throw a seventh-round pick to the New England Patriots in exchange for interior lineman Ted Karras.
And it’s not as wild as it sounds — Karras is a six-year veteran with some noteworthy work on paper so far this season, as the writeup explains:
“Although it comes on a small sample size, Karras has the eighth-best pass-blocking grade among interior offensive linemen through Week 5 — an 81.3 grade on 57 pass-blocking snaps — after splitting time at left and right guard.”
It’s hard to say whether the Patriots would actually be interested in moving such a versatile, good-performing backup in front of rookie quarterback Mac Jones.
But if they are? The Bengals should be all over it. Trey Hopkins just hasn’t looked like himself at center, backup Trey Hill isn’t ready and Jackson Carman is the man at right guard for now, though the spot has been a revolving door since the season started.
If a smaller move that improves depth in a major way presents itself (think the Billy Price-B.J. Hill swap that has paid off in droves so far), the Bengals shouldn’t be gunshy with the deadline approaching.
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