Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - TRADE ASSETS: Bengals COULD TARGET Swing Tackle If They Flip Depth Before Cutdown Day

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

As the Cincinnati Bengals weigh difficult roster decisions, there's more potential for trades because they're deeper than normal. With surplus talent at wide receiver, defensive tackle, and interior offensive line, names like Kris Jenkins, TJ Slaton, Charlie Jones, and Tanner Hudson could spark interest across the NFL. Can the Bengals flip these assets for a much-needed swing tackle ahead of the regular season? Jake Liscow and Joe Goodberry discuss the Bengals' trade chips ahead of cutdown day. Which Bengals could be on the move, and what return would justify the risk? Photo Credit: Sam Greene, Katie Stratman Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! Where you'll get updates directly to your phone and be able to text the hosts, check it out at: https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengals Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Gusto Try Gusto today at gusto.com/LOCKEDONNFL, and get three months free when you run your first payroll. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COM to play Daily Dingers and make your free pick on who’s hitting a homer this MLB season.   KALSHI For a limited time,Download the Kalshi app and use code [LOCKEDON] to get $10 when you trade $10. Square Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at https://square.com/go/lockedonnfl! #squarepod Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon.   FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Cutdown day is coming. The Bengals have a surplus of talent at several positions and needs it others. It's time to explore the trade market. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What up, Bengals fans. Welcome to a bonus episode of the Locked on Bengals podcast. He's Joe Goodberry. I'm Jake. Let's go today. We're discussing trades. Bengals have assets that could be valuable to other teams and they could use a swing tackle, shot in the arm. If there's a guy out there they really like or maybe it's even a veteran linebacker, safety, a number of options that the Bengals could explore in the trade market, but the chief among them is obviously swing tackle and trying to find a trade partner for a swing tackle,

trying to find the right guy to target is its own conversation, but there might be a number of guys on this team that other teams are calling. with interest in. And we're going to talk about who those guys are in this little bonus episode. We did a preview of the preseason game last night. Yesterday, you can go check that out. We'll be back for a postgame show as well. But in this interim period between, we're going to talk about some trades. And this is a day after, or two days after, the Chiefs traded that 2028, seventh round pick for Giants Guard slash tackle Josh Azayudu, who has, played left tackle, left guard, right tackle, right guard over numerous pre-seasons and

regular seasons with the Giants. And it's played reasonably well. And that was just a seventh round pick. And so maybe the Bengals can just flip one of these players. We see some player for player trades as well. And the list is pretty long, much longer than normal at this time of year for guys we think could have trade died. Yeah. And this is a thing that the Bengals have explored, one of the most famous trades at the cut down day was Billy Price for B.J. Hill, right? We've gotten Reggie Nelson for David Jones back in the day. Was it 2009 or 2011 in between that? They have done this.

It's not a super rare thing, but it doesn't happen every year. We understand that. They traded Benwickery to the Cowboys for a seventh round pick. Who remembers Raise your hand. I can see you. Raise your hand if you remember Benet, Benwickery. But he did have a good preseason in camp and the Bengals felt strong at corner. They traded for Kelly Jennings, given away Clinton McDonald.

They needed a corner. They probably lost that one. It's about the only one they lost. Clint McDonald ended up being a solid player. But these things, I think it was 2017, these things do happen. And it gives you an opportunity to explore the trade market when you have a good roster, number one, and you have a surplus at a few positions. And it seems like the Bengals have that.

We've been talking about the depth that defensive tackle, the depth that wide receiver, at tight end, maybe on interior offensive line. I think we've got a lot of guys to explore here on if they would have value throughout the league. And guys that like, let's think if we're a GM of another team, would you be interested in trading for a Chris Jenkins or a T.J. Slayton? I think I would, especially if I needed a defensive tackle. You're taking it from a position of strength of another team and trying to help your

team. But what is the value of these guys? I think that's what we're going to explore mostly today. Yeah. And I don't know that most of these guys. are super valuable. So if you're thinking you're actually going to get some big return for these guys, that almost never happens.

You're talking mostly about late day three picks or player for player swaps. And the Billy Price for BJ Hill trade is a great example of a player for player swap gone right. The Giants had an excess of defensive tackle. BJ Hill was on the outside looking in for a deep at the time roster because he was a good player. Obviously stepped in right away and made a big impact. They were incredibly deep at detackle. And Billy Price had that first round pedigree. The Bengals don't necessarily have a trade ship quite like Billy Price this year,

who carried that pre-draft status, that first round, maybe second round for some team status. Maybe Chris Jenkins is the closest thing this year because he had that second round, I think consensus second round evaluation. But let's start on the offensive side of the ball, Joe, where the biggest glut of talent on this team is probably, rosterable wide receivers. And if you want to include Andre Yosefuch in this conversation,

which I don't think the Bengals do, but if you wanted to, you could. That might be one of the more valuable pieces on the offensive side of the ball, but Charlie Jones, Kishon Williams, for their return ability or maybe even Mitch Tinsley, if, as we discussed yesterday,

he's on the outside looking in and has that highlight real, those guys could be interesting to other teams. And if you're thinking, if your first reaction is, oh, these guys are going to be cut anyways, and you're not going to get anything of value for them. that's kind of the idea. If you're going to cut Charlie Jones, there are teams that would say, hey, wait a second,

instead of us being on the back end of the waiver wire, we'll throw you a seventh round pick or a 2028 seventh round pick, which is like the lowest value. Or a pick swap. You could do like a sixth round for seventh round kind of deal. Exactly. So these are guys that if you're looking at from Bengals's perspective, and if you're going to cut Mitch Tinsley and you explore it really quick, is anyone interested in a Mitch Tinsley, this guy that can go up and catch some 50-50 balls.

for you, can play special teams, and line up at all three receiver spots. Do you need a guy that can do that? A lot of teams may need that guy. A lot of teams may just need a return, man. I wonder, I've wondered all offseason if anyone would be interested in Andreosuvash, if Colby Young or Dante Myers and Charlie Jones and Keishon Williams and Mitch Tensley look good enough that you don't feel you have to have Yoshi and his cap bit this year after the performance escalators have kicked in. And I've wondered because we've seen wide receiver trades. I like Kashan booty more than Andre Yosey Vash, but there have been other guys that have been traded in recent years that I thought, hmm, I don't really care for that guy. And they got a

sixth rounder or a seventh rounder or a player that can help you on the depth end. But I do think wide receiver would be the one that the Bengals could dangle a little bit in gauge interest. We'll be Yoshi, though. If you're out there and you want the Bengals to trade Andre Yosevash and you think that like Joe Goodberry thinks they should be exploring that possibility or could be exploring that possibility, it's not the way it's taken out. The last practice we saw featured a lot of Andre Yoseva. She continues to play exclusively with the first team. Maybe not exclusively. The vast majority of his snaps with the first team. And when Jemar went down and missed a practice, still no real concerns about Jemar Chase as

of the time of recording. But it was Andre Yosevash with T. Higgins. Dante Myers getting most of those snaps as well with the first team. So you're probably not trading Dante Myers at this point, but maybe one of those other guys. Mitch Tinsley, Charlie Jones, Kishon Williams, Triumvirate, would be the players that are the likelier trade candidates for the Bengals of the wide receiver position. But like you said, Joe, these guys don't always have enough value league-wide to attract an offer that's actually worth it to make the deal. Now, if you could get anything, that's probably worth more than a wave, but sometimes you

don't even get that. The other guys on offense that we should talk about Tanner Hudson, I wonder if there's any trade value there. If they want to keep Jack injuries around, they don't want to carry five tight ends. They feel like they have enough depth. I think they really like Tanner Hudson. I think this would be a bit of a surprise, but he is a bit one dimensional, doing a little bit more blocking than we've seen in the past in this training camp

this preseason. But I do wonder about Tanner Hudson and the last one that's really interesting on offense is Jacob Bayer, who we like to make the team, but so might some other team who's desperate for interior offensive line help. Yeah, Tanner Hudson probably is more value to the Bengals because they like them so much than what other teams would probably offer, right? If someone offered you a 2028 7th rounder, I'm not really interested. I expect Hudson's active every week and he's going to play on special teams and he's going to play in every single game. Now, if you're going to cut him, that's different.

You get something for him. But I agree on Bayer because I'm looking around the league and we've had injuries at center positions. Chargers had one. Ravens had one. You look at their backups, not much there. for the Bengals who drafted a center only, I think, in Connor Lou, you want him to be your primary backup. That leaves you with what do you do with Bayer? And sure, if he can play guard, that helps you keep him and help you rationalize it.

But I think he's played well enough and looks like movement skills, technique, strength, everything. If you're evaluating the tape and that's what these GMs are doing, I think he looks like a guy that could potentially be a low-end starter at least. I think another team could be on the phone and say, hey, what do you want? Is this a pick swap opportunity? Is this a seventh round pick? Is this a, we've got a fourth offensive tackle that could play. And maybe you guys want to upgrade from Javon Foster and you can keep four tackles instead of going only with three and going heavy on interior offensive line.

I think Bayer could be the piece that if I were the Bengals, I'd be putting them out there. I think he should be valuable because of what he's done in this preseason. He is an offensive lineman, but he doesn't have that pedigree. And that really does matter. I keep talking about it because where these guys are drafted, really steep. sticks with them throughout their careers. We saw it with Billy Price. And part of that is that that reflects how these GMs around the league felt about these players

in the pre-draft process. But there's another side of the ball to get to here, Joe. Let's talk about the defensive trade candidates as well to finish this bonus episode next. Support for this bonus episode of Blacktown Bengals comes from Indeed, sponsored jobs. When workplace chaos hits and you need the right hire, Indeed, sponsored jobs, helps connect employers with candidates who match the specific needs like skills, certifications and locations, so less time is spent searching, and more time is spent on finding

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if you need to hire, this is a job for ND sponsored jobs. Today's show is brought to you by Odu. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together. One app for accounting, another for inventory, another for sales, and somehow none of them talk to each other. That's where Odu comes in. Odu is an all-in-one business management software

that brings every part of your business together in one powerful platform, from sales to accounting, to inventory and marketing. Everything works in one place, helping your team move faster, stay organized, and focused on growing the business instead of managing software. The best organizations know that success just isn't about talent. It's about having everyone working towards the same goal. And that's true in sports, just like it is in business. We're talking trade deadline. Megals have already made a big trade here. Trades at the cut deadline.

You have to have everyone on the same page working together and in agreement because great organizations win because operations matter. And that's why you should get Odu. Odu is a one platform to manage, grow, and scale your business, try for free today at odoo.com slash lockdown. That's odio.o.com slash lockdown. Jake, let's get to the defensive side. And when you said earlier, you kind of alluded to who would be their biggest piece, they really don't have a big, a billy price for right now. I started to think. And you said Chris Jenkins. I didn't get to that conclusion. I actually thought it might be T.J. Slayton. Now, we could probably argue the monetary value,

the cap hit of Chris Jenkins. He's still relatively cheap as a second round rookie contract guy. But I believe T.J. Slayton could have some interest around the league. If your team that is weak at nose tackle, needs a big body guy, a run stuffer, he's got the pedigree of at least a high opinion around the league. I don't think the Bengals given that contract unless other teams are also interested in him. So I could see other teams saying, yeah, that'd be worth it.

We're in camp right now. We're at the end. We're at cut down day. We don't have enough. at defensive tackle, specifically the big body types that can be space eaters. Slayton has that and can provide that while Jenkins still has some upside. And I think there would be some interest there. I actually know there has been.

But T.J. Slayton, to me, would be the piece that if you wanted something in return, say you actually wanted something and not a draft pick. Say you wanted a swing tackle. I think Slighton could be the guy that you could offer for that. And now we'd have to talk about is that worth it? because we're talking about a backup swing tackle. Is that worth it from plucking from your rotation that you expect to be very deep and strong

and the backbone of the defense and T.J. Slayton, I think that's up for debate. That's how good you feel about the best of these guys to do the nose tackle job, because Dexter Lawrence, as good as he is, and as much as he wants to be on the field, isn't going to be on the field for every play. And the idea of putting T.J. Slayton and Dexter Lawrence beside each other

to clog up the A-gapes on a goal-line situation or third or fourth and short, it's a pretty good little weapon to have in your back pocket if you're out golden, right? So you might not want to go deal with J. Slayton. I think you make a great point that he's also one of the more valuable pieces on this team. I do think it's an interesting debate that you could get into because while we won't get an answer, most likely, because both of these guys aren't going to be traded. The contract value where Chris Jenkins is still cost control quite cheap for the acquiring team

for two more seasons is younger, is a guy that was seen as a consensus. a second round pick just two years ago. All of these things would be pretty significantly in favor of Chris Jenkins. He also has great NFL bloodlines, right? Everybody remembers his dad. We're not that, well, maybe we are. I don't know. I don't know how old our audience necessarily.

That have never seen Chris Jenkins senior play. Remember, if you played franchise mode and Matt in 2003, he was so young, he was like 20-year-old rookie. He always got to a 99. That's how good he was. if you don't know who Chris Jenkins Sr. is, well, you can just tell us how we are in the comments, but I do think that there's

still got to be some teams that would be interested in Chris Jenkins. And I don't know, maybe you're not talking about a third round pick equivalent or fourth round pick equivalent, even though he was a second round pick, because he hasn't been great in the NFL.

But maybe you could get a player back, too. Like, if you could get a swing tackle for T.J. Slayton, I would think, depends on the team. You could probably get a swing tackle. If we just saw one get traded with guard versatility, maybe the NFL sees him more as a guard than a tackle. But if we just saw him get traded for a seventh round pick next year, Chris Jenkins has

got to be worth more than that. I would think. If somebody wants him, he's worth more than that. I think you're right. I wonder who that tackle. And maybe it's a similar situation to Chris Jenkins. Maybe there's a tackle out there that was a former second or third round pick. That still isn't starting for a team that or has.

fallen out of favor and they've replaced them with veterans or found somebody else, somebody like DeWan Jones for the Browns, right? Like they've tried to, they've replaced them and he hasn't lived up to the to the upside that he presented. Like I know that's inner division and Bengals have done that. Obviously, we just did that, but with Joe Flacco, but that would probably be the player. Would that make, I actually would do that.

So it's the discussion of T.J. Slayton versus a swing tackle. I kind of feel like I'd rather have Slayton. but Chris Jenkins versus a swing tackle of similar caliber, I'm more inclined to do that because I don't want to play Chris Jenkins that much. Like there's upside in playing T.J. Slayton, but there's also upside and letting Lyndon Robinson get those snaps over Chris Jenkins and letting that equivalent players sit the bench and be your swing backup that comes in an emergency. Am I making sense on that?

Yeah, I think they have more redundancy at that body type with Chris Jenkins than they do with T.J. Slayton, where they have a couple of those big body guys maybe McKinley Jackson makes it to the practice squad and is their third guy with that body type, a little bit of a bigger frame. But for the more versatile interior piece, like the Jonathan Allen, B.J. Hill, Chris Jenkins, that keeps going with, he's a little bit smaller,

but Landon Robinson in that mold, again, a little bit smaller. Howard Cross in that mold, same kind of body type that they have there. So you could definitely make an argument that they have more redundancy there. And the name that has come to my attention, and I'll shout out Paul Dayner Jr. here for, for bringing this name up first. But Matt Pert, who's playing for the Denver Broncos right now, buried on that depth chart.

Former third round pick. He's on his second team now. So he's a third round pick by the Giants back in the 2020 NFL draft, 99th pick overall. Spent his four years with the Giants and then has been with the Broncos since 2024. This guy seems like a pretty prototypical. Maybe isn't quite the word, but like standard issue solid swing tackle type,

where you could definitely do worse. He has experience. He's not going to set the world on fire or anything like that. But if you can swing the Chris Jenkins for Matt Pert trade, and I don't know if Denver needs interior defensive line help or not, but that will be something the kind of player that you could look at to. And I remember Matt Purt. I think the draft spreadsheet highlighted him as like a day three pick.

Then he went in the third round and it was like, ah, that's a little bit more than we would have liked. We would have liked them in the fourth, fifth, sixth, sixth round range. so we kind of forgot about him. But when he was a free agent leaving the Giants, I did bring him up as a guy for his swing. So I'd be in on that as well. And then maybe old Bengal, Fred Johnson,

we're going to see him Friday night, right, with the Eagles. Maybe they can swing that. He's the body type that they've always wanted at that tackle position anyways. And, you know, Duke Tobin's son is with the Eagles. Maybe you can be like, hey, you guys aren't using them. We could use that third swing guy, you know, third tackle. I would rather give up a seventh round pick for Fred Johnson, which I think is probably roughly what I would think the trade value would be maybe a pick swap

than Chris Jenkins for Fred Johnson. I would shoot a little bit higher. What if you get Fred Johnson and a seventh for Chris Jenkins? Yeah, like that's probably a little bit closer. I'd be shooting a little bit higher with Chris Jenkins than Fred Johnson. Given like he's a solid player, we've seen him, but we've also seen ups and downs for him throughout his career, not necessarily the most consistent player, which I mean, he's a swing tackle.

So what are you really hoping for here? But yeah, I feel maybe this is just bias that is occurring. But I would try to shoot a little bit higher than just Fred Johnson for Chris Jenkins. And who else on the defense, Joe? Do you think there's anyone else that you could think about trading here? Yeah. Yeah, I think Josh Newton could have value. I wonder, because corners typically do.

That last guy on many depth charts, teams look around the league all the time and teams are claiming corners on cut down day, day after, right? that Monday, that probably be the highest position claim because teams need that fifth, sixth guy so often. You're going to play four guys throughout the season. Josh Newton has played in this league. It looks like he can at least be a depth guy. Bengals have just upgraded, to be honest. This is, look at the positions we've named.

They've made big moves at wide receiver or added guys through the draft, wide receiver, interior offensive line, tight end, a defensive tackle, and now corner. I mean, it makes sense. because they drafted to Carrillo Davis and scientists here, Taylor. So these make sense that now they're positions of strength because it sounds like they nailed their free agent acquisitions and their draft classes. That's how you build these resources, these assets to trade away to other teams.

So this is a good thing that we're talking about it. Yeah, I wonder if anyone would be interested in like even a Jalen Rivers, just to throw out some other very dark horse names. Like maybe somebody else really like Jalen Rivers in the drafts thinks they can get more out of him than the Bengals have if he doesn't win that job. that would be another dark horse said Johnson maybe I doubt it especially with Marst Stewart's injury Isaiah Foskey if he goes out there plays every single defensive snap again and plays well maybe there's a seventh round pick somewhere

that that you could get there but camcandy blockers yeah I see your face listen there's going to be guys traded that you've never heard of it's it's happened already it has happened already it will happen again and typically Typically, these things will surprise us. Most of the time, it's really, it's incredibly hard to predict NFL trades. These things usually do not come together when you try to figure out what direction they're going to go. NFL teams often value guys differently than we do in the public. And it's really hard to find an instance where the teams actually agree enough to get a trade done.

I mean, the Bengals have done this, like you said earlier, Joe, but it is not the most common thing. It's not unheard of, but it is not something that the Bengals do. every single year. So we'll keep an eye on it. We're interested in it. And we'll make a lot of sense for this to be a year where the Bengals do pull off at trades. So don't be surprised if they do.

But at the same time, like I said, I wouldn't be too surprised if nothing comes together. And they just get through cutdowns as it's. We'll be back with it after that Friday night preseason finale. We'll see if any major moves happen in terms of who we think is going to make the roster as these guys are going to be taking their final shot to make their last and impression before the cuts. Until then, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Hootay and have a good one.