Bengals Beat: Does Acquisition of Khalil Herbert Show Bengals Mean Business at Deadline?

CINCINNATI — It appears the Bengals are serious about improving their chances for making a playoff run.

After making adding just two players in-season in the last 52 years, the Bengals pulled the trigger on a running back who figures to come in and contribute right away.

Khalil Herbert, a sixth-round pick in 2021 out of Virginia Tech via Kansas, is headed to Cincinnati for a seventh rounder in 2025, per the NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the first to report the news. Herbert is in the final year of his rookie contract and is a free agent at the end of the season.

It may not seem earth-shattering and was brought on simply due to injuries that have depleted the Bengals backfield.

Zack Moss is dealing with a neck injury that could put the rest of his season in jeopardy and Chase Brown took a shot to the ribs in Sunday’s win that left him sore after the game.

Herbert has six carries for 18 yards this season with one touchdown. In 48 games with the Bears, he has 1,791 yards on 372 carries for an impressive 4.8 yards per tote average, with nine touchdowns.

“Duke always comes to me with information I need when I need it,” Zac Taylor said Monday when asked about the trade deadline coming up at 4 p.m. ET Tuesday. “The beauty is understanding that we had a big game last week and a short week this week. Any information he gets is critical information for me. They work like crazy to field the best team. There’s a lot of work they’re always doing behind the scenes. You never know. if something happens something happens a that’s great. I’ve got a lot of trust in those guys and they do a great job communicating with me.”

The bigger question is whether the Bengals will decide to add much-needed depth to their edge pass rush, which is anchored by Trey Hendrickson’s NFL-leading 11 sacks but has precious little behind the Pro Bowler.

The Lions acquired Za’Darius Smith from the Browns Monday to help fill the void left by the season-ending leg injury suffered by Aiden Hutchinson.

Chase Young of the Saints is a name that has been mentioned in rumors that could be of interest to the Bengals. Young, the 2020 NFL defensive rookie of the year, has only two sacks in nine games this year but still possesses the skills that could complement Hendrickson. There’s Azeez Ojulari of the Giants with six sacks in nine games but his deadline price tag might be too rich for the Bengals.

If the Bengals go the route of defensive back, there’s Marshon Lattimore, again with the lowly Saints. New Orleans just fired head coach Dennis Allen on Monday. They are rebuilding on the fly before the trade deadline and a veteran corner could be a tremendous value to the Bengals for depth.

The Bengals could be in competition with Washington for both Young (who started his career in Washington) and Lattimore.