Bengals' Taylor apologizes for nixed trade with Eagles: 'It was on our end'

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• Ben BabyNov 11, 2026, 02:14 PM ET

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  Ben Baby covers the Cincinnati Bengals for ESPN. He joined the company in July 2019. Prior to ESPN, he worked for various newspapers in Texas, most recently at The Dallas Morning News where he covered college sports. He provides daily coverage of the Bengals for ESPN.com, while making appearances on SportsCenter, ESPN's NFL shows and ESPN Radio programs. A native of Grapevine, Texas, he graduated from the University of North Texas with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He is an adjunct journalism professor at Southern Methodist University and a member of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).

CINCINNATI -- Bengals coach Zac Taylor expressed the franchise's regret for the failed trade for Philadelphia Eagles edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie ahead of Tuesday's deadline.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday for the first time since the proposed deal fell through, Taylor issued a statement on behalf of de facto general manager Duke Tobin about why the move didn't materialize before the 4 p.m. ET deadline for teams to make trades the rest of the season.

"Duke was very explicit with me when he came and spoke to me about how he wanted this portrayed," Taylor started. "I'm not comfortable doing it, but I'm going to do what he asked.

"We did make an effort to put some depth in there in place of Cashius [Howell]. As we got into it, obviously it was going to be a little more costly than we initially anticipated. He's really apologetic about it and wants to make clear [that] Philly was a great trade partner. It was on our end."

Initially, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that the Bengals and Eagles had agreed to a trade that would send Ebiketie to Cincinnati in exchange for a 2027 sixth-round pick. But as the teams worked through finalizing the move, according to a source, it became apparent that Cincinnati was going to forfeit a 2027 third-round compensatory draft pick if the move was finalized. That led Cincinnati to withdraw from the proposed trade.

There was much speculation about exactly how the Bengals became aware of the pick forfeiture that was awarded because the team signed fewer qualifying free agents that left the team and signed elsewhere, particularly former edge rusher Trey Hendrickson.

There was a report issued by OverTheCap.com's Nick Korte about the draft pick loss that was sandwiched between the initial report of the trade and the follow-up that the trade was not going to be completed.

Taylor said the specifics were not divulged when he spoke to Tobin on Tuesday.

"I didn't even ask the question," Taylor said. "It doesn't really matter to me. It probably took three minutes of my day yesterday away from watching tape. Got a lot of faith in how [the front office] operates and we'll just move forward with it."

Taylor also gave additional information on Howell's return timetable and said he is not ruled out for the season. The rookie out of Texas A&M was placed on injured reserve on Nov. 3 with a right wrist injury.

Cincinnati (6-2) was one of the few AFC contenders that did not make any moves ahead of this year's trade deadline. The Bengals are off to their best start in Taylor's eight-year tenure and are hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2) on Sunday night, with the winner in sole position of first place in the AFC North.

"Certainly have a ton of confidence in our front office and how they do things," Taylor said. "They've given us the players that have allowed us to be 6-2 right now and playing at such a high level.

"We'll put that behind us and move forward and just get excited for this game on Sunday and our locker room is in a great place right now."