Are the Bengals Out of the Jonathan Taylor Sweepstakes?

The Cincinnati Bengals have long been rumored to be in the Jonathan Taylor sweepstakes, ever since it became public that the Indianapolis Colts were preparing for a fire sale after their season went sideways.

Owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon fired general manager Chris Ballard, and the Colts have since traded All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner. Now the Colts are trending toward trading Taylor, or at least they are in deep discussions with other NFL teams.

However, the Bengals could be fading in the running for Taylor after being mentioned as a team that reached out to the Colts to gauge the market. Since those initial reports, the Bengals have been left off the list of teams actively engaged in trade talks with the Colts for Taylor. The Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants and Seattle Seahawks are the main teams, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network and Adam Schefter of ESPN.

This could be a net positive for the Bengals, as it sounds like the Colts want a first-round pick in exchange for Taylor, who has been one of the league's most effective running backs since he entered the NFL. Based on how the Bengals' offense is set up, I'm not sure it would be worth trading valuable draft capital for a running back, especially when they rarely run plays from under center and use run-pass options very often.

RPOs put an offense at an advantage, but not its running backs. It's hard to expect more than 3 or 4 yards on an RPO because the wide receivers are running routes rather than blocking. That puts cornerbacks and safeties in a good position to make tackles and prevent explosive runs, which have been Taylor's specialty for a long time. 

I'm not saying it's a bad idea to upgrade at running back, but a player like Tony Pollard might make a little more sense. I'm also not surprised the Bengals aren't on that list, as the Colts' asking price might have cut talks short. The 2027 NFL draft is deep at skill positions, and if Cincinnati wanted to upgrade at running back, it could get a starting-level back in the first two rounds. Jadan Baugh of Florida, Kewan Lacy of Ole Miss and LJ Martin of BYU could all help Cincinnati in 2027 and cost much less than the $21 million-plus Taylor will make starting next season.The Cincinnati Bengals have long been rumored to be in the Jonathan Taylor sweepstakes, ever since it became public that the Indianapolis Colts were preparing for a fire sale after their season went sideways.