The Cincinnati Bengals could eventually emerge winners of the NFL offseason’s first blockbuster trade.
Said blockbuster trade featured the Detroit Lions sending veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for quarterback Jared Goff and a host of draft picks.
Looking ahead to the draft, the Lions could now be an interesting trade-down opportunity for the Bengals to target.
Those Lions, holding the seventh pick, gave up a borderline elite passer and could still turnaround and want to draft a passer this year.
Goff, no matter how the Lions and reports want to paint it, is still a former No. 1 pick who wasn’t able to match expectations and an offensive guru like Sean McVay just gave up on him. Last year, he threw just 20 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
The Lions received multiple first-round picks in the trade with the Rams not just for giving up Stafford, but for inhaling Goff’s four-year deal worth $134 million in the process.
If the board on draft day falls right, the Bengals could end up having a trade down partner with a Lions team now bloated with extra draft assets and potentially thinking about the future because Goff’s contract only has $15.5 million in dead money in 2022, making for a somewhat-simple out.
A move down two spots doesn’t sound like much for the Bengals right now, but extra draft picks to fuel the rebuild while still landing a top-10 prospect would be quite the boon.
