A report over championship weekend suggested the Cincinnati Bengals don’t plan on trading the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL draft. If they don’t, the pick is obviously Joe Burrow.
But that’s what NFL teams always say.
As we noted at the time, a mid-January report about something happening a few months down the line doesn’t mean much.
Funnily enough, in high-profile cases, it seems NFL teams always say a trade isn’t possible. The Giants said they wouldn’t trade Odell Beckham Jr. and the Jaguars said they wouldn’t trade Jalen Ramsey. Looking farther back, the Titans weren’t all too hot on the idea of trading No. 1 before the Rams swooped in, did a deal and drafted Jared Goff.
And the No. 1 pick is about as high-profile as it gets.
Simply put, the Bengals have to at least consider it. Give it the old “due diligence” pass. Burrow is the guy, a record-setting passer and on top of everything else he’s a local kid. But other NFL teams serious about moving up know they’ll have to come in with a historic offer, which means the Bengals should be picking up the phone.
Ultimately, the Bengals probably won’t deal the pick. But when NFL personnel meet at things like the combine and when the phone rings at Paul Brown Stadium, the Bengals will surely at least be listening — especially if a very serious team is making a historic offer.
Or written another way — strap in because the path to the draft is about to be wild, with the report about no trade happening surely to have a short shelf life as things start happening.
