Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
There's a reason that, through coaching and personnel changes, the AFC North has been dominated by the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens for decades. Their competitors (if we can call them that) aren't exactly stellar organizations.
The 2026 trade deadline offered one of the Cincinnati Bengals' most hilarious examples of incompetence to date. They swung a trade for edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie, a depth piece who could get some rotational snaps for their defense. Cincinnati sent a sixth-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for the defender, a reasonable return for a player of his caliber.
The ridiculousness is in the details, though. According to Nick Korte, the Bengals will lose a third-round compensatory pick in 2027 by making this trade.
Arnold Ebiketie was signed as a compensatory free agent by the Eagles.
The Bengals lost 3 CFAs and signed 2 (Cordell Volson not qualifying), thus while they gain a 2027 6th rounder, they lose a 2027 3rd round comp pick that was via Trey Hendrickson going to Baltimore. https://t.co/DxWAA8L0KN
— Nick Korte (@nickkorte) November 10, 2026
Giving up a third-round pick and a sixth-round pick for Ebiketie is impossible to justify. Soon after their loss of the compensatory pick became known, the trade fell through. Obviously, the Bengals won't come out and say that they didn't know they were forfeiting a compensatory pick, but that's certainly what it seems like.
When this is the level of competition that the Steelers are facing, they have no reason to hand away the AFC North title.
Steelers can't help but laugh at Bengals' Arnold Ebiketie non-trade
From the outside, the order of events is damning for Bengals general manager Duke Tobin. The trade mysteriously fell through within an hour of Korte pointing out the loss of the compensatory pick. Soon after Jordan Schultz announced that the deal had been canceled, Mike Garafolo revealed that the Bengals had pulled out of the trade because of the compensatory pick formula.
Basically, this was a public admission from Tobin that he doesn't have a complete grasp of the league's compensatory pick formula after 24 years of directing Cincinnati's personnel moves. The formula is complicated, sure, but someone in his position has no excuse for a debacle like this.
We're not acting like Omar Khan is the best general manager in the sport. He's made a few mistakes himself. But it's hard to imagine Khan stooping to this level of apparent incompetence. This is just another reason for Steelers fans to laugh at their division rival.
Steelers have no excuse but to win the AFC North after Bengals' trade mishap
Through all of this talk about incompetence in the AFC North, we haven't even mentioned the Cleveland Browns. Half of the teams in the division seem incapable of constructing complete rosters.
And while the Ravens are at least typically a buttoned-up organization, they've completely collapsed without Lamar Jackson this year.
The Bengals are still a good team. Joe Burrow is playing as well as any quarterback in football at the moment, and he has the best receiver duo in the league on the other end of his passes. Still, Cincinnati's roster building is a few levels below Pittsburgh's.
If their competition is making this kind of mistake at the season's midpoint, the Steelers have no excuse to miss out on the division title. Pittsburgh already holds the top spot in the North after its Week 9 bye. Khan's squad should have no trouble defending it.