The Bengals are heading into the 2026 season with a ton of work to do on the defensive side of the ball. After three seasons without a playoff berth, the Bengals are hoping to put Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins back in the postseason in hopes to bringing a Lombardi home to Cincinnati.
To do that, not only will the Bengals need to nail the draft and spend in free agency, but getting creative wouldn’t hurt either. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell came up with several mutually-beneficial trades across the NFL. For the Bengals, he believes they could benefit from trading a 2027 sixth-round pick in exchange for defensive tackle Kenny Clark and a 2027 seventh-round pick.
Barnwell believes the Cowboys need to get out from under Clark’s contract, which is the fifth-largest cap hit of any player on the team. Now that they’ve traded for Quinnen Williams, who is making more, and since Oso Odighizuwa’s contract is guaranteed, they need to offload Clark.
As for the Bengals, their reason to jump all over this is obvious.
“Slotting Clark in on the interior would give the Bengals a valuable tackle to rotate alongside B.J. Hill and T.J. Slaton Jr.,” Barnwell wrote. “They don’t trade picks very often, but the Bengals have to approach this offseason with a stronger sense of urgency than they have in years past. Clark won’t single-handedly fix their defense, but at the right price, he would be a helpful player for a team that needs to be better at rushing the quarterback and stopping the run in 2026.”
Clark finished the 2025 season with a respectable run-defense grade of 53.7, per PFF, and a very nice pass-rush grade of 72.4, adding four sacks and 44 total pressures from the defensive interior, something the Bengals could always use help with.
If the Bengals are aggressive in free agency and possibly through trades, they can enter the draft in late April with few, if any, holes on the roster, freeing them to concentrate on finding the best-possible player to add to the roster.
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