The Cincinnati Bengals are in a tough AFC North and it might cause the team to make a big move at the trade deadline. One move to keep an eye on is Daiyan Henley of the Los Angeles Chargers, according to Daniel Popper of The Athletic.
Popper noted that Henley is a pending free agent, and the 0-6 Chargers are best served sending him to a linebacker-needy team. He noted that the Bengals could be that team.
“Henley, a third-round pick in 2023, has shown some promising flashes in his career,” wrote Popper. “But he has yet to put together a complete elite season. In 2025, Henley battled a severe illness early in the season. This year, he was uneven to start before finding better form in Week 3. The Chargers might view him as a long-term building block. Henley is in the final year of his rookie deal but has yet to agree to an extension. The Chargers also have some depth at linebacker. At his best, Henley can be a difference-maker in coverage and as a blitzer and sideline-to-sideline tackler.”
Landon Belote of Bengals OnSI is fully on board with the idea.
Cincinnati Bengals Could Trade for Los Angeles Chargers LB Daiyan Henley
Belote notes that because Henley is in the last year of his deal, the Bengals could get him for a fifth-round pick. He also suggests a wild trade that would involve former first-round pick Shemar Stewart.
“The difficulty of negotiating a contract extension, along with a rebuild set to take place in LA, could reduce the trade compensation to as little as a fifth-round pick,” wrote Belote. “The Bengals could avoid sacrificing even a fifth-rounder in next year’s draft by including Shemar Stewart in the deal.”
Stewart is projected to get traded for a day-three pick, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, so the swap would make sense. The Chargers are selling, which makes adding a player over a pick less likely. At the same time, Stewart is a second-year player on a rookie deal with team control through his fifth season due to being a former first-round pick.
Either way, the move to add Henley makes sense for the Bengals.
Bengals Need Linebacker Help
Right now, the team is starting Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight at linebacker. Knight went in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and Carter went two rounds later. Both struggled as rookies, and while they both have taken some steps in year two, they are both a problem.
Meanwhile, Henley is a 39-game starter as a former third-round pick. He had 147 tackles in 2024 and 103 tackles in the following season. The team can trade a low-level asset and give him a chance to start next to either Carter or Knight. If he fits, they can extend him. If not, they added some depth and gave a young linebacker a couple of weeks off.
Henley is definitely a name to watch with a little more than a week to go until the trade deadline.
Bengals Trade Pitch Solves Linebacker Problem for Day 3 Pick