Getty Bengals head coach Zac Taylor could pursue a trade for Aaron Donald in the offseason.
As the Cincinnati Bengals remain the last team to beat the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in the postseason, beefing up the defense for 2024 makes all the sense in the world.
Bleacher Report’s Alex Kay suggested the Bengals trade for 8-time All-Pro and 10-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Aarond Donald. It would mark an ironic move for the Bengals, which lost to Donad’s Los Angeles Rams in the 2021 Super Bowl after a win over the Chiefs.
“Although Cincinnati had its championship dreams dashed by an unforgettable Donald sack two years ago, the city would likely forgive him if he’s traded to the Bengals,” Kay wrote. “He’s one of the few players capable of collapsing the pocket seemingly at will, and he would help Cincinnati execute the same type of plan for stopping Patrick Mahomes that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers provided the league when they handed him his lone Super Bowl loss three years ago.”
“The costs of making such a deal could be interesting, as compensation would likely hinge on Donald’s desire to continue playing beyond 2024,” Kay continued. “Regardless, the Bengals should have no qualms about coughing up their first-rounder and more to get even a single season of high-level play from the future Hall of Famer.”
Aaron Donald with the bull rush. Collapses the pocket & gets the sack. Keep it simple, keep it violent! #SuperBowl #RamsHouse #PassRush
Kay proposed that the Bengals trade their No. 18 NFL Draft pick plus a third-round pick at No. 80 to the Rams in exchange for Donald. Cincinnati has room under the salary cap with $61.37 million available as Donald enters a season where he will make $35 million if he’s with the Rams in 2024.
Despite the Rams’ reduction in success since the 2021 Super Bowl win, Donald still plays at a high level. He made his latest All-Pro team and Pro Bowl in 2023.
“Donald racked up 53 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, eight sacks and 31 pressures en route to his eighth All-Pro nod this past season,” Kay wrote. “He earned a sterling 90.9 grade from Pro Football Focus for those efforts, which was his 10th straight year of notching a grade 90 or above.”
Bengals Had Limited Success Without Joe Burrow
Cincinnati had a mixed back on defense with 22.6 points and 389.7 yards allowed per game. The Bengals only gave up 30 or more points in four games last season, but Cincinnati went 4-7 against playoff teams in 2023 — albeit part of that stemmed from who the team missed on offense, too.
While the Bengals missed the playoffs at 9-8, it occurred amid star quarterback Joe Burrow’s season-ending wrist injury in November. The Bengals lost four games down the stretch despite solid play at times from backup quarterback Jake Browning.
Burrow led the Bengals past the Chiefs 27-24 in overtime for the 2021 AFC Championship Game. However, the Chiefs squeaked by the Bengals 23-20 in the rematch for the 2022 AFC title game.
Joe Burrow: ‘It’s Easy to Say’
Whether or not Burrow’s return and an addition such as Donald would lift the Bengals past the Chiefs for a second time in four seasons remains to be seen.
“It’s easy to say, [but] it’s harder to do, right?” Burrow said Sports Illustrated’s “All Bengals” on February 12. “We’ve been there, we’ve done that, but who knows how it would have played out. You know, I was confident in where we were heading in the direction that we were going within the season.”
“We were getting better every week. And so it came at a tough time, but it’s given me an opportunity to get back, get all focused on my training, get all parts of my body to where they need to be. And so when the wrist is right, my body will be in tip-top shape,” Burrow added. “So I’m excited to get back out there and go on this run next year.”
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Bengals Urged to Trade for 8-Time All-Pro Pass Rusher