Cincinnati Bengals: Possible targets at 2018 NFL Trade Deadline
By Kenn Korb
TE Jared Cook, Oakland Raiders
The tight end spot has been decimated beyond repair for Cincinnati. They’ve lost as many names for significant periods of time this year (4) than the vast majority of teams would try to have on their active roster.
Tyler Eifert was lost after yet another gruesome injury struck him down in Week 4. His main backup Tyler Kroft has missed a handful of games already with a broken foot, and will continue to miss more as he heals. Mason Schreck tore his ACL against Kansas City. Cethan Carter didn’t even make it into the regular season before going to IR.
What they have left isn’t an inspiring group. C.J. Uzomah’s the last remaining guy of the players expected to make the original roster, but he’s never been more than a theoretically useful player in four years and has already dealt with injuries concerns as well. Matt Lengel is on his fourth team and has just three career catches. Jordan Franks had a nice catch against Tampa Bay, but he’s a rookie UDFA who just came up off the practice squad.
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Cincinnati’s offense is clearly better when they have a productive tight end at their disposal. Ever since Eifert went down, they’ve been much less consistent and their ceiling has been markedly lower; with even their middling options going down, they’ve become painfully boom-or-bust in terms of finding success on a given drive. That’ll bite them in the rear eventually.
That’s where Cook comes in. He’s never been the same level as Eifert in terms of production, but he is an athletic marvel with the talent and ability to make plays a few times a game and open up an offense. His presence in Green Bay a couple years ago was key in them exploding from 4-6 into the playoffs and beating a 13-3 Dallas team which was the talk of the league that year (here he is making a clutch catch late in that contest).
The team success hasn’t been there in Oakland, but he’s been on a career-best path in terms of individual output. He’s set to post career-highs in targets, receptions, yards, and touchdowns, and he’s the fourth-best tight end in terms of Pro Football Focus (subscription required) grades so far this season. This is exactly the sort of player who can help a team in need.
You wouldn’t expect a player at this level to be traded, but Oakland is in fire-sale mode. They already traded off Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper for picks; they’ll have no qualms selling high on a player who won’t be around by the time the team is ready to try being good again.
The initial asking price will probably be decently high (after getting a first rounder for Cooper, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Raiders try to grab a second-rounder for Cook), but Cincinnati won’t pay a price too high for anyone and likely would wait it out long enough to get that price down.
They currently have all their own 2019 picks, are set to get a sixth rounder from Dallas, and could get as many as four late compensatory selections (three sixth rounders, one seventh rounder); should they need to, they have the ammo to trade up for higher picks if they trade a third or fourth away for Cook.
It may sound like a big price for a rental for the notoriously frugal franchise (including owing him around half of his 2018 $5.6 million cap hit), but it could be the difference between being on the cusp of the playoffs or winning the AFC North and having a home game in the postseason.
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