The Cincinnati Bengals agreed to acquire edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie from the Philadelphia Eagles on Tuesday morning - and called the deal off hours later, after realizing the trade would cost them a projected third-round compensatory pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport first reported the agreement ahead of Tuesday's 4 p.m. ET trade deadline: Ebiketie to Cincinnati in exchange for a 2027 sixth-round pick. By early afternoon, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the Bengals were expected to nix the deal, and Fox Sports reporter Jordan Schultz reported it had fallen through, with Rapoport confirming the Bengals had called it off.
The catch was in the compensatory-pick formula. Ebiketie was signed by the Eagles as a compensatory free agent this past offseason, and under the collective bargaining agreement a player acquired by trade who was a compensatory free agent counts as a compensatory free agent gained by the acquiring club, included in the compensatory netting process. The Bengals lost three compensatory free agents this offseason and signed two; adding Ebiketie would have canceled the third-round compensatory pick they were projected to receive for losing edge rusher Trey Hendrickson to the Baltimore Ravens.
Nick Korte of Over the Cap flagged the math on social media shortly after the deal was first reported, and the Bengals moved to cancel the agreement. Schultz reported the reversal was not related to Ebiketie's health or performance, and the deal had never been finalized.
Ebiketie, 27, joined the Eagles this offseason on a one-year, $4.3 million deal. In nine games he has 25 tackles and two quarterback hits while playing 48 percent of Philadelphia's defensive snaps, with no sacks. A second-round pick, No. 38 overall, by the Atlanta Falcons in the 2022 draft out of Penn State, he totaled 16.5 sacks in four seasons with the Falcons, including six-sack campaigns in 2023 and 2024.
The Bengals, 6-2 and tied atop the AFC North, had sought pass-rush help after rookie Cashius Howell landed on injured reserve, and they host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night. Unless the Eagles find another taker before the 4 p.m. deadline, Ebiketie will rejoin a team that just tried to trade him - and Philadelphia still does not own a sixth-round pick in the 2027 draft. The move continues the Eagles' deadline sell-off a day after they sent defensive tackle Jordan Davis to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a 2027 first-round pick and a 2029 second-round pick.
