This is not that hard, but here we are. The Cincinnati Bengals do things differently. Always have, always will. It is just who they are. We have seen them in recent years draft extraordinarily well. Conversely, we have seen them almost completely screw up a good thing going with the supporting cast surrounding Joe Burrow. In the end, what Burrow says goes. But does he want Jalen Ramsey?
Yes, I did have the Bengals listed as one of the three other teams along with my Atlanta Falcons that I thought could make sense for the perpetually frustrated Miami Dolphins cornerback. I thought he would be a great piece to have in their secondary as a means to make another Super Bowl push. Ramsey would be a way to offset letting Jessie Bates III in free agency to the Falcons two years ago.
Of course, I totally forgot that this is the cheapest and least valuable franchise in the league for a reason. They messed with Tee Higgins' money, enough to the point where it started to get in the way of Ja'Marr Chase finally getting his. Next up to be paid is their perennial Pro Bowl edge rusher Trey Hendrickson. He has earned top-of-the-market money. Once again, Cincinnati is dragging its feet.
It would be so unbelievably Bengals for them to trade for Ramsey and give him Hendrickson's money.
Jalen Ramsey and Trey Hendrickson may be mutually exclusive entities
For as good of a fit as Ramsey may be in Al Golden's Cincinnati defense, we have four years' worth of evidence of what Hendrickson has meant to Cincinnati. He may not have carried anywhere close to the same amount of gravitas coming out of his Floridian university back in the day, but Hendrickson is the better player right now. Or at least for Cincinnati... Either way, I would not let him go this offseason.
Ramsey may not be as valuable of a trade asset as he was the last time around leaving his second team in the Los Angeles Rams for the Dolphins, but he still carries a certain level of cachet. Again, Hendrickson is the better player at this stage of the game, but he is not one of the first elite edge rushers people regularly think of because he plays for the Bengals and not another AFC North team.
What I am getting at is while the Bengals could be a good landing spot for Ramsey in a blockbuster trade with the Dolphins, they are a better team with Hendrickson part of it for the long-term. Sometimes you gotta dance with the one that brung ya. Every dollar is a precious commodity for this franchise, so lest we not have somebody jump the line when it is Hendrickson's turn to get paid again.
Duke Tobin is very underrated at what he does, so let's not make this any more complicated for him.