Bengals back out of trade with Eagles for Arnold Ebiketie originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles on Tuesday morning agreed to trade edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie to the Cincinnati Bengals for a 2027 sixth-round pick, but that deal has fallen through, a league source confirmed to NBC Sports Philadelphia.
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Apparently, the trade would have canceled out a third-round compensatory pick coming back to the Bengals in 2027 after losing Trey Hendrickson to Baltimore.
Maybe Ebiketie was worth a sixth-round pick, but he certainly wasn’t worth losing a third-rounder too.
Unless the Eagles find another taker for Ebiketie, he’ll have to rejoin a team that just tried to trade him. The Eagles still do not have a sixth-round pick in the 2027 draft.
Ebiketie, 27, joined the Eagles this offseason on a one-year deal and has played in all nine games this season. He has played a total of 300 snaps (48%) through this point in the season. That ranks third on the team at edge rusher behind Nolan Smith (359) and Jalyx Hunt (317).
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But now that Jonathan Greenard is healthier, he is expected to play more down the stretch. So the rotation for the rest of the 2026 season will include Smith, Hunt, Greenard, Ebiketie, A.J. Epenesa and rookie Keyshawn James-Newby, who has been on the practice squad. Had Ebiketie actually been traded, James-Newby was likely going to see more playing time.
Ebiketie this season has 25 tackles and 2 QB hits without a sack. He struggled against the run.
The Eagles are still projected to have nine picks in the 2027 draft:
Round 1 (own pick)
Round 1 (from Jaguars)
Round 2 (own pick)
Round 3 (projected comp pick)
Round 4 (own pick)
Round 5 (own pick)
Round 5 (from Ravens)
Round 5 (from Patriots)
Round 7 (from Cowboys)
