Bengals

• ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler writes the Bengals continue to rebuff all trade inquiries about DE Trey Hendrickson and his sources maintain Cincinnati doesn’t plan to move the veteran pass rusher. However, the Bengals’ upset loss to the Jets this past week and 3-6 record will have teams continuing to check in, especially if they lose again in Week 9.
• The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. is confident that the Bengals will not trade Hendrickson no matter what happens in the next couple of weeks. Dehner cites Cincinnati’s long history of not giving up productive players in current seasons for future assets.
• That precedent is also why the Bengals are unlikely to trade LB Logan Wilson, despite his request, per Dehner. He was benched but is still playing a notable amount of snaps as the third linebacker. Bengals CB Cam Taylor-Britt is also unlikely to be traded, even though Dehner expects both him and Wilson to be playing for different teams next season.
• Dehner adds the Bengals are unlikely to be buyers at the trade deadline as well, noting they already made on move to trade for QB Joe Flacco and will be leery of giving up more draft capital for short-term fixes.

Browns

• Browns DE Myles Garrett requested a trade this past offseason, telling the media that he wanted to land with a team that had a clearer path to winning. Cleveland mended fences with Garrett with a four-year, $160 million contract extension, but the Browns are struggling again and Garrett’s frustrations are apparent, as he had a remarkable five sacks in Week 8 and Cleveland still got blown out.
• In recent days, two reporters from different outlets have separately raised the possibility of Garrett being traded despite the contract extension — Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer and ESPN’s Dan Graziano.
• Both frame their articles about what the Browns should do, not what they will do and are careful to point out nothing has happened to suggest the Browns have changed their minds from this spring when they were adamant that they weren’t considering trading Garrett.
• However, they note that the dead money hit from Cleveland trading Garrett, either before the deadline or next offseason, wouldn’t be prohibitive even if it would be significant. Trading Garrett would leave $41.5 million in dead money on Cleveland’s books in 2026, $17.5 million more than his current cap hit. Graziano and Breer acknowledge dealing with that against the cap will be a headache but dead money isn’t the same inhibitor for teams that it used to be.
• In return for trading Garrett, the Browns would get at least two first-round picks in all likelihood, per both Graziano and Breer. Graziano notes if the Browns traded Garrett to the Cowboys who have two firsts in 2026 after trading away Micah Parsons, the Browns could have four firsts next year and control the entire round, which matters in a year they’re probably going to be trying...