Eagles

Bengals GM Sending Zac Taylor Out to Apologize for Bungled Arnold Ebiketie Trade Was Weird as Hell

By Matt Schultz

Published: Nov 12th, 2026 · 2:07 PM EST

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What’s going on with the Begals? What are they doing? First Cincinnati gets so far down the road on a deal for Arnold Ebiketie that Ian Rapport announces it:

Sources: The #Eagles aren’t done, trading edge Arnold Ebiketie to the #Bengals in exchange for 2027 6th round pick. https://t.co/8EYzDf6px6

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 10, 2026

Then Adam Schefter reports that Cincinnati is actually backing out of the deal because they didn’t realize it would cost them an extra third-round compensatory pick (How did they not know this before getting this far on a deal? What kind of bush league stuff is this?) –

Bengals are expected to back out of the trade for Arnold Ebiketie. The Bengals would have lost a third-round compensatory pick that they were receiving for Trey Hendrickson signing with Baltimore. Now this trade is expected to fall through.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 10, 2026

Then Bengals head coach Zac Taylor takes to the podium to apologize for the bungled trade, even though it was GM Duke Tobin’s fault and Taylor had nothing to do with anything:

#Bengals HC Zac Taylor, speaking for GM Duke Tobin, says he’s very apologetic about how the Arnold Ebiketie trade fell apart.

“Philly was a great trade partner. It was on our end.” pic.twitter.com/kHjzf7UWE6

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 11, 2026

“Obviously, we tried something yesterday and, and — Duke was very explicit with me when he came and spoke to me of how he wanted this portrayed, and I’m not comfortable doing it, but I’m gonna do what he asked, you know, and we, we did make an effort to kind of put some depth in there in place of Cashius (Howell). Um, as we got into it, obviously it was gonna be a little more costly than we initially anticipated, so, um, he’s really apologetic about it and, and wants to make clear Philly was a great trade partner. It was on our end, and that’s just the way things go. But, um, certainly have a ton of confidence in our front office and how they do things, and they’ve given us the players that have allowed us to be 6-2 right now and playing at such a high level. So, um, we’ll put that behind us and move forward and just get excited for this game on Sunday, and our locker room’s in a great place right now.”

Just a weird, confusing situation all the way around, and then Tobin throws in some cowardice on top of everything. How are you gonna make your head coach go out there and apologize for you? What is that? Surely Tobin could have apologized himself if he chose to. Surely he has access to a podium and microphone of his own. In fact, it looks like this press conference was held in Cincinnati, which means Tobin was probably somewhere very nearby. Where was he? Where you at, Tobin? Was he in his office watching this presser on his laptop? Was he standing off to the side of Taylor, peeking out from around a corner a little ways down the hallway, quietly mouthing along to the pre-written apology that he made Taylor say? Was Tobin standing directly behind that wall there with all the Bengals logos on it, nervously cupping his ear and pressing it to the wall and standing on his tippy toes and wondering if anyone out there was still mad at him?

These are the most cowardly images I could think of, and that’s how I’ll be picturing Tobin from here on out. He made his bed. Shouldn’t have acted so weird. I do not accept his apology.