The Cincinnati Bengals are hanging around in the AFC playoff race, but it was clear they had some work to do ahead of the 2024 trade deadline. One of their top needs was a running back to help spice up their offense a bit, especially after Zack Moss suffered a significant neck injury in their Week 9 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.

Once news that injury came out, the Bengals quickly went to work in their effort to find a running back on the trade market that would shore up this need for them. That resulted in them locking in on Khalil Herbert of the Chicago Bears, with Cincy sending a seventh-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft the other way in exchange for the talented running back.

Bengals add underrated playmaker in Khalil Herbert

For a point in time, it seemed like Khalil Herbert was set to be the Bears lead running back, as he snatched the job away from David Montgomery in the 2022 campaign. However, he never fully managed to earn the gig, and he ended up getting boxed out of a role this season by D’Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson, as he’s picked up just 16 yards and a touchdown on eight carries, while also hauling in a pair of passes for four yards over six games of action.

When he’s gotten touches, though, Herbert has been effective, as he averages 4.8 yards per carry during his career. He will likely be a change of pace back behind Chase Brown, who has firmly established himself as Cincy’s lead running back. And with Moss now expected to miss the rest of the regular season with his neck injury, the Bengals are going to be leaning on Herbert right away to come in and deliver for them.

“Our understanding is he is expected to miss the rest of the regular season at least. He’s got that neck injury that he suffered last week…Right now, the early medical evaluations, according to our sources, are that surgery is not going to be required, but he’s gonna have to rest for a period of about two months and then get reevaluated after that.” – Mike Garafolo, Good Morning Football

Chicago gets another pick in the 2025 draft for a player that was not factoring into their offensive game plan at all, so that has to be considered a win, even though they likely would have rather had Herbert take on a bigger role for them. With this deal being completed, it will be interesting to see if either of these squads make any more deals before the trade deadline strikes.