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‘It Was On Our End’: Bengals’ Zac Taylor Apologizes For Unsuccessful Trade With Eagles

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Powell, A. (2026, November 11). ‘It Was On Our End’: Bengals’ Zac Taylor Apologizes For Unsuccessful Trade With Eagles. The Daily Caller. https://dailycaller.com/2026/11/11/cincinnati-bengals-zac-taylor-apology-unsuccessful-trade-philadelphia-eagles

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The Daily Caller · collected 2026-11-12 · by Andrew Powell

Quick Summary

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor issued an apology on behalf of the front office for a failed trade with the Philadelphia Eagles for edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie. While the deal was initially reported as a swap for a 2027 sixth-round pick, the Bengals withdrew from the agreement because they realized the trade would cause them to forfeit a 2027 third-round compensatory draft selection. The article frames the situation as a self-admitted failure by the Bengals' front office, with Taylor noting that the organization is "very apologetic" for the collapse of the deal.
Written by AI on 2026-11-13, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).
See how they differ ↓

AI analysis

Story summary

The Cincinnati Bengals withdrew from a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles to acquire edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie because it would have resulted in the loss of a third-round compensatory pick in the 2027 NFL draft. The trade was initially reported by NFL Network but fell through when it was discovered that acquiring Ebiketie would cost the Bengals a compensatory pick due to Trey Hendrickson signing with the Baltimore Ravens. Coach Zac Taylor and director of player personnel Duke Tobin apologized for the oversight, emphasizing that the Eagles were willing partners in the deal but that the cost was underestimated. The Bengals are currently on a four-game winning streak and hold a 6-2 record, positioning them to potentially secure first place in the AFC North with an upcoming game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Written for “Bengals Back Out Of Trade With Eagles” on 2026-11-15, grounded in this article and the 4 other(s) covering the same event.

How they differ

4 outlets covered “Bengals Back Out Of Trade With Eagles”.

What each outlet says

One AI summary per outlet of its latest article on this story, written from that article alone and checked against it. Open the article for the outlet's own words.

Daily CallerThis outlet12 Nov

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor issued an apology on behalf of the front office for a failed trade with the Philadelphia Eagles for edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie. While the deal was initially reported as a swap for a 2027 sixth-round pick, the Bengals withdrew from the agreement because they realized the trade would cause them to forfeit a 2027 third-round compensatory draft selection. The article frames the…

‘It Was On Our End’: Bengals’ Zac Taylor Apologizes For Unsuccessful Trade With Eagles (this article)
Toronto Star11 Nov

Zac Taylor, coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, spoke on Wednesday about a trade deal that fell through at the NFL's trade deadline. The Bengals were planning to acquire Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Arnold Ebiketie for a sixth-round draft pick but lost interest when they realized it might cost them a third-round compensatory pick in 2027. Taylor expressed confidence in his team and front office despite missing out…

Bengals coach Zac Taylor addresses Cincinnati's deadline move that fell through →2 articles from Toronto Star on this story
Fox News12 Nov

Zac Taylor, coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, admitted that his team made a mistake when they failed to trade for Philadelphia Eagles' edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie before the NFL’s recent trade deadline. According to Duke Tobin, the team's director of football and de facto general manager, the deal fell through because the Bengals underestimated the cost required to replace another player. The proposed agreement would…

Bengals coach Zac Taylor acknowledges fault in failed trade for Eagles edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie →
New York Post14 Nov

The Bengals were poised to trade for Eagles edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie at the NFL trade deadline, but they backed out after realizing the deal would cost them a projected third-round compensatory pick due to a stipulation in the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement. This mistake occurred because the Bengals did not initially account for the compensatory free agent status of Ebiketie and miscalculated their own…

The critical mistake Bengals made before controversially backing out of Eagles trade →

Where they agree and split

The full story: what happened, how it changed, and all 5 articles →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 5% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Toronto Star
Hedges 0 of 20 claims Outlet record 64/100
Toronto Star
Hedges 0 of 7 claims Outlet record 64/100
New York Post
Hedges 2 of 15 claims Outlet record 66/100
The Guardian
Hedges 3 of 43 claims Outlet record 65/100
“While both articles mention the trade of Arnold Ebiketie between the Bengals and the Eagles, Article A is a live update discussing various NFL trades and events, whereas Article B focuses specifically on the Bengals' head coach apologizing for the unsuccessful trade. They describe different aspects of the same broader topic but not the exact same specific event.”

Story

Bengals Back Out Of Trade With Eagles
Sports · 5 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
19
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
5%
1 of 19 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
92/100
The Daily Caller's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
5
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-13 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Daily Caller · 235 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Andrew Powell
14 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
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Jim Harding, an offensive line coach, will take over the position of offensive coordinator on an interim basis for the remainder of the campaign prior to Whittingham kicking off a national hunt for who will replace Beck.
Also by Andrew Powell
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 14 articles by Andrew Powell →

Topics

Bengals Cincinnati Philly the Cincinnati Bengals the Philadelphia Eagles

Subjects

Bengals ORG · 4× Taylor PERSON · 4× Arnold Ebiketie PERSON · 2× Cincinnati GPE · 2× Duke Tobin PERSON · 2× Philly GPE · 2× Zac Taylor PERSON · 2× Duke ORG · 1× the Cincinnati Bengals ORG · 1× the Philadelphia Eagles ORG · 1×

Narrative

There was a lot of speculation around how the Bengals knew about the pick forfeiture that was given due to the franchise signing a smaller number of qualifying free agents who exited the franchise and signed with another team—in particular, ex-edge rusher Trey Hendrickson.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-13

Claims (19 extracted, 1 hedged)

Zac Taylor, the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, expressed regret from the franchise over the unsuccessful trade with the Philadelphia Eagles for edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie prior to the deadline Tuesday. asserted
Taylor → express → deadline
Talking with the media Wednesday following the deal falling through, a statement was issued by Taylor on behalf of Duke Tobin, the de facto general manager, regarding the reasoning of why the trade didn’t happen prior to the deadline at 4 p.m. ET. asserted
trade → talk → ET
“Duke was very explicit with me when he came and spoke to me about how he wanted this portrayed,” started Taylor. asserted
Taylor → come → me
“I’m not comfortable doing it, but I’m going to do what he asked. asserted
he → ’m → what
(RELATED: Vikings Reunite With Kirk Cousins, Raiders Fleece Them For 3rd-Round Pick) asserted
Raiders → reunite → Pick
“We did make an effort to put some depth in there in place of Cashius [Howell]. asserted
We → make → Howell
As we got into it, obviously it was going to be a little more costly than we initially anticipated. asserted
we → get → it
He’s really apologetic about it and wants to make clear [that] Philly was a great trade partner. asserted
was → ’ → it
Originally, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Cincinnati and Philadelphia came to an agreement on a deal to ship Ebiketie to the Bengals, with the Eagles getting a 2027 sixth-round pick in return. asserted
Eagles → report → return
#Bengals HC Zac Taylor, speaking for GM Duke Tobin, says he’s very apologetic about how the Arnold Ebiketie trade fell apart. asserted
trade → speak → Tobin
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 11, 2026 However, as the organizations were working to complete a deal, according to ESPN, it became clear that the Bengals were going to forfeit a 2027 third-round compensatory draft selection if a trade was done. uncertain
trade → work → selection
As a result, this led to Cincinnati withdrawing from the trade. asserted
Cincinnati → lead → trade
There was a lot of speculation around how the Bengals knew about the pick forfeiture that was given due to the franchise signing a smaller number of qualifying free agents who exited the franchise and signed with another team—in particular, ex-edge rusher Trey Hendrickson. asserted
who → be → team
Nick Korte of OverTheCap reported on the loss of a draft pick that was between the original trade report and the follow-up that the deal wasn’t going to be finalized. asserted
deal → report → report
Taylor stated that the specifics weren’t revealed when he talked Tuesday to Tobin. asserted
he → state → Tobin
“I didn’t even ask the question,” said Taylor. asserted
Taylor → ask → question
“It doesn’t really matter to me. asserted
It → matter → me
It probably took three minutes of my day yesterday away from watching tape. asserted
It → take → tape
Got a lot of faith in how [the front office] operates and we’ll just move forward with it.” asserted
we → get → it
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