The Cincinnati Bengals feel unlikely to play ball on the asking price of a Jonathan Taylor trade with the Indianapolis Colts. 

That doesn't mean the Bengals haven’t called the Colts, though. 

Case in point, before the start of Week 8, NFL reporter Jordan Schultz noted that the Bengals were one of the teams that have “checked in” about Taylor. 

This probably doesn’t amount to anything other than due diligence by the likes of Duke Tobin and the front office. They wouldn’t be doing their jobs right if they didn’t check. A report the day prior didn’t list the Bengals among the teams in talks about Taylor right now. 

Regardless, the Bengals checking about running backs right now seems obvious. Even if they’re content with the semi-struggling Chase Brown, the depth is very shaky looking and they just ripped up all their under-center looks because of the struggling ground game.