The Cincinnati Bengals had been active in trade discussions near the trade deadline. One of their underrated moves seemed to be coming in the form of a deal for Arnold Ebiketie of the Philadelphia Eagles.

But a short while after the trade agreement was first reported, new reporting made it clear that the franchise was backing out of the move. Fans immediately believed that they were the ones, through social media, who caused Duke Tobin to make the change, as they pointed out the cost of making the trade to the Bengals.

Fans Mock Duke Tobin of the Cincinnati Bengals for Not Knowing Trade Rules

While they haven’t been a stifling defensive unit this season, the Bengals have been far better on that side of the football than in recent years, ranking at number 15 on PFN’s NFL Defense Impact metrics.

But amidst a 6-2 start that has them in the thick of the playoff race, the team is hoping to make even more improvements. As a result, the trade for Ebiketie made sense as a way to further bolster their pass rush.

But as social media pointed out, the move would cost the Bengals the trade value as well as a compensatory pick they could receive for Trey Hendrickson. Soon after the revelation, news of the Bengals pulling out of the trade was reported.

As a result, a lot of fans believed they were the ones to cause the realization for Tobin, who is the director of player personnel for the team. Once reports confirmed that the deal would not be completed, they mocked him for making the change.

“This is 10000% confirmed that the Bengals didn’t know about the comp pick formula,” Marcus Mosher reported on X. “Come on, Duke.”

Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic alluded to it as well, claiming, “Well, the comp pick situation might have surfaced with a resolution. There’s definitely confusion over how the formula would be counted here, but the potential disaster of fumbling the third-round Hendrickson comp kills this off.”

Adam Levitan was stunned by the entire situation. As a result, he put together a timeline of how things went down with this trade and was stunned at the way the Bengals were operating.

“If I’m following this right? 1. Bengals agree to a trade 2. Had no idea it would’ve cost them a Round 3 compensatory pick 3. Realize it through Twitter 4. Back out of trade. The Bengals are an $8 billion business. Just hire the spreadsheet virgins Howie has.”

Destin Adams, too, saw it as confirmation, jokingly writing, “So the Bengals had no idea of the rule.”

One fan joked, “Cincy should hire this guy since Duke Tobin doesn’t know the rules,” pointing to the person on X who broke down the details of the move before the trade was rescinded.

A lot of fans saw the development as wildly embarrassing for Tobin and the Bengals’ front office,as one fan exclaimed, “Duke Tobin is terrible at his job,” while another fan mocked, “Duke Tobin straight up got embarrassed. No way he makes another trade until I have my first kid.”

One fan termed it, “What an embarrassment for Duke Tobin and the Bengals.”

It remains to be seen if it was indeed a mistake by Tobin in not recognizing the cost of the trade before trying to get it done. But if they aren’t moving forward with this deal, then it will be interesting to see if the Bengals try to make some other additions before the deadline.