Bengals Won’t Trade WR John Ross Or C Billy Price

Update: Dragon adds the Bengals also won’t move former first-round C Billy Price before today’s deadline. 

Price has fallen down the depth chart despite his draft status, but Dragon says the team likes his versatility as a backup lineman. He started Sunday in place of C Trey Hopkins and received a game ball for his efforts in Cincinnati’s win against the Titans. 

Dragon notes Hopkins will regain his starting job after the bye. 

According to Tyler Dragon, the Bengals have no plans to trade WR John Ross before today’s deadline. 

While Ross has been a healthy scratch many weeks and has asked for a trade, Dragon says the Bengals plan to keep him for the rest of this season before he presumably heads into free agency. 

The speedy Ross could potentially draw some interest on the trade market and it would make sense for the Bengals to deal him given he’s in the final year of his contract and clearly not a big part of their plans. 

However, the Cincinnati organization is notoriously conservative when it comes to in-season trades and this is yet another example.

Ross, 24, is a former first-round pick of the Bengals back in 2017. He is entering the final year of his four-year rookie contract worth $17.11 million which included a signing bonus of $10.58 million.

Ross is entering the final year of his rookie contract in 2020 after Cincinnati declined his fifth-year option. 

In 2020, Ross has appeared in three games for the Bengals and caught two receptions for 17 yards.