NFL exec wonders if Giants fleeced Bengals a bit during Lawrence trade

The Cincinnati Bengals are very happy with the Dexter Lawrence trade, to put it lightly.

A straight-up swap of the 10th pick for one of the best interior defenders in the NFL, some around the NFL have likened the Bengals’ trade to an NBA deal.

And when the goal is helping Joe Burrow, it’s hard to complain.

Even so, one anonymous NFL executive recently chatted with The Athletic’sMike Sando and wondered if the Bengals couldn’t have done a better job with the deal.

Namely, the executive wondered if the Bengals couldn’t have recruited a third team into the mix to help them get some sort of draft pick back…and wondered if the Giants did that by design.

“But I don’t think enough people were aware it was happening,” an exec told Sando, “and the Giants played it smart by making the Bengals think they had to give up the 10th pick.”

At the end of the day? The Bengals probably didn't want a bunch of other teams aware of what was going on with the deal. Adding a third party in the hopes of getting a mid-round pick or so in the deal wouldn’t have likely been worth it.

The rebuilding Giants, too, were probably just happy to get out of the whole thing with a top-10 selection for a player who didn't want to be in town anymore.

Overall, the “winner” of the deal is something only hindsight can say far down the road.

This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: