The Cincinnati Bengals are owning their trade deadline mix-up.

Head coach Zac Taylor spoke on Wednesday for the first time since a deal for Philadelphia Eagles edge rusher Arnold Ebiketie fell apart before Tuesday's 3 p.m. Central deadline.

Taylor said he was passing along a message from Duke Tobin, who runs the team's front office.

'I'm not comfortable doing it'

"Duke was very explicit with me when he came and spoke to me about how he wanted this portrayed," Taylor said. "I'm not comfortable doing it, but I'm going to do what he asked."

"We did make an effort to put some depth in there in place of Cashius [Howell]. As we got into it, obviously it was going to be a little more costly than we initially anticipated. He's really apologetic about it and wants to make clear [that] Philly was a great trade partner. It was on our end."

What went wrong

The two teams first agreed to send Ebiketie to Cincinnati for a 2027 sixth-round pick.

As they worked to finish the deal, it became clear the Bengals would lose a 2027 third-round compensatory pick if it went through. Those picks are tied to how many free agents a team signs compared to how many it loses, including former edge rusher Trey Hendrickson. Cincinnati pulled out.

Taylor said he never asked Tobin for the details.

"I didn't even ask the question," Taylor said. "It doesn't really matter to me. It probably took three minutes of my day yesterday away from watching tape."

Eyes on the Steelers

Howell, a rookie out of Texas A&M, went on injured reserve on Nov. 3 with a right wrist injury. Taylor said he has not been ruled out for the season.

The Bengals are 6-2, their best start in Taylor's eight years. They host the 6-2 Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night with first place in the AFC North on the line.

"We'll put that behind us and move forward and just get excited for this game on Sunday," Taylor said. "And our locker room is in a great place right now."