Bengals trade Austin Calitro to Broncos for Christian Covington

The Bengals traded linebacker Austin Calitro to the Broncos

CINCINNATI — The Bengals are expected to make plenty of changes to their roster in the coming days. They have until Saturday at 4 p.m. to trim their roster to 53 players. 

It didn't take long for them to make a trade.

Cincinnati is sending linebacker Austin Calitro to Denver in exchange for defensive tackle Christian Covington. The Bengals acquired Calitro on waivers in April.

The team announced the trade on Friday afternoon. 

Covington is entering his sixth NFL season. He spent the first four years of his career in Houston, before signing with Dallas as a free agent prior to the 2019 season. After one year with the Cowboys, he signed another one-year deal with the Broncos.

The Texans selected him in the sixth-round (216th overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft.

The 26-year-old has played in 66 career games. He appeared in all 16 games for Dallas last season. Covington has 93 tackles and 8.5 career sacks. 

The move makes sense from a Bengals perspective. They were shorthanded in the trenches after Josh Tupou opted out of the season and Renell Wren suffered a potentially season-ending quad injury. 

Cincinnati did sign Mike Daniels, but the addition of Covington gives them another capable player in the trenches.

The Bengals have plenty of linebackers, which wasn't the case in prior years. They spent three draft picks on the position in April. Logan Wilson and Akeem Davis-Gaither are locks to make the roster. 

Both Denver and Cincinnati were likely going to cut Covington and Calitro, respectively. Covington reportedly lost the battle with DeMarcus Walker for the final defensive line spot with the Broncos. Calitro was stuck battling Jordan Evans and seventh-rounder Markus Bailey for one, if not the final linebacker spot on the Bengals roster.

Cincinnati could make a few more moves over the next few days. They've made it clear that they're going to aggressively acquire talent on the waiver wire or via trade.

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