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Wide receiver A.J. Green remained out with an ankle injury as the Bengals fell to the Cardinals at home on Sunday afternoon and the latest Bengals loss was preceded by a report that teams have been calling the Bengals about potentially trading for Green.

Green has said that he’d like to spend his whole career with the Bengals, but he’s a free agent after the season and the team’s got a lot of building to do in the coming years. Trading Green would bring in assets to support that process, but cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick warned that such a move would have a negative impact on the team as well.

“It better not happen. It’s going to fall apart if you do that,” Kirkpatrick said, via the team’s website. “That’s our best player on the team. He’s not even out there. We don’t know how the team really should look. They can’t do that. I’m a team player first. I rally around my guys. That would really hurt my spirit if he walked out this door . . . I want everybody to stay. I want to win here. I don’t want to go anywhere. I’m not just a player for the Bengals. I do things in the community. A lot of guys in here do.”

If the Bengals want to fully tear things down and teams make strong offers for Green’s services, Kirkpatrick’s plea may not carry much water in what’s quickly becoming a lost season in Cincinnati.