The Cincinnati Bengals have a reputation as a quality drafting organization.

While fair in some respects, the overvaluing of draft picks could hurt coach Marvin Lewis and the front office leading up to Tuesday’s trade deadline.

The Bengals love their draft picks. They don’t trade them and conditional picks acquired when free agents leave might as well be cold hard cash — tax free.

But for a team that fancies itself a playoff contender and has one obvious weakness, the unwillingness to float picks in potential deals for immediate upgrades is stubbornness for the sake of not rocking the boat.

Said weakness, of course, is the offensive trenches. Let’s look at a hypothetical — say the Bengals want to upgrade offensive tackle and target Cordy Glenn. The Buffalo Bills ask for a second-round pick in return, plus a body or two the Bengals aren’t really using.

Easy. Except the Bengals say no because they don’t like giving up high picks.

But what has a second-round pick netted the Bengals in recent years besides Joe Mixon, who fell only because of character concerns? Let’s look:

2016: Tyler Boyd

2015: Jake Fisher

2014: Jeremy Hill

2013: Giovani Bernard and Margus Hunt

2012: Devon Still

We won’t even dive too deep on why an inability to hit on high picks like this — paired with letting talent walk — has tanked the Bengals into struggling years again.

Instead, we’ll ask this — can the Bengals live without a Boyd or Hill down the road if it means an upgrade at offensive tackle right now?

Of course. The Bengals aren’t hitting on these picks anyway, so why not trade for 3-4 years of consistent play in the offensive trenches? It isn’t that simple because the new guy has to adapt and mesh with his fellow linemen and on and on.

But the point stands. This is a team coming off a six-win season and a coach who doesn’t have job security after this season while watching his team need a freak defensive play and touchdown to beat a two-win Colts team at home — after getting smacked around yet again by Pittsburgh.

Andrew Whitworth isn’t walking back through that door to play the hero. If the Bengals care so much about the draft picks, they can take solace in the fact they have a third-round compensatory on the way for the departure of Kevin Zeitler. Not a perfect re-balancing, sure, but better than nothing should the team decide to make a rare move.

It would behoove the Bengals to at least pick up the phone Tuesday and float valuable assets like draft picks for immediate help. Most teams aren’t offering something the Bengals need, sure, but an aggressive move now might stabilize the offense somewhat and do something quite important — keep Andy Dalton healthy.

The Bengals don’t typically make in-season acquisitions. But they didn’t usually fire offensive coordinators. Or cut rookies. Or play rookies like Carl Lawson. Maybe Tuesday they’ll stop overvaluing draft picks and start patching self-inflicted wounds on the chance it helps lead them back to the playoffs.