The Cincinnati Bengals agreed to a trade with the Chicago Bears for running back Khalil Herbert prior to Tuesday's NFL trade deadline.

NFL Network's Tom Pelissero first reported the trade. The Bengals are sending the Bears a 2025 seventh-round draft pick in exchange for Herbert.

Bengals running back Zack Moss missed Sunday's win over the Las Vegas Raiders with a neck injury, and SI.com's James Rapien subsequently reported that Moss is expected to miss "significant time" and could require a stint on injured reserve.

Pelissero noted that it is exceedingly rare for the Bengals to make an in-season trade, as the deal for Herbert marks only the second time they have acquired a player during the season since 1973:

Herbert, 26, was a sixth-round pick by the Bears in the 2021 NFL draft, and he is in the midst of the final year of his contract before becoming a free agent.

He was a fairly significant part of the Chicago offense over his first three seasons, registering over 100 carries each year and compiling a total of 1,775 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns to go along with 43 receptions for 287 yards and two more scores.

Herbert has essentially been a nonfactor this season, though, rushing for 16 yards and one touchdown on eight carries, and catching two passes for four yards in six games.

The Bears signed D'Andre Swift to a three-year, $24 million contract this past offseason to be their No. 1 running back, and he has been precisely that, leading the team with 729 total yards from scrimmage.

Herbert was also clearly behind second-year man Roschon Johnson on the depth chart, as he has rushed for 108 yards and four touchdowns.

That made Herbert expendable, and he lands in a favorable situation in Cincinnati if Moss is indeed going to be out for an extended period.

With Moss out against the Raiders, Chase Brown played a season-high 80 percent of the offensive snaps and delivered, rushing for 120 yards on 27 carries, and catching five passes for 37 yards and a touchdown.

Brown was more of a change-of-pace and third-down back as a rookie last season behind Joe Mixon, and that was the case to start this season as well, although he essentially worked his way into a split with Moss before the injury.

Given Brown's efficiency to the tune of 479 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns, plus 21 receptions for 98 yards and two touchdowns, the Bengals would likely be best served deploying him as their top back for the remainder of the season.

However, Herbert still figures to have an important role for as long as Moss as out since no other running back on Cincinnati's roster outside of Brown or Moss has even one rushing attempt this season.

At 4-5, the Bengals have had an uneven start to the season, but they are in the thick of the playoff race, just one game out of the final wild-card spot in the AFC.

Even though the offense will largely go as quarterback Joe Burrow does, Herbert fills an important need for what was an extremely thin backfield after Moss went down.