Grading the Cincinnati Bengals' 2024 Draft Class - podcast episode cover

Grading the Cincinnati Bengals' 2024 Draft Class

Apr 30, 202435 minEp. 1897
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The Cincinnati Bengals used all 10 of their picks in the 2024 NFL Draft? What did they get right? What did they get wrong? James Rapien and Jake Liscow share their thoughts and give a grade for every pick! Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsFind and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAgStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengals
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Transcript

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every Day. Let's complete the annual tradition of grading the Cincinnati Bengals draft class. You are Locked On Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, Your Team every Day. What up, Bengals Fans, and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals Podcast. I'm your host, Jake. Let's go.

He's your host, James Orpene. We're on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Here on Lockdown Bengals, covering your team every day, on YouTube, everywhere you get your podcasts. You can subscribe to the show if you want it to be showing up for you on the regular on YouTube or anywhere you get your podcasts. We come in every day, or make us your first listen with the thousands of others of Bengals fans who do the same. And as one person told us in our Lockdown Bengals Insider group, you can get smarter.

You can feel smarter when you're talking to other Bengals fans by staying up to date with the Lockdown Bengals podcast. You would have heard a Marius Mims and Chris Jenkins mocked to the Bengals in rounds one and two last week on this podcast when we were trying to predict things. Today's episode is brought to you by game Time, where you can say twenty dollars off your first purchase of

tickets on the game Time app with promo code locked on NFL. And today, James, we will grade the Cincinnati Bengals draft class and I'll talk about my criteria. You can talk about what went into the grades for you if you like. But a Marius Men's to start things off here, where are you? Well? Amrius starts with an A and it gets an A and it's pretty simple. The Bengals they don't have and haven't had a physical print, a presence like a Marius Mims Andrew Whitworth left at twenty sixteen. It's

it and he is different. And the fact that in the span of what fourteen months, you get Orlando Brown junior at left tackle and you get this kid and Amarus Mims, who is going to be following around Orlando and learning from Orlando for not just this year, but multiple years. That's the exact site the type of setup that you want. So even if you're worried about his experience. I think that this is the ideal scenario, the ideal situation.

Oh and by the way, everyone hates Frank Pollack, right, that's big among the fan base. Frank Pollack stinks, that's what everyone's saying. Well, now he at least has a first round tackle to work with, in a first round tackle that he can groom. And from a talent perspective, they brought in veterans, and I think those veterans have played fine,

but they haven't given him this. And outside of Billy Price, who he coached for one year and then he was off to the Jets and it was kind of weird, right because of the coaching change, Frank hasn't had this in Cincinnati. So I think it makes sense to give Frank Pollack an elite talent and see what happens with it. I also think that a Marius Mimms's ceiling is as high as any offensive tackle in this draft. I think his

floor is higher than a lot of people give him credit for. I think he's going to work hard, and someone at that size six eight three forty if he works hard, I think at worst he's a solid pass protector lead at this level, which is a pretty good fit in Cincinnati. So this is an a for me. Yeah, come in just a hair lower. And the way that I think about this is a few ways. One of them is does this suggress in need? I think it does. There's a

long term need for the Cincinnati Bengals to tackle. They have needed for a long time athleticism and high end talent on the offensive line in front of Joe Burrow. They get that on a cost control basis with the Marius Mims. So yeah, they hit a need here. It's not a pressing starter need per se, but it is a long term need. They needed to improve depth and we've been asking for them to add athleticism and talent to this offensive

line group since Joe Burrow was drafted. So in that sense, I like that about the pick, and then I think about the floor in the ceiling. You mentioned that the floor is maybe a little bit higher than some people think. He does need to prove that the injury stuff is behind him, and there's no reason to think it's not. But he needs to prove that he can stay on the field. You know, we all saw Nick Saban question his football toughness. I guess when he took himself out of the game

when he aggravated that ankle injury. I'm not sure how sure how much I buy that Nick Saven talking about arrival of course in the SEC Championship game playing for Georgia. But between the ankle injury and the hamstring injury, you just need to make sure that he can stay healthy again. I think he can. It's a small amount of the risk baked into the profile. The other bit of the risk is he inexperienced, and when you look at his tape,

there's some things to clean up from a technical perspective. But as I've said on this show a few times, natural pass protector, the pass pro footwork looks great already. That's what the Bengals care about more than anything else. There's just a little bit of risk in this pick where you can see that maybe he doesn't end up being a top end player in the league.

I think he probably should. It's a B plus for me because you can see that the top end is an A plus and we might look back on this in a couple of years and say, yeah, he hit that top end. He's a great offensive tackle, maybe the best right tackle in this draft class. Then you're more than justified. But when you bake in the risk a little bit, that's what brings it down just a hair for me. The other thing is is should you be able to get an A with

every pick? This is a philosophical thing. Maybe you should say he should be graded against the other options and for the guys that were available. The only other guys I would argue for the Bengals in that pick were Johnny Newton, who went much later in the second round, and maybe Quinnyaon Mitchell a couple picks later, the cornerback going to the Philadelphia Eagles. But for the Bengals, hard to knock taking a tackle here. Like I said, I

like the need, I like the fit. I like that he doesn't have to play right away. It's just is it the best value? Is it the the risk? Those are the things that bring it from an A to a B plus for me, still really close to an A. I still think it's a good pick, and I'd like the upside a lot. Man. You hedged about fifty two times to make sure that people understood that you like this pick. No, I mean I get it. I do. I think that his floor is like Trent Brown, I'll just slo that's a

hell of a floor. That's better than any offensive lineman they've drafted in like a decade. Hopefully the floor doesn't include Trent Brown's availability. And he's much more healthy over his career than Trent Brown has been, in no doubt, and in the health part. That's that's ever we're about to talk about health for all of these guys, including Chris Jenkins, who we should get to the Bengals. You mentioned Johnny Newton. By the way, the bengalside Chris

Jenkins right underneath Johnny Newton on their Day two board. They weren't really considering him at that eighteen spot. I do think he was a trade down candidate and they might have had a first round grade on him, certainly high on their board. So it was Chris Jenkins and they felt really good about the pick. And what's not the like about the pick? I gave it a B plus. I just think it's all the round, solid like everything about it. I think there's the risk profile, there's no real risk. I

think he's going to be a hit. I think the character wise fits. I think he's going to be a captain by year three probably. I think he has the right energy, the right vibe, the right talent to play right away and be a run stopper for sure. And maybe he does have a bit more as a pass rusher that we haven't seen because there's some untapped athleticism there. There's really nothing that you can't like about this pick to me at least. And the other element is it obviously does feel a need both

short term and long term. B plus solid all the way around, like an eighty eight percent good stuff on Christie. Yeah, solid B for me. I would have liked to have seen the Bengals be aggressive here trade up for Johnny Newton. We know the price to get right in front of that pick because we saw a team trade up there. It would have been expensive. That's how much higher Johnny Newton was in my mind than Chris Jenkins was. But I know that that wasn't the case for the Bengals the other alternatives

here. I'm fine with Chris Jenkins pick. I would have considered perhaps Zach Frasier with that pick, just because there's your center of the future. He could play guard for you right away. I think out of West Virginia and he goes to the Steelers a couple picks later. The other thing that I think you can debate and we'll be watching over time is Chris Jenkins versus Michael Hall's career. The Bengals later go with the nose tackles, So would you

rather have a player with more pass rushing upside? Here? That being said, I do like the Chris Jenkins pick. I'd like, as Steve Paulozola talked with us about yesterday, the run defense, playmaking ability for Chris Jenkins, a block destruction, getting off blocks, all things of Bengals badly needed. And he improves their GT three immediately and should improve it significantly if he can hit the ground running. And I love the personality. I love the

way that he interacted with the media when he arrived in town. The positivity, the willingness to eat a bunch of Skyline chili if you needed to get to his dad's weight and play nose tackle at three forty or whatever. It was so really love the personality. Could certainly see him being a captain in short order, and they needed some leadership and so if that's part of what they get with Chris Jenkins, that's an upgrade for the pick. As well. Yeah, And honestly, if they had gone with my call and I

liked the player, this isn't revisions history. But you talk about two guys that are young and haven't played a ton, and that you wonder availability wise in all of those things, it would just be tying it in there. But no, I think they wanted more of a guy that could play every down and I'm sure they looked at my call and said he's not a three down guy and they know it. Chris Jenkins can be. He can be,

He's not yet and he needs to get there. And if he does that again, we'll look back on this pick and we'll see an A. Let's get to those two third round picks to the beginning of Day three coming up next. Today's episode of Lockdown Bengals is sponsored by eBay Motors. Passion, Drive and Patience. The formula for winning championship championships is also what keeps

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Download Game Time today, Last minute tickets? What was price guarantee? Last note on a Marius Men's really quick that I forgot to mention earlier before we get to the day three guys, This was apparently known and I just saw

it yesterday. But the Athletics Nate Taylor reporting that the Chiefs tried to trade up for Marius Men's before settling and trading up for Xavier Worthy insteads So she'll probably give the Bengals some brownie points for sniping I guess sort of making sure that they got a Marius Vince and the Chiefs did not you know what the world would have been. Oh my god. The Chiefs have a Marius memes

that Patrick Mahomes has his left tackle of the future. By the way, he did play left and right tackle at Georgia in practice, rotated all the time, didn't flinch when we asked him if he was comfortable playing both. So that's what he's going to do obviously for the Bengals. But yeah, can you imagine can you imagine the press home franchise left tack? Chiefs go aggressive and point is is it's a hell of a prospect and they're all risks.

Billy Price was the safest pick in a decade, right, No, not right wrong, And so Amarus Mims has those physical traits, just overwhelming physical traits and obviously some good film to back it up when he was on the field. So I'm glad you pointed that out because I didn't see that until Tuesday morning. That being said, we got to get to use at day three. It's round three, baby, in the biggest three. Maybe I messed it up anyway. You s to get surprise, but biggest surprise

he's got to be Jermaine Burden And I'm still kicking myself. I can't believe I didn't consider it more and I don't think we did. We know he had a Top thirty with the Bengals. I don't think we knew that part that would have thrown us obviously in the right direction. He had six top

thirty visits, including Cleveland in Cincinnati. But this pick, we obviously know about the character stuff and the maturity stuff, and multiple schools Georgia Alabama in college, but multiple high schools, the storming the field incident where he allegedly hit a woman who stormed the field, and all of the things that go into that, Like there's just there's a ton there of speculation about the off the field character and then obviously the storming the field incident, we have a

better account of that. Being said, the reason why I like the pick and the reason why I understand it is one, what's the point of having this awesome culture if you can't bring someone in and get them in the mix in tune with your culture. Remember the Patriot way, it was such a thing, a Patriot way. Well, Belichick would bring in guys like this all the time, and like veterans that were that weren't young impressionable guys that

could come into the culture. So Zach Taylor clearly wanted this guy. I'm sure that the scouting departm I'm sure everybody did. But Zach Taylor clearly one of this guy. And it's easy to see why. And if they did all this homework on him and met with him and then brought him in for a top thirty visit and they feel like he does fit culture wise and they will be able to get the most out of them or out of him. Who am I to say otherwise? They haven't done this during the Zach Taylor

arrow much and so we'll see. This is a good test, but on field wise, and the reason why I give this at B plus is because he's the perfect fit. He can do everything the Bengals want. Whatever receiver they were going to draft this year, whatever they wanted him to do, Burton can do it. And I think he fits well with even the young guys andre Yosavasch and Charlie Jones. It's not just Jamar Chason T. Higgins.

He fits well with the entire receiver room. I think he's going to get the most snaps, third most snaps, I would say out of those receivers, and so he's going to make an instant impact. He's going to bring you a dynamic that you haven't had. There is some risk, but there's also some value, and that risk and value bounced out some and that's why I give this a B plus. And Lord knows I love receivers, so there might be a little curve there. Baby, Yeah, I'll go

be here as well. I think I'm just a sterner greater than you in general, no surprise, there is there no surprise or you just I don't know. I don't know how you couldn't give Amarus Smims an A. But anyways, go ahead. Yeah, no, I mean there's no surprise. I still don't. I listened to you for five minutes. I have no idea. I'm a harder greater than you. Yeah. Well, part of it is, like we'll see rock Powers would have been as trading up for

Johnny Newton would have been an A for me. So like there are things if they didn't consider or weren't available to them, that I would consider an A. So I'm just grading on in a different way. Perhaps, what would you have done if they had passed on Brock for a Marius. I don't know, Like what would you you would be given like a Marius, like a b B like it would be lower, he'd be docked, right. I don't think he's just like if I were consistent with what the way

I'm thinking about it, he's shouldn't be gotcha. I'm just curious because I think they would have passed on Brock. There's a little nugget. I think they would have passed on Brock for Mims. I do. I'm pretty confident in that. So Jamae Burton, the offside is at least you've gotten a player one round later than he could have been drafted if he was clean off the field. At least I can't wait to tell you my comps go ahead,

keep going, which is? Which is? What you love about that pick and the ability to add this vertical, explosive receiver awesome could be an easy running mate for Jamar Chase cost controlled for four years. Love that very next pick. Christian Hayes would have loved to see an interior offensive lineman here as well. Christian Haines twenty four years old, though, so is that

something to put them off there? The other offensive lineman that went in this range on the interior because there's a little bit of a run between Burton and McKinley Jackson, Zach Center and Dominic Pooney both twenty three, twenty four, twenty four years old. So Burton giving you a potential wide receiver in the future and it's only down because of the of the risk. Can he keep

it together? Can he stay focused in Cincinnati? Because if he can, there's easy wide receiver two upside and you love that fit with Jamar Chase. It's just Kenny keep it together, stay focused, stay on the field, and keep football, you know, as his priority, and do all the things that you need to do to play in the NFL at a high level. Yeah, I think he's going to give them an element that they haven't had in the Floor, And the Floor is obviously character aside, it's almost

like health like. Of course, he needs to be on the field and mature and doing the right things off the field to be successful. But I think the Floor, if he does that, is like Kenny stills like the Floor, where he's this deep threat, the straight line guy that's going to help you some and be that for you. And in round three, that's not the end of the world the ceiling though. Is he Terry McLaurin,

Is he Doug Baldwin? Is he one of these Round three guys that by week five of the NFL season has three touchdowns And you're like, oh, oh, this dude, this dude's gonna matter And he very well could be. And I think he fits this offense really really well. And so yeah, I like the pick was shocked. Again. We just next year, I'm looking at all the questionable character guys and no, I'm just kidding.

I'm not going to overadjust too much, but it is interesting. I also have a quick note on pick eighty that I want to mention some more speculation, kind of like the brock Bauers thing, educated speculation, So we will do that coming up next. All right, game off, It's time to tell you about Monopoly Go, because well, Monopoly Go you can team up with friends for time tournaments where you work together to build up each other's boards.

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always new time to events that help you win big like massive multipliers for everything you win or rent frenzies. There's always something fun to discover in Monopoly Go. So get off the bench and download it for free on Google Play or the app store. Game on with Monopoly Go. So your ten point one quick note about pick eighty and it would have fallen in line I think in an ideal world, and it has to do with McKinley Jackson, and I

might have said it on the pod. I think Devandre Sweat was very much in play for the Bengals, which I got that one wrong too, not in play at forty nine, So it's not like, oh, if he had fallen nine or eleven picks, because man, the Titans took him at his ceiling. Man, they took him like that that in it last month didn't have or earlier this month didn't happen. They did at thirty eight.

But if he was there at eighty. I think the Bengals would have picked and Andre Sweat at eighty and then they would have sweated it out hoping that Jermaine Burton was there at ninety seven. I think that was very much in play. It didn't happen, of course, because he got picked thirty eighth overall, so it might not even be worth noting, but I do think it is worth noting and mentioning that. I do think that there was a real shot at the Bengals pick to Andre Sweat with their first third round pick.

It is good context because instead the Bengals picked McKinley Jackson, who's a massive consensus reached, probably their biggest consensus consensus reach in the draft, and a refa set. I just set harsh grad up. I just set you up to just boom dunk on them. I didn't mean to do that, but go no, I mean it is what it is. Right. They can't all be winners, and I'm rooting for them, right like I'm rooting for all these picks. I'm rooting for the Bengals to be more correct than

me on all of these just to be abundantly clear about that. But McKinley Jackson reach on the consensus board and a Refassan's research on consensus boards, which is something he spends a lot of time on every year, says that consensus reaches tend to be real reaches and consensus value picks tend to not be real value picks. So there's no such thing as a steal, but there is

such thing as a reach. Is on average what the research tells us, because the NFL knows more than the consensus does for guys that fall and there's a reason the guy that teams are passing on players in general, not that they're always right, but it only takes one team to be wrong on a reach, and it takes every team to be wrong on a faller. That's the logic there, if that makes sense. So McKinley Jackson being a reach that he is, he does fill a need. It's like a D plus

for me. He does have some athletic tools to work with. The first

step power is nice. He's going to be playing a different role in Cincinnati from the one gaping that he did at Texas A and M, and he needs to kind of figure out how to play controlled use his body type to play nose tackle instead of trying to be a penetrating three tech gap shooter kind of player for the Bengals, if they want him to be in that DJ reader role at all, and he's the only body type on the team, maybe not the only body type on the team, but probably the best player

on the team with that body type or the most investing player on that team with that body type, he's going to be asked to play that role this year and there will be that adjustment and he'll need to hit the ground running. So again, hope the Bengals are right on this one and that he

develops quickly. But the nose tackles in this class. Everybody we talked to coming into the draft was like, yeah, you can wait until late day three, and the Bengals, i think, felt like they needed to get one, They needed to get the one that they felt the best about,

and so they went with that. Here. It just feels like they went with it a little bit earlier than they had to sure, and speaking of that, just to show you how much they wanted it, I think he was also in play at eighty right, So like the fact that he fell in their minds to ninety seven. All right, Well, let's get our guy, and so I give it a sea. I think it's it is

a reach. I think that it's something I wouldn't have done. At the same time, we had Steve Polozolo on from Pro Football Focus yesterday and I asked him right, well, who would you have taken? And the options are answer answered on day three with whoever's there, and they clearly felt like McKinley Jackson was better. Hopefully he is. I give it a c all. Right, eric Al who not a surprise. We've talked about eric All. They met with him with the top thirty visit, someone that on Bengals

Talk dot Com I mocked just around later. So I think the early factor here Matters had a serious back injury at Michigan missed the twenty twenty two season. Former captain. He is a Cincinnati native, went to Fairfield High School and then was productive at Iowa last year kind of flashed a bit before tearing his ACL in October. I like the talent. I think he can be exactly what they're looking for at tight end. My question is health. I

think he can be the past catcher. I think he can be explosive enough with the ball in his hand, so I think he can block at a high level. Will he stay healthy? Huge question mark felt like a bit early for me. And it's a dart throw, but it's a dart throw you make in the fourth round, so there's some risk involved, there is some upside involved. I think this is an average pick. I'll give it a solid see. Yeah, I think c Plus, I'm actually a little

bit higher than you on this pick. But it is brought down by the fact that it does feel early for eric All based on what we were expecting in the draft. I just look at the players they passed on here. They could have gone back to interior offensive line and still found some decent tight

end prospects later, maybe even eric All later. We're not sure where he would have gone, of course, had the Bengals not picked him, but Tanner, Borderlini, Mason McCormick, Jalen Wright all going in the next handful of picks. So some guys that probably by consensus would have been higher, they were higher on our board as well. So while I like the player, I like the film, I like the upside. They might have a solid tight end here and eric All if he develops and if he can and

stay healthy. And that's what brings it up for me a little bit. Going a little bit early here again drops it just a little bit for me with some players that I really liked and had some other positions going in the next handful of picks. But then we're back to Josh Newton. The Bengals pick at one, right in line with Consensus's hard to knock them for reaching

on this one. But what are your thoughts. I think when you talk about a physical corner, someone that has good ball skills and intelligence, doesn't have elite speed, I think has exactly what they're looking for from an AFC

North mentality perspective. Just talking with him a bit, he's he's got some dog in him and he could have went earlier, like there were some that especially a year ago, right, and these things change and fluctuate, But he was held in pretty darn high regard, and so it's not crazy to me to think a guy who could play inside outside has a here not only to make the team. I think they do think he'll make the team, but you know, be a building block. So I like it. I

do think that there's there were you know, interior offensive line. It's like at some point can you can you get one? So when you talk about who's on the board who you could take that that is a factor always when you get to these picks. At the same time running back, that was another one that I was thinking, like, well will they take one and they wanted to get a corner. I'll give it a solid C plus as

well. So I think U, C and C plus. Day Day four off to an average start for me Day four, Day three, Day three, See you screwed me up with your Day three coming earlier. Yeah, I gotcha. This is day baby, Josh Newton. Also see for me solid corner depth. I think that's what you would expect to get with this pick. See being an average pick. This this is an average pick I think at this point in the draft. So totally fine with the pick.

I think he provides that good depth, He provides a great mentality, and like you said, coming into the season, was was seen as a as a higher graded prospect. There are some guys that I like better. You're right, but not a ton Makai Wingo Quantes Stegger is a guy that we talked about a ton last week going in that round between the Bengals, Wingo.

Then oh baby, I mean he goes so late, and maybe they would have because he went what five picks before they picked Tanner McLaughlin, which is a pick I really like, by the way, So this one's gonna get a B plus for me. I think there is a legitimate chance for him to make the team, for him to be a receiving tight end on this team. I think the ability to get upfield and the speed really plays up at tight end. He might be their best athlete in the tight end

room. Mike the Sickie maybe takes that title probably, but ran a four to six to one and it has some really nice receiving abilities. So I like this pick. I think he can be a contributor and he can help make that tight end room something that goes from a hole on the team to

something that's a solid position on the team. Yeah. I love that you mentioned the pass catching part because he's really really good at it, and he's a good athlete, and he's twenty five and needs to get in the weight room, gets stronger from a blocking standpoint, and show that he can earn that trust as a blocker, and so twenty five has the pass catching prowess

that they're looking for. I totally get it, but there's some obvious flaws there and that's why he was there, that's why he filled down some draft boards. I think he'll make the team. I do, and so this is a solid pick. But again me harsher than you that I knew I would be. This is what's funny is earlier in the show. Oh you're a harsh No. I gave it a C. I think it's average. I think he's tight end four this year. If eric All is healthy,

he's buried because eric All is a better prospect. Whuenhealthy and maybe you think they should have just taken the risk on Christian Mahogany at that point. Who falls all the way to pick two ten to Detroit and talking about inter your offensive line. And that's that's the point for this next pick too. The Bengals go with the athletics Cedric Johnson, who didn't necessarily have the production you would like at ole Miss, but is a athlete. This one is just

a solid see for me. We'll see if he can be anything in the NFL. We'll see if he can make the team. I would have liked bo Limmer here again going to the interior offensive line a little bit early, even though I really liked the guy they took, you know, twenty picks later on the interior offensive line. But there's upside with Cedric Johnson. It's just can he make the team? Can he put it together? I think this is one of the harder, harder paths to actually making the roster.

As we get to the end of the draft, you would expect to see that, and I think it starts here with Cedric Johnson, no doubt. I mean, it's a deeper defensive end room, even though silly Trey Hendrickson trade request aside. So yeah, I give this a B plus because it's a guy who produced at a young age athletic. You're talking about a sixth round now, pick two, fourteen, and this might be your Joseph o

Cy replacement in the year. You know, this guy right away is competing with who Jeff Gunter, and you know those guys will probably be on the practice squad. You're right, it's gonna be hard to make the team, but who knows, maybe he does. You never know what happens. But I like the swing at this stage of the draft, and at the same time. You're right, Matt Lee wouldn't have minded it. Let's just do both seventh round picks. Now, that's fine, We'll do Dejhon Anthony real

quick. So back to back, Ole, Miss What well, what you talked into? A C plus on Cedric Johnson? Yeah, it's just worth it at this stage. And it's like an edge rusher. What if he ends up being a rotational edge piece, Like if he does that, that's a huge win. You like the athletic dice roll here. Yep, exactly so Die john Anthony, first seventh round pick. We knew they had met with him, we knew he was on their radar, special team er,

maybe maybe plays a little nickel certainly safety as well. Its gonna be tough. We'll see if he can make the team. It's gonna be depending on those things. I think it's a C plus for me, just slightly. It basically averaged slightly above it because I do think he can help on special teams and there might be some nickel upside as well. Yeah, just the same for me. Don't really know how this makes an impact short term,

long term developmental players, special team player guy. They really liked the guy they targeted guy they brought in. That's great see for me until I see otherwise. Brendan Rice going the very next pick, jaheem Bell going a few picks later. I know they need to picked a couple tight ends at that point, Rice Rice. What caused Rice to fall so far, I don't know, is very curious. I'm willing to take that dice roll in the seventh town. I'm also very willing to take the dice roll on Matt Lee.

This is the A for me, a top one hundred player on our board. Loved the athletic center, second athletic offensive line, and hope he has every opportunity to make this team as a backup center. I think he can be a starter of the future. Really like this pick yep Athletic. I would have been fine with him picking him pick one nine where Tarna McLaughlin went, just to give you an idea, so you get him forty three picks later and multiple selections later for your team. I like it. Good

pass blocker athletic A for me as well. I think Trey Hill needs to have a big camp. The downside is he's not versatile, and that's that's what sucks is you wait until round seven and you're getting a center only. Some of these other interior linement we mentioned could have done both, but overall that is an A for me in my overall grade. Jake, I think it's a solid B. It's right there. It's that there's upside for this draft to be a set the table draft, much like twenty twenty was with

Burrow and Higgins and Wilson. Where we look at it, we're like man that set the table for a run. And there's also some risk involved in a lot of these picks, and so the answer somewhere in the middle. So I think it's a B right now with a ton of upside and some downside. Yeah, B minus for me just looking at all the grades and

running the masks. So Harsh, Well, that's just how it works out when I when I do the math and wait a little bit for the early rounds, because it would have been a C if I didn't wait heavy for the early rounds, and those are the more so harsh. I'm just saying, you're harsh. I don't know. It's tough, teacher. We could look back and say these picks hit the upside. This is an A plus

draft. Yes, that's part of this that you like, it's also the part of this that you don't like because it feels like a home run or a strikeout, and there's there's not a whole lot of middle ground there. I'm sure there is more middle ground than that, but it feels very boom or bust, so very risky approach. That's what brings it down. But if these guys do hit the ceilings that we think they can based on their

on tapeability, then they could have some cornerstone players. They could have up to six starters in this draft class, so a lot that you could like if it works out. But it's a big if and that's what brings it down a little bit for me for a lot of those picks, and overall, even though I like the swings they took and if they do hit, the aggressiveness will have really paid off. We've got some more post draft reaction this week to get to. We're gonna talk to Mike Potts from the Cincinnati

Bengals about the draft. We're gonna talk to Trevor Sikhima from Pro Football Focus about the draft in some episode coming up soon as well here on Lockdown Bengals. So until then appreciate you listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Who Day and have a good one, Hey Prime members. You can listen to this Lockdown podcast app free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today

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