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James. Today we dive in to Cincinnati Bengals draft needs. When we were talking about this episode before the show, when we were planning our topic for today, the list of first round potential targets is long, and trying to rank them in terms of priority, it's sort of difficult. I mean, you got five six positions on this list when we were talking about this last
night. Yeah, I think This is a unique position that we haven't seen the Bengals in in quite some time, where one they're picking earlier than we've seen the past couple of years, and two in recent years it's been well, there's no obvious needs, like there's needs down the line, and we saw them take Dax Hill, which we'll see if that pick works out or not. And last year it was like, well, there's no obvious needs,
you could go tight end. I pushed for running back, but both of the running backs that were worth first round picks were gone, and after that it was kind of like, we'll see, like what they do. We knew it wasn't receiver, but we kind of had it narrowed down to multiple defensive spots and maybe tight end. There were a lot of people against the running back trains, so won't even mention that one. So that was pretty much it right now and full disclosure. A year ago, at this
time, the Bengals were playing the Chiefs. We weren't into draft mode yet, but right now there are far more needs. You could go tight end and certainly make that argument. The reason you aren't, and I won't argue running back is more to do with the draft class than it is the idea that they wouldn't take one, So we'll scratch that one. But still offensive tackle certainly in play, defensive tackle certainly in play. A lot of people
talking about defensive tackle, defensive end. I don't think it's completely rolled out. Cornerback certainly on the table. So there's five. Is there a six that I missed that I led off wide receive? I what's going on for you? Okay, yeah, what is going on? Why would I not remember wide receiver? I should have let off with that one, because of
course wide receivers in play as well. And so there you go. There's six different positions that I think there's at least some realistic chance and realistic possibility that that's the route they go with the eighteenth pick. And we still have what three months exactly. It seems like a pretty close to exactly for the NFL Draft. And yet I do think it is that open where you're talking
about six different positions at least in the running as of right now. And obviously this episode is far too early to really say what we think they will do in the NFL Draft. Free agency will change this significantly. The Senior Bowl, the Shrine Bowl. The combine all these major draft events that give us a lot more information about the prospects will occur and will adjust accordingly when we know more of what the Bengals roster is going to look like and more
of what this draft class is going to look like. But one of the big lessons, and we'll talk about this when we compare how this year and last year could be different for the Bengals, is I don't think they can draft for the future this year, and we can spend a lot of time, I think talking about this philosophical approach we've theme from the Bengals really in each of their last three quarterback regimes, where at some point they tried to
draft for the future. Notably under Andy Dalton we saw the tackle future Draft, and I think we've seen a couple of drafts in Cincinnati the last couple of years where the late first round pick is not necessarily geared toward let's find a guy that will make an impact on the team this year. And I think that is a difference this year when we're looking at why this will be such a challenging exercise is because you know, the way you framed it.
To me, this is also interesting, and when we were talking about this yesterday, is you know, you're saying the Bengals really open this year as far as what they can do in the first round. And I think that's true last year, that's how I would frame it last year, where this year I would say, well, they need a whole lot of things. Let's see what need is less. So in a sense, they're open.
It could be any number of positions, like you said, any number of six positions, even it could be something we haven't even talked about, right, But it's because they will need it. It's because they will need an impact player at that position. And maybe it's not even a positional thing. It's just that I think the approach to this year's draft needs to be, and we'll talk about priority and trying to rank these positions, needs to be
let's find an impact player. Let's find a Pro Bowl, All Pro potential player, regardless of position. And that's where I would start with this year's draft, just looking at how this year went for the Bengals and how you can kind of project toward twenty twenty four. I agree. I totally agree, and I think one for years now, multiple years, it's been hey, can you can you land like the Windows now land an instant impact player.
So they might be forced into that because of the needs. You're right, and so do you want to look at it on one end of the coin or the other end? I think it is interesting, But we're really going to see this front office have to marry and they've tried to do this in the past, but marry the draft and free agency and they did it, and yeah, no doubt they had done it, but marry it and
nail it. And they nailed it in twenty twenty one. And you look up and they're in the Super Bowl two years ago, right, Like it's wild when they were doing that. But you get Chittobe Luzia, you get Mike hillten, you split that William Jackson money essentially that he was going to get on the open market. And by the way, both of those guys still in the league. William Jackson is not. So they nailed it there, and so they need to get back to that where they get it right
in free agency and follow it up with instant impact guys. One thing that I think is notable. We'll probably discuss them a lot over the next few months. The Bengals. It's not like they didn't like tight end. There were tight ends they liked and they went off the board. Let's say they had a round three grade on Tucker Craft. Well, by the time their
third round pick rolled around, Tucker Craft was long gone. They're not picking at the end of every round now, and I do think that that's unique because at the past two years, I think they got burned a lot, and that's why they traded up multiple times in twenty twenty two and in last year. I think that's why the draft went the way the draft did at
certain positions. So that's another element for sure. Picking in the middle of the round certainly easier than picking at the end of the round, but not as easy as the last couple of draft classes where they found some guys. When they're picking top five, top one, that certainly makes it a little bit easier. But free agency obviously going to have a huge impact on how
we ranked these positions, and we're going to get to the ranking. It might be in the next segment, but offensive tackle, defensive tackle, corner, wide receiver, tight end. You can throw edge defender in there as well, so we can try to rank those six. But they need to
have answers for each of these positions at the end of free agency. Can't go into the draft not having a starting right tackle, go into the draft having what they have at defensive tackle and tight end where there's essentially nothing in the room. Can't go into the draft with Jamar Chase, Charlie Jones, Andre Josuvash, and Trent Irwin as your four receivers, right so they will
and T Higgins likely to be on the franchise sack. So maybe that kind of down plays or diminishes that the push for a first round wide receiver. But this class at wide receiver is going to push that right back up just because it's an insane class at wide receiver. So we're told corner could be a place where they feel like they've got their starters, but how confident are
you and the guys they have? And again, a place where value could push corner up in the first round, but we'll get to that prioritization. I just wanted to make the point that they cannot get to the draft with a burning need for a starter. They need to one find an impact player that can contribute right away, which is not something they've been able to do
for the last couple of years since they drafted Jamar Chase. But two, they can't go into the draft where it's that player or bust at a particular position. That's why I kind of framed it initially as being a little bit positioned agnostic, and they just need to find the player rather the Billy Christ droves up to find the position. Yet you can't. You can't panic pick a center just because the guy you wanted in Frank rag Now was pick one
pick ahead of you. We'll get to that conversation around ranking those positions and talking a little bit more about how twenty twenty four will be different for in twenty twenty three coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Prize Picks. Prize Picks is daily fantasy the way it should be. What do I mean by that, Well, it's you versus the Prize Picks projections. You don't have to deal with pros, sharks, thousands of other players.
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Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. You're ready to rank some positions as of January twenty eighth, James, before the NFL playoffs are done. Wide receiver wide, receiver wide, receiver wider. No, I'm just kidding. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. There we go. I'm back baby, I'm back baby. Let's go. All right? You want me to rank them, I'll
rank them. I was seeing you out. Let's start with the first one. Biggest need as of right now. You could go a few different directions to me. As of right now, it's defensive tackle. Because of right now, DJ Reader said, to become a free agent, Josh Tupo said, to become a free agent, you have the uncertainty of Reader and outside
of BJ Hill. With Reader's injury, and outside of BJ Hill, what are you banking on J two Fela Zach Carter like, this is a position where you need multiple guys where it wasn't good enough this year with DJ Reader and now you have a question mark with Reader and whether or not Ho'll be back. You have the injury question mark with him, and so even if you brought him back, let's just say he was under contract, it would
still be a major need. I had defensive tackle number one, And this kind of shows the needs because I think you could make the argument for multiple spots here, but I have DT just slightly above the rest. Yeah, I think that there's a pretty good argument for that when you look at the
way the draft might fall as well. And we'll take a look look at potential first round targets for sure, but Newton Johnny Newton, he's going by now, not Jerson Newton, Illinois defensive tackle if he's the guy that's available
there, and that's the way that things fall right now. That feels like a common pick that we're going to be seeing in a lot of Cincinnati Bengals mock drafts because of that needed defensive tackle, but as you said, not a position the Bengals frequently prioritize in the first round and a position where you can easily see them spending money in free agency, and that's part of what
makes this challenging. But between that and right tackle a couple of positions where again you expect the Bengals to spend money in free agency to have some pieces there, and right tackle an offensive linemen in general in the NFL, as rookies, especially if you're not picking them in the top five, often and even then sometimes often need some seasoning. You don't want to necessarily have to rely on a rookie right out of the gate. That's where offensive tackle is
right up there with defensive tackle. Right I mean, they have no tight ends on the roster, so technically, if you want to look at that one, you can talk about tight end, but they also don't have a starting right tackle on the roster, and we talk a lot about this offensive line needing to play better, needing an athleticism infusion. Picking a little bit earlier in a very strong offensive tackle class, talk about how strong the wide
receiver class. Is also true for tackle, where I think Dame Brugler had like double digits tackles in his first first round mock draft of the year. So I mean, you're talking crazy tackle death and you can get an infusion of talent and athleticism there. I think those are the two that we're talking about at the top when you're talking about draft needs for the first round.
Let me ask you this, and I'm putting you on the spot, but you just look at that depth stary at both of those positions, and I agree with you that that's the debate, and I think you could flip them either way. Who do you trust more? And these are just guys that are on the roster and under contract right now. At defensive tackle you have j two Fla and Zach Carter, or at offensive tackle you have Jackson Carmen and Deontay Smith. That's quite easy, isn't it. Like you trust the
defensive tackle because they're not putting Joe Burrow at risk. That's it, Like it's worse for your defense, probably, But I don't trust either one. I think the answer is not. I don't even really trust at least three of the four as quality backups, to be honest, it's just at least that way, you're not endangering your quarterback with a glaring weakness on your offensively.
Sure, and come back to this, if they go into the season with Jackson Carmen as plan a for right tackle, because we need to hold ourselves and we're going to continue to hold them to that standard, because that would be there should be a better chance. No, I'm serious about this. There should be a better Oh wait, like one hundred to one should be the odds if you look at Vandal that Jackson Carmen is your starting right
tackle given any circumstance, including injuries as starting the year. But the other element of this is you're right, they should, they should pay. But he I think it's more likely that he's not on the roster than he is the starter, to be very clear. And I don't think they'll cut I doubt it. But and everyone talks about the Billy Price trade like you can
just cook up someone that wants Jackson Karmen. I don't think anyone wants Jackson Karmen anyad no trade value there, all right, So we both agree dtote basically six and one hand half a dozen the other top needs at the top of the board. Third, I do think it is tight end. I do, And it's tight end because there's no like, let's say you even had Tanner Hudson and Drew Sample back on the roster, and I think those are two guys that a lot of people look at and say, hey,
they can help this offense. Which I agree, that's still one of your worst spots and one of your worst positions, and that's now knock on them. They just don't have any young, controllable, rookie contract guy or proven even remotely close to Pro Bowl type player, yeah, at that spot.
And so those are good role players, but they need to get better at tight end, and draft wise, it stinks because it's brockburs and then there's a drop off, and you do wonder if in rounds two through four they'll be able to find a guy that can contribute right away, which it's hard to do at tight end. Anyway, you know, some of these guys did it this past year with Kincaid and Laporta and Tucker Craft, and I could go on and on. It's not always like that, and it was
like that this past year. No, it was a crazy tight end class and they missed out, and that's unfortunate that they missed out, But like you said, that's the way the board fell at. Picking at the end of the round makes it hard to overdraft a guy like picking Tucker Craft at the end of the second round. What would have been the alternative? And I know there's some Bengals fans out there that don't think DJ Turner had a
very good rookie season. And that is my segue to cornerback, because between tight end and corner, I think that that is again impacted by the draft. This is not a great draft at either of those positions, but it's certainly better at corner than it is tight end. There are corners that are besides brock Bowers, there's only one tight end. There's multiple corners I think that are worth first round picks that will be picked in the first round.
So if you're talking about priorities in terms of what they could pick in the first round, James, I would put corner ahead of tight end because I think Bowers is gone. But if it's Bowers versus corner, obviously tight end kind of jumps over everything. I think unless it's like somehow you have a decision between Brock Powers and Joe Allt and then it gets really interesting. But they played themselves all that consideration, you will yeah, will not be Yeah.
There's a small sliver for Bowers, a small one where you could say, hey, positional value wise, there's this offensive tackle or this is wide receiver. Multiple quarterbacks go that our borderline Round one guys go ahead of the eighteenth back, like you could see the fall two DT's go. I don't think you're getting a top seven or eight offensive tackle. But if Bowers falls, all right, would you take Newton or Bowers? That would be the
one. And that's the popular debate. What would you do if both are there and they won't know it's January twenty eighth. I don't know yet. There you go. That is the dream, and it probably will be borderline dream for this team over the next three months. I think that's fair. Right of one of those guys falls, now, it could change some. I think these receivers they're kind of slotted the way they're slotted. I think we'll have some risers. I think we'll have some guys that make their push
for that eighteenth and who knows what ta I think the t stuff. It's just so interesting because you and I both have talked tag and trade. I think that makes a decent amount of sense. And I think there's a market for Tea. Even with a deep wide receiver class. A lot of teams would be interested in trading for Tea. It's just so out of character for the Bengals. We have a couple more positions to get to. Then we'll take a look at who some potential first round targets are. We've talked about
a couple of them, a couple of the dream targets. We'll continue those conversations coming up next. This show is brought to us by our sponsor Better Help. Sometimes we all need the opportunity to get something off our chest, big or small. Certain things can really start to get to you, and it's important to let that out, especially to someone who's unbiased in your life.
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Farm is there. Prices are based on rating planes that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by State's a couple more positions to fit into our hierarchy. I think we're more or less an agreement. Offensive tackle defensive tackle kind of
tied ish for first You can make an argument either way. Tight end corner I think probably goes tight end then corner, but I think for first round priority, like I said, corner gets pushed up just because of the draft class. I think wide receiver also gets pushed up because of the draft class. Not necessarily that it's a burning need right now. But when you have a class like this, we ask them every year, Hey, this is a really strong class of tight end. Hey this is a really strong class
of wide receiver. Let's dip into that. How does that play into it with edge defender as the other one of the six that we mentioned, Yeah, I think edge is last. I think wide receiver, like there's a scenario where it's at near the top and at leapfrogs tight end and it becomes
like, all right, it's the best tackle wide receiver that's available. Like if t Higgins isn't on this roster come draft time, or there's real legitimate hey they're willing to trade him, then wide receiver has to be up there. They're a wide receiver based team, and unless they're completely changing their offense,
I don't expect them to. They rely on wide receivers as much as any team and multiple and I think the wide receiver at eighteen is interesting because you're right, they win at the end of the year, and I think they play themselves out of like the top guys, right neighbors is someone a lot of people like he might not make it past Brian Callahan's Titans at seven, I think, or five, I mean or higher? Sure, I
just mean like the floor is probably seven. We know what Marvin Harrison Junior is, So let's just cancel those two guys out because they're gonna be long gone. Could Roma Dunza fall, I think that's really unlikely, less less likely than let's say brock Bauer's fall or Newton falling. Just to give you an idea of some but if he was there, even with T, you would consider it because that's like, oh, freak show stuff and you're doing it in round one. I'm not as I don't think they'll run to the
podium, say for a Keon Coleman. I know he's in the mix. Brian Thomas is interesting to me, but I don't know if unless T is gone ready, would they consider that tier. I think the Roma Dunsay is probably the last that they'd be like, oh, well we have tea franchise tag, but that dude's still there, which it has happened. I will say CD Lamb fell in the draft, like let's not go say it's crazy
justin Jefferson fell in the draft. But everyone knew Ceedee Lamb was a stud and he still fell to seventeen I believe, so it isn't completely outlandish, but it's pretty unlikely. It's great tackle class. There's going to be tight end. Sorry, there's going to be quarterbacks pick. We know Brock Bowers is likely to be picked. There will probably be a defensive tackle, probably an edge player in. There will be no positional value will play a part
in pushing guys up the board. But today it's hard for me to make a big argument for wide receiver just because I expect T to be on the team and until that changes. That's kind of why wide receivers mentioned where it is that said, I would still love the Bengals to take a wide receiver in this class, it just might not be in the first draft. Edge, you know, not particularly robust class. They have pretty significant depth there
in twenty twenty four. They need to be better. But when you're talking about Sam Hubbard, can sample josepho Side, Trey Hendricks and Miles Murphy being the five guys on the roster right now. That is first round pick. One of the NFL sack leaders, depending on your definition of a sack. Long time Cincinnati Guy, veteran captain type and Sam Hubbard plus good role players in camp sample and a guy that we keep having expectations for maybe we don't
anymore in josepho Side, but that's your fifth guy. Hard to think about a first round edge player fitting into that mix unless it's a guy that you think is going to come totally displaced Sam Hubber. But when you've already got Miles Murphy on the roster, that that is tough. And I wonder if there are positions that we're getting yelled at about that we haven't talked about. I don't know that there's a first round interior offensive lineman in this class.
I don't know much about the safety class. I can imagine those two potentially have some folks interested in maybe punter. Maybe people want the first round punter. I think we nailed it because if they take a dang, you imagine I'm taking a center at eighteen, Like, no, that sounds ugh. I can't especially this year. I don't think there's a guy. And by the way, if they take a safety at eighteen, he'd better instantly be
Jesse Bates because they've already invested draft cap. I mean, you're talking about two valuable picks in that position, and when's the last time they had a first round offensive tackle or a third round offensive tackle. It's been a while outside of Jackson Carmen in Round two, which we knew in the moment it was a dumb pick. So yeah, we gave it time, by the way, but we knew in the moment it seemed very very questionable at best. Just to be very clear, and the receipts are there, you can
go listen to our old episodes. Whenever the Bengals make a pick, we will try to frame the upside right and the draft. That is what the draft is for. You're often picking players for upside, but you will certainly hear skepticism them when we are skeptical of the player's chances of hitting that Upside's like, Wet'll take a quick look, James at some of the potential names.
We're gonna load up a draft simulator here on PFF. So let's get that pulled up for the people on YouTube and we'll talk through it for everybody that's just listening. Let's get that pulled up now, and here we go. If you're watching on YouTube, we have the PFF mock Draft simulator We're just gonna let this run and take a look at some first round draft targets. We're not gonna do anything crazy fancy here. We're just gonna hit this
enter draft button and see where the players go. Some of the players that we talked about, and Jayde Daniels is there, baby. So here we've got the situation that meaning getting past three what of the quarterback falling. But some of the guys we discussed, like Roma Dunday long, Marvin Harrison long gone, the leak, Neighbors long gone, Brock Bowers long gone, Joe Dunday ahead of Harrison? What planet are we on? PF The order doesn't
really matter though, right, It's just these are players. Oh Nicks ahead of Jade Daniels matters to me. So here's the thing about that is lanzer Line, Mike Renner, and Matt Waldman all have Bonex ahead of Jade Daniels. And this won't happened on draft night book it. And I love Mike and I love those other guys too, But I'm just saying that bo Nicks from Auburn, apparently it's a different player from Bonex at Oregon. But that's not what we're here to talk about. He is anyways, J C.
Latham at fifteen. It's so funny seeing people like Latham is not good and then others like, yeah, give me Latham, and then other people say, no Alabama tackle. If Latham's there at eighteen, I think that's a pretty good scenario. It's go ahead. That is the name to talk about. I think Tally Essay Fuaga, whose name I might be getting wrong, is another tackle who is earlier in this sim then I think he will go based on what I understand right now on draft day. But that's another lineman
that you could talk about. Dallas Turner one of those edge players you could talk about. Nate Wiggins one of the corners you could talk about, and Johnny Newton picked as well. Terry on Arnold another corner you could talk about. And Mayatu Latu from UCLA, the edge player, one of the edge players that I think will be in consideration for the Bengals if they were looking at edge in the first round. I saw some good players. Though.
When we're looking at draft simulators and names are going to hear a lot of our guys like Brian Thomas, Amarius Mims, potentially kool A McKinstry at the corner from Alabama. We talked with Mike Runner about him in our draft primer a couple of weeks ago. And Jared Verse would be another edge player that I think some folks would have been happy with a while ago. Byron Murphy
also an interior defender who's working his way into first round consideration. And if you're one of the draft of safety crowd Cam Kitchens from Miami another name here that I think would potentially draw some consideration. Anything else dropping out at you, James, No, really, you covered most of them. I think Amarius Mims. Did you mention Mims? Yes, all right, Amarius Mims to me, kool Aid McKinstry vaults at the top of my board because of
the name. I mean, the things that the Bengals fans would do if kool Aid was awesome and you had Juice and kool Aid as your starting corners, like with Jan Drago as you as you're maybe your slot corner long term. Very fun. Yeah, that's a lot of fun. I have watched a little Brian Thomas. Dude's a baller. Just gonna throw that out there. It's early. I think Amarius Mims may have the like one of the
higher ceilings in this tackle class. And we talked with Mike Renner about him some and I think there will be a lot of fans that are like, no to inexperience, too risky, But I think he could very well be the pick in this scenario Byron Murphy too. I'm surprised he's that low. I feel like he's there's a good chance he might not even be there at eight team. We've seen him mocked ahead of Newton. Yeah, yeah, that's I believe that was Dame Brugler's mock as well. Yeah, I think
I could. I could be misattributing that one. But when I scroll through this list for everybody watching on YouTube that he sees me scrolling while James is talking, you see that the list of tackles is pretty deep. There's also Troy for Fatanu from Washington, who maybe kicks inside in the NFL. The list of wide receivers is quite deep. You have to scroll for a while before you find uh Kean Coleman, who's a bit down on the PFF board
compared to like Troy Franklin. And if we just look at the wide receiver position group here Brian Thomas, Troy Flank, Troy Franklin, Ladd McConkie, devontees Walker, Keon Coleman ad and I Mitchell, Xavier Legette. So yes gets interesting at forty nine. Bengals second round pick in Maconkie is interesting, Lad and as well. I think will be another one in Jaelen Polk. Like the list of receivers goes on, you can tell, you can tell
which guys we've seen a little bit of and which ones we have. There's three months to go, people, we will know everybody inside and out. I promise it's just early ads of today. If we were doing mock draft Monday today, James, and we'll get out of here. I would pick Marius Mems in this scenario based on what I know today, which is not I would I would take Mems or it would be Trenches or Murphy. And so I'd probably take Murphy because I said that defensive tackle is their biggest need.
Free agency will impact that sum and this is why they have to marry the two is because they have to know have a good handle as they go into free agency of how they think they can approach the draft and how realistic it is that they get a first round OT. Will they consider a first round DT even though they haven't taken one since nineteen ninety four when half of our listeners, maybe not half, but some of our listeners weren't even alive.
I think there are some interesting scenarios there. Do they like Brian Thomas enough? Because he's good yak and he's a good contested catch type of receiver, and he runs well. Nobody runs, but he looks fast, so we'll see. I think it's I think it's interesting, and Jake I will say this, I'm officially really really excited about the draft. Draft season is here. Lets go. He's had to open the draft simulator. Once we're ready to go. We're ready to go here on Lockdown Bank. A Marius
Men's test thing going to be extremely interesting. The risk of there is that he was hurt, but you heard Mike talk about him. If you listen to this show every day, very very high on Amarus Men's, it wouldn't be remotely surprising to see Men's go earlier. I'm in for Men's here just to get some athleticism on the offensive line. Let's just make the pick go to turbo mode here to wrap up the first round on PFF just for fun B plus solid stuff. Notice how Jake got his way. He went with
mems. I'm controlling the simulator, James yep, ultimate control. He's trying to be Bill Belichick of Locked On Bengals. That ain't happening. Man. Just wait, I'm calling David Locke right now. Go for it. That's
gonna do it. For this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast, the championship games will be complete by the time you hear from us next We might have some takeaways from those episodes or from those games, and we're gonna talk about the Bengals linebackers this week as well, in the season they had in twenty twenty four. Until next time, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals Podcast. Hoode and have a good one.