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I went to Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse in Columbus last night for a company function. I had never been there before, but now I understand why the Bengals choose that restaurant to wine and dine free agents. Even though we had a limited menu, everything I ate was amazing!

Good draft. Id draft Estime in Rd 4 and hope for a guard later.. Estime looks like a legit beast Seems he runs like one too..

Pretty easy to tell what the Bengals are most focused on with this draft. A whopping 15 of their 19 listed top 30 visits were with offensive/defensive linemen. DT Evan Anderson, FIU DT Johnny Newton, Illinois DT Justin Rogers, Auburn DT Maason Smith, LSU DT McKinnley Jackson, Texas A&M DT T'Vondre Sweat, Texas ED Chop Robinson, Penn State ED Gabriel Murphy, UCLA ED Xavier Thomas, Clemson OT Amarius Mims, Georgia OT Bayron Matos, South Florida OT Giovanni Manu, British Columbia OT Javon Foster, Missouri OT Taliese Fuaga, Oregon State OT Troy Fautanu, Washington S Daijahn Anthony, Ole Miss TE Erick All, Iowa WR Jalen McMillan, Washington WR Joshua Cephus, UTSA

I heard the latest pod from Dan Hoard on Bengals.com the other day, and he mentioned that they were going to post another one by tomorrow (Monday) where Lap would make his prediction. Meh.

Has Lapham made his prediction yet? He seems to have a pretty good idea of whats going on.

Reds sweep

Montas has a bruise no fracture, well see how long he is out.

Read the rules and re-enter with tie-breaker included.

As it should be.

Solid draft there - Franklin is talented as a vertical WR, but there are others I’d prefer… ‘course, I don’t know who was there when the picks were made. Sinnott would be a nice get and so would Ruke. On day 3 guys, Tracy is a very good back. McGlothern is a guy supposedly that they’ve looked at pretty closely. Nugent had a really solid college career. And they needed and got a punter, which is good news, as they need competition there.

The late rounds are even more of a crapshoot than the early ones. You can take a specialist like Tory Taylor (we don't need him but) Will Reichard. Or a return specialist. Or guys who have a good quality but obvious limitations that have to be schemed around. Or guys who have shown flashes but are inconsistent. Or the knuckleheads who have talent but a knack for finding trouble. Etc. There won't be flawless prospects this late but there will still be guys who can potentially contribute, even in a thinner than average draft class like 2024. We got Iosivas and Ivey in rounds 6 and 7 last year and they both made the roster. With our general lack of depth at some positions, that could easily happen again.

Bazinga!

Diaz in to close it out. 7-5 good guys. 50 career saves.

Stephenson with the Granny!! 5-2 good guys

It's probably worth noting that Brugler's evaluations don't match very closely with consensus draftnik boards or real life selections. He has Sweat rated as the 10th best DT and the only one in his top 15 over 320 lbs. I don't see Boyd dropping to the 6th round as he has him or Anderson going undrafted. But there also isn't a whole lot of demand for 2 down run stoppers. Every team wants to have one but not many have multiple.

Latest interview with Mims

A Frog..

Murphy (and Newton and Fisk) are good 3T prospects. No doubt they would bump Zach Carter out of a job. But we just signed a $13 million per year free agent at the position. It's not a position of great need compared to NT. Murphy isn't a real nose tackle. Unless Anarumo plans to change his scheme, he generates interior pass rush on obvious passing downs by moving Cam Sample or a bigger DE inside to rush 4 DEs. What we need to add on the interior d-line is a good run stuffer. We don't need to use our first round pick to find one and if we took a DT at 18, it would be an opportunity lost to strengthen higher priority positions. Sure, the Outland is partly a popularity contest. What do you make of it that the Texas coaches put Sweat forward for the award over Murphy? Sort of like LSU putting Nabers ahead of Thomas for the Biletnikoff. It seems obvious to me that the schools preferences indicate their view of who is more deserving of the award. NFL teams don't have to share those views but they deserve consideration. Our D-line cupboard is overflowing compared with the O-line. If Trent Brown misses his average of 8 games this season, do you want Cody Ford or Jackson Carman starting half the year? D-linemen also rotate more and can usually play sooner as rookies than O-linemen. Protect the franchise. We need to use a first or second round pick on a right tackle and a third or fourth rounder on a nose tackle. The other picks can go for good players at WR, IOL, 3T, TE, RB, CB, LB, and a punter. We probably need to double up on the O-line more than the D-line. Our 5 O-line starters are decent on paper but we have no depth and one of the starters regularly misses lots of games. On the D-line, we need a starting NT a lot more than a backup 3T. Murphy (or Newton) may well be better run defenders than Hill or Rankins. But they don't compare to Reader, who is the player we need to replace. Even with DJ in the lineup, we got run on too much last year. Bringing Vonn Bell back helps some but we need 2 NTs, the second to replace Tupou or Tufele, and probably a good run stopping LB on day 3. Paul is an ok prospect as a pass blocker. He is in no way one of the top 25 tackle prospects of the last 20 years. I'll guess he's drafted in the 25-50 range.

STRENGTHS: Looks the part with his large frame and rare overall body length … aggressive striking skills and relies on his natural size to overwhelm defenders once engaged (see his battles with Tyree Wilson on the 2022 Texas Tech tape) … displays the quickness and bend out of his stance to answer explosive rushers all the way around the arc … generally sees things quickly enough to answer stunts and blitzes … flashes the upper-body strength to latch and drive in the run game … benefited from the “older brother theory” (both of his older brothers played high school and college football) … voted a two-time team captain, and NFL scouts say he cares about his craft … started 44 games at left tackle in college, including the final 39 straight. WEAKNESSES: Plays high and needs to keep his cleats in the ground (struggles with leverage were a common theme on his tape) … creates momentum with his outside kick-slide, which leaves him susceptible to inside moves … late to recover with his lower body and reset his hands to answer power … inconsistent rhythm out of his stance and hands tend to stray wide, inviting bull rushers to uproot him … subpar technique as a run blocker, ducking his head and l osing balance … did a much better job avoiding holding calls in 2023 but still caught grabbing more than you want … suffered a sprained ankle and torn ligament in his foot (October 2020), which required season-ending tightrope procedure … unproven positional flexibility with 100 percent of his 2,968 college snaps coming at left tackle. SUMMARY: A three-year starter at Houston, Paul was a left tackle only in former head coach Dana Holgorsen’s version of the Air Raid zone -blocking scheme. He started every game for the Cougars over the last three seasons and earned first team All-Conference honors each time. Paul is an athletic and competitive big man, and his long arms are tough to escape in the run game and pass protection. However, his length becomes a detriment when he mi sses, and his pad level and timing are still in the developmental phase. Overall, Paul has the size and length to keep defenders occupied, but his rhythm breaks down quickly, and opponents will find success until he improves his rudimentary recovery technique and hand usage. Similar in ways to Chukwuma Okorafor, he has the tools to develop into a functional NFL starter, but he might require a redshirt year. GRADE: 2nd-3rd Round (No. 59 overall)

He's a bit older than the other OT prospects

What do you mean by “IF”??? 😎

Sweat at 80 or 97 would be a better pick than Murphy at 18. There's a reason why Sweat won the Outland rather than his teammate.

Alabama is the new Nebraska for producing overrated O-linemen. Thirty years ago Nebraska turned out lots of guys who looked dominant in college then weren't so good in the NFL. Dean Steinkuhler went 2nd overall in the draft as an example. Latham seems like the latest maxed out Bama lineman in the tradition of Evan Neal and Alex Leatherwood, a guy with good tape but not good tools.

I'm presuming Mims will be gone before we get to him. J,C Lathem is my new choice. Question Would the Bengals draft Murphy before Lathem if both in play. The hole at RT might be the deal breaker no?

Here's the link to Joe Goodberry's draft sheet: https://t.co/UjwuYdeeXo