sparky151

Certainly there are guards in the draft that would be better than Ford and Patrick on day 1. But will the Bengals add 2 of them? If not, they don't seem very interested in signing a free agent, even an inexpensive one like Risner, and may just roll with one of our current guards as a starter. That won't work out well as Aaron Donald and Chris Jones have proved previously. But hey, they just got lucky, right?

I agree that the Bengals are really, really dumb enough to not upgrade both guard spots and just hope Burrow stays healthy all year. That's not how a good team would do it but it's Duke and Katie we're talking about here. The team clearly doesn't agree that adding more talent on defense is their biggest need since they re-signed Ossai, Sample, and Hill. They may well think that changing defensive schemes and hoping for better luck with injuries is all that's needed to make the playoffs given our strong offense. It's likely the team will use at least 2 and perhaps 3 of the 6 picks on offense. We seem to agree that an early pick will be used for a guard. Presumably that person will replace Ford, who can return to being the top backup at both guard and tackle. Taking a RB seems likely as it's a strong group and our RB room is thin. But it can be done in the late rounds. Taking a 2nd guard and making them a starter is very much in play though. This is the team that after the Carman experience, drafted an FCS tackle in round 4 and made him a starter as a rookie, to the detriment of Burrow's health. They should learn from experience and not do that again. But it was just bad luck, not bad process, right?

Yeah, there's a mock draft engine whose big board has Sawyer outside the top 100 while others usually have him in the first 2 rounds.

Yes, I agree it would be stupid to go into the draft with Patrick and Ford as the presumptive starters with Volson and Kirkland as the depth. None of those gentlemen inspire confidence. There are maybe 3 FA guards left at this point who would be clear starters for the Bengals. Risner seems ready to sign before the draft and has mentioned the Bengals as one of his preferred destinations. Scherff has been silent and is either pondering retirement or waiting for a team to pay him Zeitler money, depending on who you listen to. Hernandez is coming back from an injury and can't pass a physical currently so he likely won't sign anywhere until he can, ie in July. So there isn't much to pivot back to.

I don't really have "a guy" in round 1 though my puke list is extensive. But there are half a dozen players likely to be available there who would be nice additions. FWIW, Gridiron Grading doesn't like Mukuba, having him at 109 overall. They like his film and production but he tested poorly and is small. They do like Dolac and Wohler more than most, rating them at 115 and 106 overall.

Yeah, I'd sign both Risner and Scherff. That would let them use the first 2 picks on say Campbell and Watts. That would let them move on from Pratt and Stone and more than pay for Risner+Scheff while upgrading the defense. But that's more of an Eagles approach, not for the Bengals.

The front office probably thinks that roster is good enough to make the playoffs if we have fewer injuries than last year. And once we're in, anything can happen. IMO that's whistling past the graveyard and leaving a lot more to chance than we need to. The most important variable in our chances to win a championship is the health of Burrow. Thus my advocacy for upgrading the guard positions and signing a veteran swing tackle. Ownership may hope that giving the same players to Golden will improve our defensive rankings simply through fewer blown coverages or missed tackles. I hope that too but our odds of defensive improvement would be better with some upgrades in the personnel too. If we replace Pratt, it probably needs to be from a pick on day 1 or 2. Even then we should add another LB if we're going to play more 4-3 instead of 4-2. We currently don't have much pass rush besides Hendrickson. I don't expect a Za'Darius Smith signing so we'll draft a D-lineman at some point. But not necessarily round 1, might be Rylie Mills in round 5 or something like that. If I were running things, we'd spend more freely to get better talent. But even if the team doesn't want to spend more for 2025 than is currently committed to players, they could make several moves. Trey could be extended without his cap hit increasing. Dobbins could be swapped in for Moss at about the same number. Likewise Risner for Volson. If they trade Pratt for a late pick, that would save money. They may already have something lined up that depends on them finding a replacement for him first. But more likely not. If they can get a 6th or 7th rounder for Pratt, that would let us add the depth LB we'll need but we'd still need to use an earlier pick for the starter. Even if we add Dobbins, we should still add a physical ball carrier with younger legs. Those can be had in round 6. Though if we were really going BPA, I'd probably take Skattebo in round 3 or Martinez in round 4. That would let us do something like Campbell, Starks or Emmanwori in round 1, Ratledge in round 2, D-line in round 3, S or LB in round 4. That would be a stronger roster with better depth and a better chance at a championship, depending on how far the defense comes over the course of 2025. We'd still need upgrades to get the defense to top 10 in 2026.

If the Bengals are going to rely on the draft for two starting guards, they'd probably need to get both by round 3. If we're lucky we might find one in the middle of round 4 but they can't count on that at pick 81. Committing in advance to using 2 of the first 3 picks at guard means the defense won't get many reinforcements. They probably want to take a RB too so that leaves rounds 4 and 5 plus maybe round 1 for the defense. Not good. Maybe they hope that replacing Rankins with Slaton will upgrade the run defense enough and bringing in Golden will get the defense back to basics such as tackling. The front office doesn't seem to think the problem on the defense was with the talent they provided, it was the coaching and scheme. Miles Murphy and CTB are stars in the making don't you know.

Yeah, with the big cap growth the last couple of years the team can't plead poverty. It was never true when they had Hobson put out nonsense about the cap. Remember when the magic word was "escalators"? Most teams would want to assemble the best roster they can afford. That's not a goal for the Bengals so it's unsurprising we come up short, whether it's making the playoffs the last couple of years or in the Super Bowl the time we got there. If we're in a Super Bowl window and the team is all-in as they claim, then add some more talent from other teams as Tobin said he would do. Lucas Patrick isn't it.

Starting a thread for links to sites and docs concerning the draft, especially if Bengals related. There are a number of Bengals podcasts which discuss the draft as well. Podcasts: The Growler (Paul Dehner Jr & co) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSPYjL3w2Hc8__L6Ki_7PLQ Locked On Bengals (Jake Liscow and James Rapien) https://www.youtube.com/@LockedOnBengals Bengals on the Brain (Joe Goodberry) https://youtu.be/A9-xiPPZZ3s?list=PLGjJA4ULkcYVz5Ydq4S5GPjvAvf7WFuCs Bengals Talk (James Rapien) https://www.youtube.com/@BengalsTalk Bengals Breakdown (Stone Shields) https://www.youtube.com/@BengalsTV Bengals specific draft sheets: Goodberry and Liscow sheet: https://t.co/2lIyhzq14X Gridiron Grading sheet: https://tinyurl.com/GG2025BigBoard

Because the Bengals don't follow the Eagles model of building from the trenches. It's nice to have a good rotation on the D-line. But when the Bengals signed multi-year deals with Slaton and Hill, they took DT off the board for the first round. They aren't going to cut (nor should they) last year's 2nd and 3rd round picks. So we're looking to replace Jay Tufele's spot in the rotation. Harmon or Nolen would be a big upgrade from Tufele but so would TJ Sanders or Omarr Norman-Lott in round 3. Meanwhile pick 17 could get us even bigger improvements over our incumbents at other positions. I wouldn't have re-signed Hill and Ossai but here we are. Duke likes them, so I'd be surprised if pick 17 was a DT. I'd have gone after Josh Sweat and Levi Onwuzurike and kept the DT option open. If we had to play a game with our current roster I'd guess we'd start Ford at LG and Patrick at RG. And Burrow would take a lot of hits. Volson and Kirkland are the current backups. The team seems to want to fill as many needs as possible via the draft. That's a poor roster building strategy but it's what we have. I agree our D-line could use upgrades and would have spent more in free agency to get better players than Ossai and Hill. But the team seems to think they have their top 4 DTs in place, even if none can generate pass rush. I'd guess they aren't worried about Hendrickson holding out and are counting on him caving or at least playing this year at full speed. So they have their top 3 DEs with a spot available for a rookie to displace Cam Sample or one of the Johnsons from the rotations. There are decent guard prospects through the draft but I doubt any found after day 2 will be starters as rookies. Day 3 guys like Frazier, Dellinger, Webb, and Slater could probably bump Kirkland off the 53 but not beat out Ford for a starting spot. There are some likely UDFA such as Wehr, Perry, and Moss who could fight for a PS spot. From Duke's POV, the virtue of Volson is that he's cheap (or at least was), and made it easier to extend Chase. They're paying Burrow a lot of money to work miracles and doing it behind a below average O-line is the bargain he made. Yes, Banks would be a good pick at 17 since he's an instant upgrade with the chance to replace OBj if he doesn't re-sign. Good list and I'd add Za'Darius Smith to it. But the team seems to think it's done spending on free agents, even inexpensive ones. IMO that's a mistake but here we are. You mean Risner or Hernandez, who will be cheaper than Scherff.

That's a great point and a key one. The Bengals aren't close to the cap, about 23 mil under using the rule of 51. They operate a bit conservatively since in season, everyone on the 53, the IR, the practice squad and the dead money counts. They usually like to have a reserve for injury coverage. That's sort of a BS concept but let's indulge them. Let's say they're 13 mil under the cap. That's plenty to cover an extension for Hendrickson at a 35 mil rate since he can take a big signing bonus (which is prorated) along with a low salary. They could also sign Risner while cutting Volson and not being out of pocket money on net, likewise Dobbins for Moss, Simmons for Stone if they want to do that, a LB for Pratt. They would still have enough money to add Brandon Scherff or Za'Darius Smith while being under the cap with some reserve available. But they treat spending near the cap as optional, there are ski trips to pay for. And lobbyists to be paid for public money.

Among Bengals receivers? It seems to me that Chad, AJ, Ja'Marr would be ahead of him and Pickens could make an argument.

Agreed the Bengals need 2 guard upgrades from what we currently have. I'd just go ahead and sign Risner and Scherff. They could probably be had for 4 mil and 8 mil respectively. When Jenkins dropped his price to 3 mil, the Bengals should have moved and paid him a little more for a 2nd year option. But that's water under the bridge now. Scherff is probably going year by year at this point in his career but they could sign Risner for more than 1 year. Anyway, that would still let them draft a guard who is good value but not have to draft a guard at any particular point. It would free up an early round pick for another position and strengthen the roster. If instead of Ratledge in round 2, we can take Watts or Schwesinger or Morrison or Pearce, it would help a good bit.

Well the Bengals famously don't value guards. DEs have high positional value but our starters are set unless they trade Trey. QB and WR and OT also have high positional value but we're set there. We may benefit from getting earlier shots at positions other teams aren't hitting at that point in the draft.