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Why wouldn't you want a WR? The draft is incredibly deep with them. The Bengals have to replace Boyd this year and likely Higgins next year. That to me is a double dip position, maybe a WR on Day Two and another one on Day Three.

Is there a position in this draft that you want the Bengals to avoid? For me it is safety. They have taken one in the premium rounds in the last drafts, neither of which figures to start this year. They brought in Stone and Vonn Bell to be the starters. They have a special teams ace in Tycen Anderson. So that is already 5 safeties. This isn't even a good year for safeties. What prompted this rant was a local media draft that had the Bengals taking 2 safeties, including one in the 3rd round. NOPE, please.

There are only 2 DTs that would be considered for pick 18, while there are more than a handful of OL prospects with remarkably similar grades. I just wonder if all of the OL votes were spread out among 5 or 6 different o-linemen.

I kind of prefer Latham to Mims myself. I expect Seattle to take Troy Fautanu with the 16th pick if he's still on the board. Seattle's new offensive coordinator was the OC for Washington last year. They have a big offensive line need too.

Plenty of rumors that the Stealers have already settled on Mims with pick 20, with the expectation that he will still be on the board. Mims would become the RT and Broderick Jones would slide over to LT. Georgia Bulldogs bookends.

That seems like an crazy high number. The Beast is the most detailed draft guide out there, and they only have the Big Four as certain 1st round picks. Beyond that: 1st-2nd: Ladd MConkey/Adonai Mitchell 2nd: Keon Coleman/Roman Wilson 2nd-3rd: Ricky Pearsall/Xavier Worthy/Malachi Corley/Troy Franklin 3rd: Ja'Lynn Polk/Xavier Legette/Malik Washington 3rd-4th: Devontez Walker/Jermaine Burton/Brendan Rice/Jalen McMillan I'm expecting the Bengals to take a WR on Day Two with one of their three picks. So I expect one of the above WRs to likely be a Bengal soon.

It's funny how much emphasis we put on a single pick on Day One when Day Two is where most of the team's starters come from. Even have an extra draft pick on Day Two this year. Off the top of my head these were the Cincinnati starters last season who were drafted in the 2nd or 3rd rounds - Hubbard/BJ Hill/Hendrickson/Wilson/Pratt/Taylor-Britt/Awuzie/sometimes Battle and/or Turner on defense. On offense there was Mixon/Boyd/Higgins/Orlando Brown/Cappa/sometimes Sample. There were only a few starters last season who were 1st round draft picks.

I think the 2 semi-realistic choices for pick 18 that I like the most are Fuaga and Murphy.

It isn't like Byron Murphy is just a pass rusher, he has some quality run defender traits too... Murphy plays with terrific leverage and has the lower body strength that gives him a strong base as a run defender. His relentless motor and short-area quickness cause him to be a major factor when pursuing a play laterally.

Wonder why Latham declines to do athletic testing? For what it's worth, Latham did not perform any athleticism testing during Wednesday's pro day. This is notable after he passed on the drills at the NFL Scouting Combine a few weeks back. That said, Latham still put on a workout for attending coaches and executives, and the Bengals seemed more interested in the other side of the ball.

This isn't necessarily what I would do, it's just what I think the Bengals might do. I'm not ready to remove Wiggins from the list of 10 names I posted, but I might take out Newton (maybe too early for him?) and add another CB. Maybe DeJean, but I also wouldn't rule out Quinyon Mitchell. The Bengals already have another DB from Toledo they really like, and Mitchell has plenty of the traits that Anarumo seems to prioritize. Of course DeJean has excellent versatility himself, no question.

I expect one of these ten players to be selected by the Bengals with pick 18. Some or even most of these players won't be still on the board at 18, but I expect them to choose from four position groups - OL/pass receiver/DT/CB. Who do you think should be subtracted or added from this list? These names are listed in alphabetical order, just a weird coincidence that all of the OTs and DTs are lumped together. 1) Brock Bowers, TE 2) Olumyiwa Fashanu, OT 3) Troy Fautanu, OT 4) Taliese Fuaga, OT 5) JC Latham, OT 6) Amarius Mims, OT 7) Byron Murphy, DT 8 ) Johnny Newton, DT 9) Brian Thomas, WR 10) Nate Wiggins, CB

Because it is a horrific draft year for NTs? That would be my guess.

The Bengals should have fixed the NT problem in free agency but obviously they didn't. Supposedly the reason they didn't offer Tartt was because of his attitude, even with a gaping hole at the position. If they don't like Sweat's attitude, hard for me to imagine them selecting him. Yes, even with the gaping hole still there.

Sweat seems to have other issues too. A lot of teams wonder how dedicated Sweat might be to reach his full potential in terms of conditioning and effort. What makes this arrest even more stupid is that every draft prospect should know to be extremely careful this close to the draft where their future gets determined. The fact that Sweat was this careless at this time calls into question his decision-making in general. It's about more than just one DUI.

Even before this incident I wondered if the Bengals viewed Sweat the way they did Dawand Jones before the 2023 draft. As an overweight but talented guy with some real off the field baggage. Sweat may not even be on their big board anymore.

2 and a half weeks until the draft where he could make life-changing money, and Sweat puts himself in a position to be arrested? What a knucklehead...hope it was worth it.

Most media mocks have the first OT Joe Alt going off the board for the Titans at pick 7, but I'm watching the Chargers at pick 5. Could turn out to be misdirection, but it sounds to me like Harbaugh with the Chargers wants an OT at pick 5. Most mocks have the Chargers taking a WR, but if they take Alt it could start OL going off quickly on the board before the Bengals at 18. A team like Tennessee with huge OL needs likely takes the second best OT off of their the board. We all know how position runs can get started earlier than expected once the first guy goes off the board. Could easily be 5 or so OL off the board by pick 18. Along with 4 or 5 QBs, 3 or 4 WRs, 3 or so defensive players (EDGE/CB) plus maybe Bowers. There won't be any RBs/LBs/safeties taken in the first 17 picks. I also think no DTs will be taken before the Bengals select at pick 18.. So Murphy and Newton would likely be there if they wanted to go in that direction.

Even in a deep WR draft Wilson is expected tp go out the board before the 3rd round begins. I've seen a few media mocks that have Wilson being selected near the end of the 1st round.

The Bengals have 4 picks in the first 100 overall with the late 3rd round compensatory added. I'm sure they don't know what direction they will go in each round, but these are the positions most likely to be filled with the 4 picks in some order imo. OT WR or pass receiving TE DT CB

Myles Murphy visited last spring. Other 1st rounders who visited were Kincaid, Mayer, Nolan Smith

The Bengals cannot/will not pay both Chase/Jefferson. They (apparently) cannot/will not pay Chase/Higgins, so what makes you think they would pay Jefferson the kind of guaranteed money that would be required to get him signed long term? I'm not even convinced they will be able to sign just Chase to a long term extension, but I hope they prove me wrong on that.

I think the Texans are the most improved team in the NFL in this offseason so far.

I'm sure Araiza won't be the only punter the Chiefs bring in for cheap. They will have him compete for the job. No way they just hand Araiza the job after not kicking in two years. They do have the best GM in the game.

I'd like you to find the NFL special teams coach who agrees with you on this. Definitely the one in Cincinnati wouldn't. So much of placekicking is just confidence in the entire snap/hold operation. Butker had total confidence in Townsend last year, which is one reason why he was the best PK in the league last season. He didn't even have to think about the hold. Houston got themselves a good one in Townsend. With a franchise QB on a rookie contract for several more years, the Texans are definitely going for it this season.