Round 1: Ja’Marr Chase, WR LSU
We did it! I’ve been dreaming of this pick for basically 12 months and somehow it actually happened. It took a catastrophic injury to the franchise savior for Cincy to pick high enough, a historical quarterback draft class to push Chase down low enough, an abnormally deep O-line class to make passing on blocking help early even remotely palatable, and an existing connection between Chase and Burrow to make the projection simpler. It was a long shot when you really add it all up, but somehow all of the pieces fell into place and Ja’marr Chase is a Cincinnati Bengal.
I’ve walked through in previous posts what I think of Chase and why I think taking him over Sewell is the right move. The icing on the cake for me is his attitude and personality. When asked about following up receivers like Chad Johnson and A.J. Green he doesn’t even hesitate. Oh I’m going to break every record the team has. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I’m going to get it done. It’s bold. It’s brash. And somehow it seems to carry weight. It’s hard to put a finger on it at first. It’s not shallow optimism. It’s not arrogance. It’s just a firm statement dripping with cold calculated determination. And that’s why Chase is my new favorite player.
Round 2: Jackson Carman, OT Clemson
This pick is the classic gut punch in the moment that might turn sweeter as the dust settles.
When I first watched Carman I liked his size. I thought he blocked with power and flashed agility, but not enough laterally to consistently fight off edge pressure. I saw him as a mid day 3 player. Others I trust had him ranked as more of a third rounder.
Hearing his name at 46 after what felt like an unthinkable bounty of OT/ G talent fell to them at 38 was disappointing.
Then I started to read and rewatch more and a few things started to shift my thinking.
One:
The coaching staff immediately declared that Carman is going to compete at guard with some long term OT potential. For whatever reason I hadn’t considered Carman moving inside. Rewatching him after seeing a G next to his name was like taking blinders off. Take advantage of the power and straight line athleticism and limit the exposure of lateral agility weaknesses. Carman gets downfield with ease. Often linemen struggle to make contact when hunting smaller defenders on the second level. Carman regularly gets his hands on DB’s and LB’s and usually buries them.
Two:
His coaches and trainers rave about his football knowledge and thirst for information. We’ll see. That kind of info can be fluffy sometimes, but it does show up some watching his movements and decisions as he processes each play unfolding.
Three:
He played the back section of the season with a back issue that required cleanup surgery after the season. That’s a bit of a double edged sword. The surgery gives me some pause projecting Carman as a 2021 starter and his long term potential but it also provides context watching him play Ohio State and Notre Dame late in the season. If healthy maybe his lateral movement won’t limit him as much and he does have long term tackle potential. This almost has Andrew Whitworth vibes.
It’s important to always keep in the back of your mind that we don’t have the full picture when looking at these evaluations. Is there a reason Tevin Jenkins was widely considered a top 25 talent and the whole league basically passed on him until pick 39? I’ve gotten to the point with this pick to where I understand their evaluation. I would have liked to have tried to grab him a round later but they didn’t feel they could wait. Now we have to let it play out to see if they were right.
Round 3: Joeseph Ossai, DE Texas
Round 4a: Cam Sample, DE Tulane
Round 4b: Tyler Shelvin, DT LSU
With the middle section of their draft class the Bengals opted to go for defensive line depth.
Pegged as a steal falling into the third round, I’m a little lower on the Ossai pick than most people. I think they reached 20 or 30 picks to be honest.
Ossai looks like a linebacker in a hybrid edge defender’s body playing defensive end. He has outstanding power, explosive straight line burst, and relentless effort. He just struggles to turn the corner. I don’t know if he can create on his own. Yes, he does to some extent with his high motor, but even that depends on the secondary holding up long enough for him to outlast blockers and find his way home. I’m not sure he’s ever going to be a pure edge rusher. He needs the scheme to create gaps for him to blow through. He’s more of a scavenger than a hunter. He needs a blocking weakness to exploit. They drafted a useful tool for their repertoire, but I don’t think there’s high end upside here.
Sample isn’t quite as twitchy but he’s more in the Sam Hubbard mold of a guy with inside outside versatility with enough size to fight off blocks and find his way to the ball to make plays.
Shelvin is a mountain of a man. Two gap nose tackles aren’t exactly a hot commodity in today’s league, but if he pans out Shlevin could prove useful in a division where everyone likes to smash you in the face with the run game. I don’t see the talent in him to wreck pass blocking schemes but he might enhance D.J. Reader by lightening his load on run defense.
I don’t hate these picks but I go back to what I would have done with this draft class:
WR, OT/G, OT/G, OT/G, OT/G, then best available RB/WR/def after that.
Overdose on O-line depth and offensive weapons now and worry about defense later. Would they have some tough roster decisions in August and cut some of the guys they just invested in? Probably so. But they’d have more margin for error trying to maximize their depth to where they can navigate a full season with a competent offensive line. Instead these picks say to me they’re trying to thread the needle of bringing the whole roster up to snuff at the same time. It’s admirable but more risky. You have to fix the offense now. Just take as many swings as possible and worry about the defense another day. You know like April 2022. You’re not going to the Super Bowl this year anyway.
4c D’Ante Smith, OT East Carolina
They got back to business rebuilding the O-line with their last pick of the fourth round. Smith missed most of his first and last college seasons due to injury. He played at 280 to 290 lbs. He played a lower level of competition in the AAC. There was no shortage of reasons to dock Smith’s ranking In the pre draft process. Yet now that he’s actually on the roster, I’m pretty excited about this pick. The injury history is still a little murky as I haven’t found any information on exactly what happened to him in 2016 and 2020 other than he sat out due to “undisclosed injuries”, but with the Bengals medical staff usually trending pretty conservative I’m not too worried about it. Smith has a lean frame with room to bulk up. With his weight Reportedly already up to 305, concerns about his body are starting to melt away. With 35” arms he’s the kind of high upside prospect they need on this roster.
Round 5: Evan McPherson, K Florida
I don’t get the people complaining about the kicker pick. Day 1 or day 2 I can see being annoyed. Day 3? Let’s calm down. It’s a definite need and having a reliable kicker is important. Think about how deflating it is for the offense to start to build some momentum and then the kicker can’t make a 50 yard field and the defense has to start out defending from the 40. They found a guy they liked and pulled the trigger with a mid day 3 pick. That’s fine.
Round 6a: Trey Hill, C Georgia
They go for interior O line here. It’s nice to have a backup plan behind the injured starter coming off a torn ACL and Billy Price who hasn’t inspired any optimism thinking of him as the potential starting center heading into the year. Again I wonder if they could’ve rejiggered their priorities and netted a better prospect 60 picks earlier, but he’s a big strong competent SEC blocker. He doesn’t jump off the screen as much more than solid, but there’s something to be said for stocking your bench with these types of guys and seeing if they can turn into something.
Round 6b: Chris Evans, RB Michigan
The Bengals opt to try to fill the Giovanni Bernard sized hole in their roster with their lone compensatory pick. Evans was a significant contributor at Michigan before getting kicked off the team for academic reasons. It’s hard to say whether the puffed up stories of Evans working hard to get reinstated back to the team are the true sign of character they’ve been made out to be but one way or another he made it back albeit in a minor role. He showcased his receiving potential in the Senior Bowl and was a nice fit for Cincinnati late in day 3. They get a competent upside prospect with the exact skill set they were missing without spending much to do it.
Round 7: Wyatt Hubert, DE Northwestern
The Bengals round out the draft class with yet another lineman. I get the sense they weren’t dead set on any position here. They just liked the value. The front office used to have a soft spot for freakishly tall DE’s with some girth but just enough athleticism to pass rush. Under Zac Taylor it has shifted to mid sized versatile high motor types with just enough mass to hold up in run D. The defensive line depth chart is going to be tough to crack, but I like the chances of a guy with the wherewithal to study special teams in college because he recognized it as his best chance to go pro. Already out for the year, we’ll see if he can crack the roster in 2022.
Overall this is a solid draft class. I would have preferred higher rated OL talent, but the front office just may have done what they needed to do. I’d say this is a B level draft with obvious opportunities for that score to jump if a few of these guys pop.
