Cincinnati Bengals Must Navigate Flawed First Round in 2025 NFL Draft

Cincinnati Bengals On SI

Transcript

00:00I love the comments. I read one on Sunday, so yesterday, if you're watching on Monday, when we posted this video.

00:06And it said,

00:07THEY BETTER NOT DRAFT OFFENSE AT 17. IT BETTER BE DEFENSE.

00:12And there's just a lot of people that feel that way.

00:13And it's just the worst, worst thing ever.

00:16Because I have one breaking news thing to say about this draft.

00:20This draft stinks.

00:22This draft is not as good as other drafts.

00:24There aren't as many premium players.

00:27It's going to be really hard.

00:30To see an evaluator give 20, 25 first-round grades.

00:34There aren't a lot of guys with first-round grades.

00:36I've seen some have 16, some have 12, some have 10.

00:39And really, the meat of this draft, where, especially if you're drafting 17,

00:44you'd much rather be drafting 22nd, if it meant you get another day-two pick, right?

00:51The Bengals would love to trade down.

00:52And I think that that's where we'll start today, before I reveal exactly what the Bengals need to do.

00:58And honestly, what I want them to do, and quite frankly, what they better do in this year's draft.

01:03This idea, that in a crappy draft, and that's what it is.

01:08I mean, if I look, let's just look.

01:10I'm going to go through any big board you want to look at.

01:14But let's just say, all right, let's go.

01:17Will Campbell, there's question marks about him.

01:19I don't have many questions about him, but there's questions.

01:21Ashton Gente, top player in this draft.

01:23A lot of you keep saying, don't take him.

01:26Mason Graham, there's questions about him.

01:27And those are like the elite players, right?

01:30And then you go down to like the realm that the Bengals will be in.

01:34And so, Jihad Campbell, coming off of shoulder surgery.

01:37He's a linebacker, positional value.

01:39Mike Green, the edge out of Marshall.

01:40Small school, will he hold up against the run?

01:43And the off-the-field question mark.

01:44Will Johnson, health.

01:46James Pierce Jr., off the field, certainly is a question.

01:50Will he be able to hold up against the run is another question.

01:54Are you really drafting a first round, a player in the first round

01:58that's going to be a third down edge rusher only?

02:00Now, Kenneth Grant, can he give you any pass rush juice?

02:02Josh Simmons out of Ohio State, the offensive tackle.

02:04Is he going to be healthy enough to do what you need him to do?

02:08Kelvin Banks Jr., is he really a tackle or is he a guard?

02:10Is he going to project well as a guard?

02:12Or is he better served at tackle?

02:14Like there's just questions there, but he's a pretty clean prospect.

02:16Walter Nolan, didn't test, didn't go through the athletic testing,

02:19even though he's one of the cleaner options at 17 as well.

02:23Shamar Stewart, literally not close to the production you would want

02:27and prefer, but checks a lot of the other boxes.

02:29Jalen Walker, raw talent, doesn't seem realistic.

02:32Derrick Harmon, bad at tackling.

02:34Questions there.

02:34Questions about Nick Skirt.

02:36Like all of these guys, there's no, like Amarius Mims was really cut and dry.

02:40It was like, oh yeah, he hasn't played a ton.

02:42But like that was the knock, right?

02:44And outside of that, there weren't many knocks.

Category

Transcript

Recommended