Don't believe everything you hear about the Cincinnati Bengals...

AtoZ Sports

John Sheeran discusses unverified rumors made by NFL analysts about the Cincinnati Bengals draft plans.

Transcript

00:00An NFL insider believes that the Bengals could greatly impact how the first round of the NFL

00:04draft concludes. And in this video, I'll explain what this information really means.

00:11Hi again, Bengals fans. John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here. And we have officially

00:15reached my least favorite part of the entire NFL calendar, lying season. The reason why the NFL

00:22draft is so intoxicating to watch is because it's happening in real time. We are seeing decisions

00:28being made that can impact everything else that happens over the course of an entire weekend.

00:33And NFL clubs just have to respond on the fly. And plans and such can change in an instant.

00:38And the fates of an entire draft class can be altered by just one decision. And that is why

00:43quote unquote league sources are trying to push certain agendas, narratives out there to anyone

00:48who would listen for their own benefit. Because if they can start rumors that certain players are

00:53quote unquote falling down draft boards or teams are looking to do certain things with their own

00:58pick and how that could impact the entire first round and really the entire draft, that is

01:02obviously within their benefit. And the majority of these rumors, the speculation and these reports,

01:07they all funnel out into NFL media within the final two weeks leading up to the NFL draft where

01:12nothing really is happening. You're getting a lot of top 30 visits. A lot of teams are crossing

01:16tees and dotting eyes about players and prospects that they have some questions on. But draft boards are

01:21really set. They're going through final decision making processes and whatnot. But a lot of the

01:25information that you hear right now is being put out there with a purpose. And typically it's a

01:29deceitful one. But all of that is just one side of the coin. And the other side of the coin is not

01:33much better because then you're just getting speculation from league sources, which again,

01:37are just team employees speculating on what other teams are planning to do. And that is where we get

01:43to this report from Sports Kita's Tony Pauline. Because I don't know if you guys have heard or not,

01:47but the Bengals may or may not trade Trey Hendrickson. And according to Pauline,

01:50a lot of people from around the league not only expect it to happen, but they expect it to directly

01:55impact what the Bengals do in the NFL draft, which makes sense. If you are trading an all pro defensive

02:00end, you're probably going to want to replace him very early with one of your early draft picks.

02:04But again, this is the draft and one decision can create a domino effect. And according to Pauline's

02:09report, he wrote, quote, if the Bengals take an edge rusher, the floodgates are expected to open up

02:14and at least seven or possibly eight will be drafted before day one is through. Whomever Pauline sources are,

02:19they do expect the Bengals to be interested in potentially draft an edge rusher with the 17th

02:23overall pick. And they do expect Hendrickson to be traded even after the draft, which doesn't

02:28really make a lot of sense because the Bengals wouldn't get a current draft pick for that if they

02:32just wait until after the draft. But remember what we talked about, lying season. Is this just loose

02:37speculation from somewhere else in the NFL about what the Bengals or what they think the Bengals are going

02:42to do, considering Trey Hendrickson's contract dilemma, considering how the Bengals operate,

02:46considering the likely targets of the Bengals are going to be looking at in the first round,

02:50or is this information that they heard coming from Cincinnati's building? The answer,

02:56we don't know. And I know that's not great content, but that is why I hate this time of year.

03:01Because whether or not the Bengals want people to believe that there's going to be a run on edge

03:06rushers when they're on the clock, so that maybe someone jumps them to take a player like an edge

03:10rusher that they actually don't have any interest in drafting, or this is someone from somewhere else in

03:16the league projecting what they think the Bengals are going to do, it doesn't make for great content.

03:21And it's why you should always trust information that comes out before this time of year. Because

03:25all the information that we've already known about this topic makes a lot more sense than anything

03:29that's going to come out between now and right before the draft. And so the Bengals still want

03:33to pay Trey Hendrickson. They still think that he deserves a raise. Trey Hendrickson is still not

03:37satisfied with the offer that's in front of him. And the Bengals still want to pay him more than they want

03:42to trade him. And the idea of just drafting an edge rusher and then trading him after the fact

03:46probably isn't in the Bengals' best interest. So I don't think that this report is based off of

03:50anything factual coming from Peggy Core Stadium. I think it is largely speculation for what the

03:54Bengals may do, and it explains the ramifications of if they decide to go down that route. So let this

03:59be your warning from now until the NFL draft to not believe everything that you hear.

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