One player could be the X-Factor for the Cincinnati Bengals draft class

AtoZ Sports

John Sheeran describes how Notre Dame Fighting Irish safety Xavier Watts could make or break the Cincinnati Bengals's 2025 NFL Draft class.

Transcript

00:00There is one player in the NFL Draft who can impact how the Bengals navigate throughout the

00:04entire weekend, and in this video, I'll explain the conflict Cincinnati would have to tackle

00:08before drafting him. Hi again, Bengals fans. John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here,

00:16and just like a lot of you, my mind is full of the various iterations of how this NFL Draft can

00:20unfold for the Bengals. And it all starts with the first-round pick, obviously, but I think when

00:24that time comes, we'll have a pretty good idea about who the Bengals are targeting, and we can

00:28narrow down that candidate list to maybe like five or six players. With this team specifically,

00:33drafts are made or broken with how day two unfolds. And it's obviously impossible to predict which

00:38players are going to be there for the Bengals to draft in both the second and third round, but

00:42a lot of their questionable decisions over the past handful of years, specifically in the Zach Taylor

00:46era, they've come in those two rounds. Honestly, you can go year by year from 2019 to now, looking

00:52through all those draft classes, focusing on the second and third round picks, and you can determine

00:56if that draft class was worthwhile at all. You're talking about Drew Sample as a second-round pick

01:00in 2019. T. Higgins and Logan Wilson obviously were bangers in 2020 in both the second and third

01:06round, respectively. In 2021, you had Jackson Carman, a gigantic whiff in the second round,

01:11followed by Joseph Asai, which is, you know, kind of up in the air considering he's still here.

01:152022 rolls around, and second-round pick Cam Taylor-Britt has been an absolute rollercoaster

01:18for the team, while third-round pick Zach Carter was a complete bust. 2023, I think, was a notably

01:23better class, and I had a second-round pick in DJ Turner, and a third-round pick in Jordan Battle,

01:26who I think have both been good when they have played. And then 2024 is kind of a mystery,

01:30but it doesn't look too good right now with your two third-round picks being Jermaine Burden and

01:34McKinley Jackson, and Chris Jenkins is a decent second-rounder. There is a strong and healthy

01:38amount of variance there, with really only Higgins and Wilson being the truly good picks, with most of

01:43them being kind of underwhelming. And when looking at this year's draft, just like many of those

01:47that just went over, I think the second round is, once again, going to be a very critical point

01:51that can determine how the rest of the draft goes. And the availability of one player specifically,

01:56I think, can change the entire dynamic of how this draft goes for the Bengals. And that is Notre Dame

02:00safety, Xavier Watts. Because I'm going to keep it real with you guys. If the Bengals pass on a safety

02:05in the first round, they don't draft a Malachi Starks or a Nicky Manwari in the first round,

02:09right? They address either defensive tackle, defensive end, guard, wherever the case may be,

02:13right? And Xavier Watts is staring Al Golden in the face in the second round, and he has the chance

02:19to take him. I can't imagine the type of strong case he's going to make to the rest of the war

02:24room to make that pick happen. Because I know this for a fact, even when Geno Stone is playing at his

02:29best, tackling is not necessarily his strong suit. It is definitely well below what Al Golden wants

02:34out of his safeties. And if he sees the guy who's ran his defense for the last two years and has been

02:39a captain under his leadership, he's just there to be drafted in the second round to replace Geno Stone,

02:45I just can't see Golden sitting on his hands and just allowing that not to happen. And I bring up

02:50the second round for Watts, because it really does seem like that's the highest he could probably go

02:54in this draft. There are reports that he's even graded as low as a fourth rounder to some teams.

02:59So his variance in terms of draft position is all over the place. But I think, again, the second round

03:03is where the Bengals would have to take him. But that's where potential conflict can come into play,

03:06because in all likelihood, I'm not expecting the Bengals to draft an offensive lineman with their first

03:11round pick. I think it's interesting that they met with Josh Simmons, who could theoretically move inside the

03:15guard and then outside the tackle in a couple of years time. But outside of that, I think for the

03:19most part, they're looking at day two as to whether they're going to address the offensive line. So when

03:23the Bengals are on the clock in the second round, and it's down to either Watts or an offensive lineman

03:27with that pick, I think the majority of voices, specifically the most important voices, are going

03:31to be banging the table for the offensive lineman. But Golden himself might be the most important

03:35addition the Bengals made this entire offseason. His ability to turn this defense around and get it

03:41competitive again, it may determine whether or not the Bengals make the playoffs. And if he

03:44believes with his entire heart that he needs his safety from Notre Dame to make this whole thing

03:50work, that may be a concession that they allow to happen. And the ripple effect of that pick

03:54would be massive. Obviously, Stone's days in Cincinnati would be numbered, but more importantly,

03:59they would enter the third round and beyond without having addressed the offensive line.

04:03And judging by how the Bengals have drafted in recent years, when they have a need that hasn't been

04:06addressed in the first two rounds, that very much opens the door for a massive reach to be taken

04:11in rounds three or four. The Bengals do need to address the offensive line, but wasting resources

04:16at the position for a pick that's not worth it, that solves no problems. And of course, it's not

04:20a guarantee that that hypothetical pick would be a reach. He could be a very good player worth a third

04:25or fourth round pick. He could be ready to start immediately. But again, I would be a fool to just

04:29ignore recent history here. So it's fitting that you have to pronounce the X in Xavier Watts' name,

04:34because I really do think he could be the X factor for this entire draft class for the Bengals.

04:38But what do you guys think? Would you want the Bengals to draft Xavier Watts in the second round

04:42if it meant that you had to wait until the third or fourth round to draft an offensive lineman?

04:46Let me know in the comments below.

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