Three NFL Draft scenarios the Bengals HAVE TO avoid...

AtoZ Sports

John Sheeran lays out three doomsday scenarios for the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Transcript

00:00It is finally the week of the NFL draft and there is just as much optimism as there is fear for how

00:05the Bengals manage this week and in this video I'll explain the three disaster scenarios that

00:09Cincinnati needs to avoid. Hi again Bengals fans, John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here

00:17and the closer that the NFL draft gets to us the more I think there is a fear of how it can go

00:23wrong for the Bengals because the draft is a lot like a big team that the team has to play only

00:29there is a months long lead up to it and it's over analyzed to death and there's all these mock

00:34drafts about the best possible scenarios of how the draft can unfold and unfortunately as we've

00:39seen in years past it doesn't always go like that. But of course it's completely different than just

00:44a game right they can't just rebound a week later and get that game back. The draft is where you make

00:48multi-year investments in players that are supposed to be your foundational pieces and whiffing on the

00:54first couple of picks can set you back years. The ramifications of getting the draft right

00:59or wrong can impact a team's Super Bowl window and it can close it in a hurry. And it's why the

01:04Bengals are kind of in this position right now. They haven't necessarily been very consistent at

01:08drafting outside of the first handful of picks like Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase. So Bengals fans in

01:13general are uneasy about the draft. It's not like it was 10 years ago when Duke Tobin and company were on

01:19heater after heater from like 2009 to 2013. But if you're going to have this general skepticism about how

01:24the Bengals can mismanage this draft you may as well get specific with it. And like any other year

01:28the first two rounds can really make or break how this draft goes. So we're going to go in

01:33chronological order here. Starting with the first round I think the only way that the Bengals can

01:37potentially fumble that pick is if they target and draft a defensive lineman that has a lot more

01:41traits than they do production. If you want to get into specific names I think Shamar Stewart and

01:45Mike Hill Williams are the names that they should probably avoid with a 17th overall pick. And the only

01:50reason why I'm singling out these two guys is not because they're not talented not because they don't

01:54have a lot of physical upside but it's just when you're talking about the Bengals specifically their

01:58history with drafting players like this who didn't do a lot in terms of actually producing pressures

02:04and sacks in college but they look the part you know they're built well they have the size speed

02:08athleticism all that it doesn't always work out for them. In fact it rarely works out for them. I think

02:13that either Stewart or Williams can go to another franchise to another defense and they can fulfill

02:17whatever potential that they may have. But am I counting on that to happen in Cincinnati specifically

02:22when looking at the last 15 years of this team developing or should I say failing to develop

02:27a lot of Tracy defensive linemen really since Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap? No I'm not. And in fairness

02:32to both Geno and Carlos they did produce in college they were just undervalued because of their own

02:36specific reasons. In recent memory this team and it doesn't really matter what coaching staff was on

02:41staff at the time they've fallen in love with guys who looked the part but just didn't do enough in

02:45college to indicate that they would be successful NFL players. For the fans who have been around here

02:49for a while the names Margus Hunt, Brandon Thompson, Will Clark, Ronnell Wren, Tyler Shelvin, they all

02:55ring a bell for this reason. So that's the most likely mistake that I could see them making in the

02:59first round. If they can avoid that they can enter round two with some peace of mind. But as we talked

03:03about last week with Xavier Watts, round two can be where the entire draft changes for the better or the

03:08worse for the Bengals. And this next problem doesn't really have anything to do with them

03:11specifically. It has everything to do with what happens in front of their pick. Because if the

03:15Bengals do not draft an offensive lineman with the 17th overall pick they will be praying, they will

03:19have their fingers crossed, that a run an offensive lineman does not occur before the 49th pick. And I

03:24bring this up because for what the Bengals are looking for for an offensive lineman it is a really

03:28good class. It is a really strong and deep class and there should be, there should be, an option

03:33available for them in the middle of the second round. But if every other team who also needs an

03:37offensive lineman and bypass the position group in the first round, if they also all realize this,

03:42then there could be a scenario in which all the worthwhile ones in the second round are off the

03:46board before the Bengals pick. And I'm hesitant to lay out the scenario like this because the last

03:50time the Bengals did draft an offensive lineman in the second round, they chose Jackson Carmen over

03:54the likes of Creed Humphrey, Landon Dickerson, Samuel Cosme, other really good offensive lineman from that

04:00historic 2021 class. Like obviously they didn't need those other guys to be off the board. They

04:04were locked in with Carmen. They knew they were going to take him after trading out a handful

04:07of spots. So by bringing up this scenario, I'm hesitant to do this a little bit, but I will

04:11assume that the Bengals are identifying the proper second round targets for offensive line because

04:16disaster scenario number three involves the opposite of that. And that's ignoring the consensus

04:20for the offensive line position group, which is exactly what they did with Jackson Carmen four

04:24years ago. It is practically written in the stars that the Bengals are going to be drafting an

04:28offensive lineman within their first three picks of this week's draft. And just like there was back in

04:322021, there are a plethora of quality options in this year's class. And at least a handful of them

04:38are going to be available to them with the 49th pick. All they have to do is just take one of them

04:42from that tier players. It could be Tate Radledge. It could be Jonas Savanaya. It could be Donovan

04:46Jackson. It doesn't really matter who it is. Just take someone from that tier, that tier that was

04:50decided by everyone who does this and says, Hey, these guys are worth being drafted at this spot.

04:54Just take someone from there and get out of there. Because the last thing that they can do with such a

04:58glaring need at the guard spot is to overdraft someone there. And as a lot of you have pointed

05:03out, this is not an ideal situation that the Bengals are entering. They have a lot more pressing needs

05:07than they do premium draft picks this year. And not only does that not shrink the importance of this

05:11draft class, it amplifies it for the Bengals. And with that amplified importance, we will have to judge

05:16it accordingly. So if the Bengals do avoid these disaster scenarios, we can come away from it

05:20feeling pretty good. But if they don't, well, you can guess what my reaction is going to be then.

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