Jalen Rivers is the SLEEPER of the Bengals draft class

AtoZ Sports

John Sheeran describes why the Cincinnati Bengals got a STEAL with Miami Hurricanes offensive tackle Jalen Rivers in the 2025 NFL Draft!

Transcript

00:00The Bengals received some underwhelming grades following the 2025 NFL Draft,

00:03but I still believe that they added a handful of quality players, and to prove it,

00:06I'm going to explain my favorite pick of theirs from the draft.

00:12Hi again, Bengals fans. John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here,

00:16and a lot of people don't think that the Bengals drafted particularly well this year,

00:19and I know that because I'm one of those people. But the difference between myself

00:23and maybe someone who covers all 32 teams is that I can afford to look a little bit deeper

00:27than just the surface. So while I understand why most of the grades the Bengals have gotten are

00:31ranging from like C- to B-, I do think that there's quality beneath that grade. As I mentioned

00:37over the weekend, I thought the Bengals did a really good job on day three of the draft identifying value

00:41at positions that were underrated in terms of need. And it was on day three where I thought the

00:45Bengals made their best pick of the draft when they selected Miami offensive lineman Jalen Rivers in the

00:49fifth round. Now I like this pick for multiple reasons. Number one, I thought they got really

00:53good value here. I thought there was a really good chance that he would go off the board in the fourth

00:56round, maybe even sneak in to the late third round, which is where Dylan Fairchild eventually

00:59went off the board for the Bengals. The grades I had for both Fairchild and Rivers were about the

01:03same. So to get one of them two rounds after the other, I thought was really good work by Cincinnati.

01:07There are reasons, of course, why I wouldn't have picked Rivers maybe before the fourth round. He was

01:10injured often in college. He's not the best athlete. So his overall upside is not particularly high.

01:15But once you enter day three of the draft, if you're able to find guys who just make it look easy on

01:19film, maybe they don't have all the elite traits that it takes to be an elite player in the NFL.

01:23But if they look good on tape, if they just know how to do their job and you can just ignore them,

01:28those are valuable players to find there. And that's what Rivers looked like to me on tape.

01:32Everything was kind of in sync when he was in pass protection. He would not lose very often,

01:36despite the fact that he didn't have a ton of quickness out of his stance, but he was efficient

01:39getting out of his stance. And his hands and his feet were almost always in sync. And he just locked

01:44onto you. He knew where to place his hands. He plays with a lot of power. It just worked for him.

01:48And how many offensive linemen have the Bengals drafted in like the last 10 years where you can say that

01:52about them? The number is not very high. And the reality is we weren't necessarily sure what kind

01:56of offensive linemen the Bengals are going to be targeting this year. Historically, with late round

01:59picks, they've always valued versatility for offensive linemen. And that's definitely a box

02:03that Rivers checked. He played both guard and tackle for Miami, including both positions in the

02:07same games last year. But beyond that, there was a variable with new offensive line coach Scott

02:12Peters entering the equation this year. And we weren't exactly sure what kind of traits he was

02:16looking for in particular. Peters being renowned as this teacher of pass protection technique

02:20would have indicated that maybe he was looking for someone a little bit more traitsy that he could

02:23build up with his teachings. And don't get me wrong, Rivers definitely has the length that I think

02:27Peters was looking for with 35-inch arms and an 84-inch wingspan. But I was pleasantly surprised

02:32that they went out and targeted someone this late in the draft who already had a really good

02:35foundation with his technique. And because of that, perhaps the amount of time that Peters has to

02:39dedicate to make sure that Rivers' technique is up to speed is not going to be that much.

02:43And as a result, Rivers can spend more time getting up to speed with a scheme in the

02:46offensive line and finding his fit within it. And the point of all of that is that Rivers is

02:50going to set himself up to have a really important role along the offensive line this year. Now he

02:55may not be a starter. There's only two spots available at both guard spots, and there's going

02:58to be a lot of bodies at the competition already. But the ability to play guard in the pinch is

03:02definitely going to help him if they suffer injuries at that spot in training camp, and maybe they have

03:06to move him inside. But along with starting guards, they had a desperate need behind both

03:09Orlando Brown Jr. and Amarius Mims for this backup swing tackle role, and Rivers fits perfectly there

03:14right now. Just like a fourth cornerback on a team is always going to play significant snaps

03:18because there's always injuries at that spot, you need a third offensive tackle that you can rely on

03:22to just play 20 to 30 emergency snaps in a really important game. And that was a lesson the Bengals

03:26had to learn the hard way last year when Brown suffered his knee injury. He missed a handful of

03:29games, and he had Cody Ford out there just trying to survive against past rushers who were far better

03:33his job than he was at his. Of course, he still has to prove his abilities, and obviously he has to

03:37prove he can stay healthy. His injuries in recent years definitely don't help his case there. And that may be a

03:41case as to why you're not expecting him to be a starter right out of the gate because he has to

03:44prove that he can stay healthy throughout an entire NFL season first. But I really do believe that

03:48Rivers can be a staple here on this roster with this specific role for years to come. And again,

03:52for a fifth round pick, that's all you can ask for. So Jalen Rivers was my favorite pick that the

03:56Bengals made in the draft. But of course, I want to hear what you guys have to say. Let me know in the

04:00comments below what you think the Bengals' best pick was.

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