As his first draft as the Bengals linebackers coach began to ebb an end Saturday, Mike Hodges looked at the empty chairs in his office.

"The landscape of this room is much different than it was last year," Hodges said. "New coach. Several new faces. Three new faces all of a sudden. Boom. And they're well-respected, high-character players."

He could have been talking about the Bengals defense as a whole, too, after new coordinator Al Golden bagged the draft's most athletic defensive lineman with Texas A&M EDGE Shemar Stewart in the first round to go with his two linebacker captains, South Carolina's Demetrius Knight Jr. in the second round and Clemson's Barrett Carter in the fourth.

Suddenly, the Bengals' defense is faster, more flexible and more physical than 48 hours before.

Stewart's off-the-charts athleticism is paired with a Pro Football Focus run grade that is top five at his position. Knight had the fastest top-end speed of any linebacker at the NFL scouting combine to go with 229 career tackles. Carter supplemented his 82 tackles this season by routinely crashing through special teams with a 4.0 grade point average.

The Bengals have been banking on Golden reviving their defense with NCAA assistant coach of the year creativity. This weekend they gave him the chess pieces.

"I feel like we're two-deep at linebacker now. If we're playing 4-2, we still need some help in terms of if we're playing a base 4-3 structure," Golden said on Saturday. "I just feel like we have six, seven linebackers. I think we have more (defensive) ends now. I think we've fortified a bunch of positions.

"It just gives me a sense of, 'OK, now we can plot the course,' because we were waiting for, 'Are we going to be a big nickel team against 12-personnel? Are we going to be a base team?' So, at least we know now we have the components to go ahead and invest in a base package if we wanted to."

The Bengals also toughened up offense. After mixing it up with offensive line coach Scott Peters at last month's Georgia pro day, third-rounder Dylan Fairchild has been told left guard is his to win. Miami offensive lineman Jalen Rivers, whose parents are both U.S. Navy, has the discipline to compete at both tackle and guard. Sixth-rounder Tahj Brooks, a Texas Tech running back, pounded and paraded through 633 touches the last two years.

Peters didn't have a chance to get his hands on the massive Rivers like he did Fairchild, but he was impressed enough with Rivers' pre-draft visit to Paycor Stadium that he observed Saturday, "As clean a character as you'll ever meet," and says his first chance is competing at tackle but he'll also move to guard at some point.

It was head coach Zac Taylor’s smallest draft class, but all six rookies ooze with enough character that it unleashed the nostalgia of the 2020 Joe Burrow Draft that set up the template for the current locker room. This weekend, the chemistry got a booster shot.

"I think that adding good people that have leadership qualities is never a bad thing for us," Taylor said. "I think these guys will have to prove themselves first and foremost to this team, but I believe that once they do that, they'll be able to take on roles for us."

College coaches offered endorsements quickly.

Former A&M defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson recalled Stewart watching day-off film as his own worst critic. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said Carter brightens every room.

"The epitome of a Clemson Man, first of all," Swinney said of Carter. "He's a team captain, he's a graduate. He is a Swiss army knife. He can really do a lot of things as a football player. I think he has multi-position value."

While Carter got the award for best representing himself, his teammates and Clemson in the media, Brooks interned in the Tech sports communications department.

Knight persevered through three schools, six years and a switch from quarterback to linebacker, all the while making decisions based on his family of wife and two children. Fairchild is a two-time undefeated heavyweight high school state wrestling champion in Georgia. Rivers won a Florida high school state championship in the shotput.

Both offensive linemen passed Peters' stringent requirement for being able to protect Burrow in the passing game, underlining the 6-6, 319-pound Rivers' quick feet and nearly 35-inch arm length.

"Dylan's best days are ahead of him," Peters said. "His mindset, football character, and physical traits, in many ways, are better than some of the guys that went before him in the draft."

Taylor agreed that it did feel kind of like 2020. Without the Zooms.

"Very much so, where you're really crossing your fingers for a lot of picks (in a row)," Taylor said. "Waiting for Logan (Wilson) and Akeem (Davis-Gaither) in 2020. And now, we get these two guys in Demetrius and Barrett, that I feel like will impact us, and we're excited about that."

Knight and Carter are the first backers drafted since that '20 draft, when Golden was the linebackers coach and they took Wilson, Davis-Gaither and Markus Bailiey with the first picks in the third, fourth and seventh rounds, respectively.

Wilson is the only one left. They began re-making the room in free agency last month with the signing of eight-year vet Oren Burks. Now Knight and Carter are here, and Hodges sees two kids who are going to be here awhile.

They're a little bit different. Knight flashes on and of the ball while Carter is stout stacked in the box. But his instincts allow him to roam. Hodges says he's got a shot to play a lot right now.

"A true MIKE backer, and his makeup is really clean. He comes in here at the front of the room as a learner," Hodges said. "He's been a really productive player for a good team for a long time. The character is 100 percent. The player himself is a well-rounded inside linebacker who is going to have a long career."

The six already had great collegiate careers. The Bengals think that bodes well for an encore at the next level.

"They made huge impacts at the programs that they were at," Taylor said. "And by huge impact, I mean not only on the field, but the way that people talked about them off the field. You could feel the impacts they made there. That means something to us."