First things first as Bengals.com convenes its first Media Mock Draft of 2024.
Bengals founder Paul Brown's take on the draft: "You draft for need and don't let anybody tell you any differently."
So what do they need?
In no particular order, right tackle, defensive tackle, cornerback, tight end. Maybe a safety. Maybe an edge. Maybe a running back. But those can wait, right?
With starting nose tackle DJ Reader, right tackle Jonah Williams, and cornerback Chidobe Awuzie potential free agents, those appear to be the prime needs.
It's still pretty early. The draft may be a scant seven weeks away. But it's before next week's NFL scouting combine, next month's start of free agency, and the relentless parade of pro days that take up all of March and much of April.
Slightly shorter than eternity.
Nothing impacts the draft more than free agency. But at least now we can get an idea of the universe of players that they'll be staring at the night of April 25 in the first round because no matter what happens in free agency, the Bengals need quarterbacks to go because they're not in the market. And if they franchise Tee Higgins, they won't be in the market for a wide receiver, either.
So they have to like the way this mock unfolds. By the time the Bengals pick at No. 18, five quarterbacks and three wide receivers have gone. So has a tight end. A deep crop of tackles and edge rushers has survived.
What would be nice is finding a freak.
We think we've got one.
Here's how our panel called it:
1.BEARS _ QB Caleb Williams, USC; Brad Biggs, Chicago Tribune: In the name of Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields, the Bears try again.
2.COMMANDERS _ QB Drake Maye, North Carolina; John Keim, ESPN.com: New owner, new GM, new head coach …
3.PATRIOTS: QB Jayden Daniels, LSU; Karen Guregian, MassLive.com: The first draft pick in the post-Belichickian Epoch is a Joe Burrow heir.
4.CARDINALS_ WR Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State; Darren Urban, azcardinals.com: Word on the street is the Cards may be looking to trade back to get a tackle. If one of the top quarterbacks fall, they could be open for business.
5.CHARGERS _ T Olumuyiwa Fashanu, Penn State; Alex Marvez, Sirius NFL Radio: Protecting Justin Herbert and establishing a strong running game are paramount. At right tackle, he could help do both opposite Rashawn Slater in Greg Roman's offense.
6.GIANTS: WR Malik Nabers, LSU; Mike Eisen, Giants.com: When was the last time the Giants had a clear-cut No. 1? Go back 10 years to the 2014 draft and another LSU guy, right? Odell Beckham, Jr.
7.TITANS _ T Joe Alt, Notre Dame; Turron Davenport, ESPN.com: Brian Callahan's first pick, like Zac Taylor's in 2019, is a tackle.
8.FALCONS _ DE Dallas Turner, Alabama; D. Orlando Ledbetter, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Aren't the Falcons always picking eight, taking an edge rusher, and never finding one? It's too early to take the next batch of quarterbacks and they need that edge.
9.BEARS _ WR Rome Odunze, Washington; Brad Biggs, Chicago Tribune: Get Williams a weapon right away. They don't have a lot after D.J. Moore's 96 catches.
10.JETS _ T Taliese Fuaga, Oregon State; Rich Cimini, ESPN.com:With the first three wide receivers gone as well as the top two tackles, this is the worst-case scenario for the Jets. Which is almost redundant. Staring at this, Cimini says they'd be highly motivated to trade down, given they lost their second-rounder in the Aaron Rodgers trade. Footnote: They had 13 different offensive line combos last season.
11.VIKINGS _CB Nate Wiggins, Clemson; Mark Craig, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: With thoughts of Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd spinning through their heads.
12.BRONCOS _ QB Bo Nix, Oregon; Mike Klis, 9News: Head coach Sean Payton wants a quarterback and the way Nix processes and gets the ball out quickly appears to be a match.
13. RAIDERS _ QB J.J. McCarthy, Michigan; Vinny Bonsignore, Las Vegas Review-Journal: They get their athletic quarterback of the future and a fit for new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy's offense.
14.SAINTS _ TE Brock Bowers, Georgia; Jeff Duncan, NOLA.com: You know how the 49ers love to use tight ends. New offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is coming from 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan's staff.
15.COLTS _ CB Terrion Arnold, Alabama; Mike Chappell, FOX59.com: The Colts took Julius Brents with the 44thpick last year. They take another cornerback even earlier.
16.SEAHAWKS _ DT Jer'Zhan Newton, Illinois; John Boyle, Seahawks.com: The Seahawks currently don't have a second-round pick, so Boyle could see trading back depending on how their board looks. But if they go here, they could make a defensive player from Illinois their first pick for the second straight year (cornerback Devon Witherspoon) to bolster new head coach Mike Macdonald's defense.
17.JAGUARS _ CB Quinyon Mitchell, Toledo; Michael DiRocco, ESPN.com: Mitchell wasn't so small school at the Senior Bowl, where he was clearly the best cover cornerback, and the Jaguars desperately need one with Tyson Campbell and Darious Williams on the final year of their deals.
18.BENGALS _ DT Byron Murphy II, Texas; Geoff Hobson, Bengals.com:
In order to look at the universe, let's use the telescope of some of the various big boards, such as Pro Football Focus, ESPN's Scouts Inc., and Daniel Jeremiah's NFL.com ratings.
With Seattle and Jacksonville plucking two guys we'd love right in front of us, let's see the top players left:
PFF: Iowa cornerback Cooper DeJean, Murphy, and then ranked 16-19 Florida State edge Jared Verse, Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson, UCLA edge Laiatu Latu, and Alabama tackle J.C. Latham.
ESPN: Latu, Georgia tackle Amarius Mims, Verse, Florida State wide receiver Keon Coleman, DeJean, Murphy.
NFL.com: Latham, Verse, LSU wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr., Washington tackle Troy Fautanu, Oklahoma tackle Tyler Guyton, Mims, Texas A&M linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, Latu, Murphy.
If they franchise Higgins, wide receiver seems to be a 2025 question. They never take linebackers in the first round, they're set at center, and they haven't taken a tight end in the first round since 2013.
That leaves us with big guys and cornerbacks. DeJean is interesting because he's 6-1 and can play both cornerback and safety. Which is nice, but if we're in the same universe, the tackles on either side of the ball would seem to be a more urgent need.
The edges, Verse and Latu, are really good players, but they took Myles Murphy in the first round last year, defensive dean Sam Hubbard should be back at 100%, and Pro Bowl sacker Trey Hendrickson has two years left on his deal.
The two right tackles that appear twice in the universe are Latham and Mims. But the thing is, they've got 31 college starts among them. Jonah Williams, the 11th overall pick for the Bengals in 2019, came in with 44. Latham is a two-year starter and Mims started for a year before he got hurt. They usually like them a little more seasoned. Plus, this is a deep tackle class and, depending on who you ask, you can get one in the second round.
Not so at defensive tackle, where they need bodies with Reader coming off surgery and not under contract. And in the 6-1, 308-pound Murphy, they've got the kind of guy you're not going to get in the second round.
He's young (he doesn't turn 22 until the week of the opener) and he's got just 16 college starts. But he played in 39 games, was the Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year, and he also made Bruce Feldman's Freaks List. According to nflfdraftbuzz.com, Feldman wrote, "has been clocked at 18 MPH on the GPS, had a team-best 455-pound front squat, and power-cleaned 375 pounds," with his strength coach saying he could have done more.
And, Murphy racked up an absurd 40 pressures last season with 30 QB hurries.
Of course, at just 6-1, Murphy's not the prototypical NFL defensive tackle. No worries at Paycor Stadium, where Geno Atkins bowling-balled to the Hall of Fame.
"Against the run, he can utilize his quickness to penetrate and create negative plays. He also has incredible balance to take on blocks while going to one knee before uncoiling and making plays," says NFL.com's Jeremiah. "I haven't seen anyone else use this technique before, but it's very effective. He has plenty of range to make plays laterally. Overall, Murphy might lack ideal size, but he's a leverage machine who makes an impact on all three downs."
Why not? It's the 30th anniversary of the last time the Bengals took a defensive tackle in the first round when they took Ohio State's Dan Wilkinson No. 1 overall.
