04-03-2024, 10:51 AM
I've been very vocal about my belief that we should take an OT at 18 as long as one of the top 6 (Alt, Fuaga, Fautanu, Fashanu, Mims, Latham) are there. But I decided to run a few simulations where I intentionally choose not to do this, just to see how the draft plays out. I finally found a draft that I was happy to not take an OT in the first round.
Round 1, pick 18: Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo
Round 2, pick 49: T'Vondre Sweat, NT, Texas
Round 3, pick 80: Blake Fisher, OT, Notre Dame
Round 3, pick 97: Jermaine Burton, WR Alabama
Round 4, pick 115: Maason Smith, DT, LSU
Round 5, pick 149: Tanor Bortolini, OL, Wisconsin
Round 6, pick 194: Erick All, TE, Iowa
Round 6, pick 214: Tyrone Tracy Jr, RB, Purdue
Round 7, pick 224: Dylan McMahon, OG, NC State
Round 7, pick 237: Tip Reimann, TE, Illinois
Blake Fisher is an offensive tackle that I think has the technical refinement and experience to start at RT on day 1 if he needs to due to injury to Trent Brown. He isn't athletically gifted, insanely strong or incredibly quick, but he's good enough to be mostly fine at RT, except against the best pass rushers. He will probably never be one of those RTs you can leave on an island all season and be fine, but he isn't a sieve either. If we do not draft a RT in the first round of this draft, we will likely be looking at OTs in the 2025 draft but, in return, we get a truly elite CB prospect in Quinyon Mitchell.
Mitchell's biggest weakness is that he played for Toledo. The level of competition questions are the only thing preventing him from being a surefire top 10 pick. He's big (6'0, 195 lbs), athletic (9.79 RAS), versatile and smart. He'd be a true lockdown corner that this team has, honestly, never had in the modern era (Leon Hall was great. He wasn't a lockdown corner). This selection would make Turner our CB4, which is honestly for the best considering how much he struggled as a rookie. This, along with the recovery of CTB and the signing of Stone and Bell, should completely fix our secondary, which gave up the most explosive plays in the NFL last year.
T'Vondre Sweat has probably been my 2nd round pick every time he's there. He's exactly what our DT room is missing. A big, double team absorbing NT that has some pass rush upside. He likely falls to the 2nd round because of questions about his ability to control his weight and effort, but I'm willing to take that risk on such a perfect fit to our biggest need with Reader gone.
I already mentioned Fisher, but I think he's an acceptable backup behind Brown at RT, even if you'd prefer to have a higher end athlete at RT long term.
Jermaine Burton being available at the end of the 3rd round is nothing more than a symptom of an insanely deep WR class. In most other classes, I think he doesn't make it out of the 2nd round. He has everything you want in a #2 WR. He's an elite athlete (RAS 9.57), he has good size (6'0", 196 lbs), great speed (4.45 40), good hands, is a good deep threat with jump ball capability. He could start in the slot as a rookie and move to X in 2025 if we don't retain Tee Higgins.
Maason Smith recently came to Cincinnati for a top 30 visit, so you know he's on the Bengals' radar. He is a pass rushing DT with great athleticism (8.99 RAS), and lots of untapped potential, but has been injured for a good portion of his college career and did not live up to his high school pedigree (5 star recruit). For that reason, he falls to the 4th round. I think he could be a diamond in the rough and really solidifies the depth behind Hill and Rankins. He's got time to develop because of this depth, so I like the idea of taking a flier on a highly athletic and talented player that suffered injuries that held him back from reaching his true potential in college.
Tanor Bortolini is a Wisconsin offensive lineman (who historically have had success in the NFL) with insane athleticism (RAS 9.78) including the short shuttle of 4.28. Those who have too much time on their hands have determined that offensive linemen that have a short shuttle lower than 4.47 seconds have an incredibly high success rate in the NFL, so I will take that in the 5th round.
Erick All and Tip Reimann are tight end prospects offer different things to the Bengals. All is a great receiving tight end and Reimann is a great blocking tight end. All falls in the draft because he's recovering from an injury that has prevented him from testing in the off season.
Reimann, on the other hand, is more a Drew Sample style TE with surprising athleticism (RAS 9.92). That makes me think he has potential to grow into a complete TE. Worth the risk in the 7th round, I think. Even if he tops out as a Drew Sample clone, that's great value in the 7th round.
Both tight ends were mentioned in this article of 10 TEs that the Bengals should be interested in.
The other two picks in the 6th and 7th rounds are fliers on athletic players at positions that could use some depth. Dylan McMahon has an RAS of 9.88 and Tyrone Tracy Jr has an RAS of 9.77.
McMahon is a smaller player both in weight and length, but he is supremely athletic. I don't know if his size will hold him back long term, but with an RAS like that, I thought it was worth a late round pick.
Tracy started his college career as a receiver and transitioned to RB late in his career. He only has 1 year of starting experience there, but he has shown flashes of brilliance. With his athleticism, I could see him developing into a good back up player with time. He also has some experience as a returner (16 KOR in 2023, with 1 TD), which may be important with the new kick off rules.
With this draft, we filled every need with at least a capable player and we significantly upgraded the CB room, DT room, TE room and added good depth on the Oline that could pay dividends in January. We also added another weapon at WR with more upside than the depth players on the team right now.
I did this exercise to see if the draft could still deliver a quality improvement without spending our first round pick on RT and, while I may want to go back to the OT well in 2025, Fisher is good enough to provide emergency injury depth behind Trent Brown for a year and could develop into an adequate starter at RT over time.
Let me know what you think!
— Joe from Cincinnati (@JoeFromCinci) April 3, 2024
Round 1, pick 18: Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo
Round 2, pick 49: T'Vondre Sweat, NT, Texas
Round 3, pick 80: Blake Fisher, OT, Notre Dame
Round 3, pick 97: Jermaine Burton, WR Alabama
Round 4, pick 115: Maason Smith, DT, LSU
Round 5, pick 149: Tanor Bortolini, OL, Wisconsin
Round 6, pick 194: Erick All, TE, Iowa
Round 6, pick 214: Tyrone Tracy Jr, RB, Purdue
Round 7, pick 224: Dylan McMahon, OG, NC State
Round 7, pick 237: Tip Reimann, TE, Illinois
Blake Fisher is an offensive tackle that I think has the technical refinement and experience to start at RT on day 1 if he needs to due to injury to Trent Brown. He isn't athletically gifted, insanely strong or incredibly quick, but he's good enough to be mostly fine at RT, except against the best pass rushers. He will probably never be one of those RTs you can leave on an island all season and be fine, but he isn't a sieve either. If we do not draft a RT in the first round of this draft, we will likely be looking at OTs in the 2025 draft but, in return, we get a truly elite CB prospect in Quinyon Mitchell.
Mitchell's biggest weakness is that he played for Toledo. The level of competition questions are the only thing preventing him from being a surefire top 10 pick. He's big (6'0, 195 lbs), athletic (9.79 RAS), versatile and smart. He'd be a true lockdown corner that this team has, honestly, never had in the modern era (Leon Hall was great. He wasn't a lockdown corner). This selection would make Turner our CB4, which is honestly for the best considering how much he struggled as a rookie. This, along with the recovery of CTB and the signing of Stone and Bell, should completely fix our secondary, which gave up the most explosive plays in the NFL last year.
T'Vondre Sweat has probably been my 2nd round pick every time he's there. He's exactly what our DT room is missing. A big, double team absorbing NT that has some pass rush upside. He likely falls to the 2nd round because of questions about his ability to control his weight and effort, but I'm willing to take that risk on such a perfect fit to our biggest need with Reader gone.
I already mentioned Fisher, but I think he's an acceptable backup behind Brown at RT, even if you'd prefer to have a higher end athlete at RT long term.
Jermaine Burton being available at the end of the 3rd round is nothing more than a symptom of an insanely deep WR class. In most other classes, I think he doesn't make it out of the 2nd round. He has everything you want in a #2 WR. He's an elite athlete (RAS 9.57), he has good size (6'0", 196 lbs), great speed (4.45 40), good hands, is a good deep threat with jump ball capability. He could start in the slot as a rookie and move to X in 2025 if we don't retain Tee Higgins.
Maason Smith recently came to Cincinnati for a top 30 visit, so you know he's on the Bengals' radar. He is a pass rushing DT with great athleticism (8.99 RAS), and lots of untapped potential, but has been injured for a good portion of his college career and did not live up to his high school pedigree (5 star recruit). For that reason, he falls to the 4th round. I think he could be a diamond in the rough and really solidifies the depth behind Hill and Rankins. He's got time to develop because of this depth, so I like the idea of taking a flier on a highly athletic and talented player that suffered injuries that held him back from reaching his true potential in college.
Tanor Bortolini is a Wisconsin offensive lineman (who historically have had success in the NFL) with insane athleticism (RAS 9.78) including the short shuttle of 4.28. Those who have too much time on their hands have determined that offensive linemen that have a short shuttle lower than 4.47 seconds have an incredibly high success rate in the NFL, so I will take that in the 5th round.
Erick All and Tip Reimann are tight end prospects offer different things to the Bengals. All is a great receiving tight end and Reimann is a great blocking tight end. All falls in the draft because he's recovering from an injury that has prevented him from testing in the off season.
Reimann, on the other hand, is more a Drew Sample style TE with surprising athleticism (RAS 9.92). That makes me think he has potential to grow into a complete TE. Worth the risk in the 7th round, I think. Even if he tops out as a Drew Sample clone, that's great value in the 7th round.
Both tight ends were mentioned in this article of 10 TEs that the Bengals should be interested in.
The other two picks in the 6th and 7th rounds are fliers on athletic players at positions that could use some depth. Dylan McMahon has an RAS of 9.88 and Tyrone Tracy Jr has an RAS of 9.77.
McMahon is a smaller player both in weight and length, but he is supremely athletic. I don't know if his size will hold him back long term, but with an RAS like that, I thought it was worth a late round pick.
Tracy started his college career as a receiver and transitioned to RB late in his career. He only has 1 year of starting experience there, but he has shown flashes of brilliance. With his athleticism, I could see him developing into a good back up player with time. He also has some experience as a returner (16 KOR in 2023, with 1 TD), which may be important with the new kick off rules.
With this draft, we filled every need with at least a capable player and we significantly upgraded the CB room, DT room, TE room and added good depth on the Oline that could pay dividends in January. We also added another weapon at WR with more upside than the depth players on the team right now.
I did this exercise to see if the draft could still deliver a quality improvement without spending our first round pick on RT and, while I may want to go back to the OT well in 2025, Fisher is good enough to provide emergency injury depth behind Trent Brown for a year and could develop into an adequate starter at RT over time.
Let me know what you think!
![[Image: oN5QAdY.png]](https://i.imgur.com/oN5QAdY.png)
