These are the players I feel the Bengals are most interested in by position and my perceived interest level. I will also list the contract savings per year based on the top 5 contracts at that position(pick 18 contract value is 3.1 million)

Defensive Tackles (ESPY 25 Million)

1. Byron Murphy
2. Johnny Newton
3. T'Vondre Sweat
4. Justin Rogers
5. McKinnley Jackson
6. Maason Smith
7. Ruke Orhorhoro
8. Evan Anderson
9. Marcus Harris
10. Jordan Jefferson
11. Mekhi Wingo

Offensive Tackles (ESPY 16 Million)

1. Amarius Mims
2. Taliese Fuaga
3. JC Latham
4. Troy Fautanu
5. Kingsley Suamataia
6. Roger Rosengarten
7. Patrick Paul
8. Jalen Sundell

Wide Receiver (ESPY 25 Million)

1. Brian Thomas Jr
2. Adonai Mitchell
3. Ladd McConkey
4. Xavier Lagette
5. Xavier Worthy
6. Malachai Corley
7. Brendan Rice
8. Jacob Cowing
9. Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint

Defensive End (ESPY 25 Million)

1. Jared Verse
2. Laiatu Latu
3. Chop Robinson
4. Xavier Thomas
5. Mohammed Kamara
6. Jalyx Hunt
7. Nelson Ceaser
8. Jaylen Harrell
9. Gabriel Murphy

Tight Ends (ESPY 7 Million)

1. Brock Bowers
2. Erick All
3. Dallin Holker
4. AJ Barner
5. Ja'Tavion Sanders
6. Tip Reiman
7. Trey Knox

Running Backs(ESPY 3 million)

1. Blake Corum
2. Will Shipley
3. Audric Estime
4. Ray Davis
5. George Holani
6. Daijun Edwards
7. Kendall Milton

Interior Offensive Line(ESPY 8 million)

1. Graham Barton
2. Jackson Powers Johnson
3. Zak Zinter


Cornerbacks (ESPY 16 Million)

1. Mike Sainristil

Based on this information. I think the top 2 guys they expect to have a chance of being there and they want to draft are Mims and Murphy. You may see more interest in Newton after he hosts his private testing in early April. Their thought process is that Murphy has and can play 1 and 3 tech. Mims also can play LT/RT. I can see Sweat being in play for round 2 or 3, but they have shown lots of interest in the high end of this draft for Wide receiver. I expect them to target a receiver in round 2.

Left out a lot of players that I really like especially at TE and RB. Erick All was hurt bad last year and is coming off of injury I
wouldn't draft him until late, I would take Sinnott, Theo Johnson, Stover, Ja'Tavion Sanders and Holker over him.

At RB, I still love the bigger backs in Braelon Allen, Jonathan Brooks, Trey Benson and my dudes with moves in Tyrone Tracy
and Kimani Vidal.

(04-06-2024, 08:38 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Left out a lot of players that I really like especially at TE and RB. Erick All was hurt bad last year and is coming off of injury I
wouldn't draft him until late, I would take Sinnott, Theo Johnson, Stover, Ja'Tavion Sanders and Holker over him.

At RB, I still love the bigger backs in Braelon Allen, Jonathan Brooks, Trey Benson and my dudes with moves in Tyrone Tracy
and Kimani Vidal.

I want to be clear, these are players the Bengals have shown interest in, not my personal list.  This is just tracking the interviews, pro days, and visits.  You can see trends both in the types of positions their targeting and the ranges they fall in the draft.  For example, the wide receiver group is nearly all 2nd round guys.  This tells me that they are targeting a second-round receiver

(04-06-2024, 09:03 PM)Okeana Wrote: I want to be clear, these are players the Bengals have shown interest in, not my personal list.  This is just tracking the interviews, pro days, and visits.  You can see trends both in the types of positions their targeting and the ranges they fall in the draft.  For example, the wide receiver group is nearly all 2nd round guys.  This tells me that they are targeting a second-round receiver

Cool, thanks Okeana. We have seen them draft players they never even shown interest in before too. But thanks for the work.

I like a lot of players on here for sure. I like that they talked with both Murphy and Newton, but don't really care for the OT's they talked
to that will be available after the first besides Suamataia and Paul. Really like Blake Fisher in this Draft and many others after the first round
even if some say it really falls off after the first round, I disagree a bit. Cannot think of all the names right now but there are about half a 
dozen OT's besides Fisher that could be really good at the next level.

Brian Thomas Jr will go in the 1st and could even be our pick at 18, but I like Adonai Mitchell just as much honestly. Really like Malachi 
Corley as I said in your thread on him, this guy is just a playmaker, hard to tackle and looks like the best player on the field regardless if he
is playing against a great team or not. Watched his team play against OSU last year and he was impressive.

They looked at my 3 favorite interior guys in JPJ, Barton and Zinter. Want Zinter bad in the mid to late rounds, he might not play this year, 
but he could be great in a year or two for us. Injury is the only reason Zinter won't be targeted early.

(04-06-2024, 06:38 PM)Okeana Wrote: These are the players I feel the Bengals are most interested in by position and my perceived interest level. I will also list the contract savings per year based on the top 5 contracts at that position(pick 18 contract value is 3.1 million)

Defensive Tackles (ESPY 25 Million)

1. Byron Murphy
2. Johnny Newton
3. T'Vondre Sweat
4. Justin Rogers
5. McKinnley Jackson
6. Maason Smith
7. Ruke Orhorhoro
8. Evan Anderson
9. Marcus Harris
10. Jordan Jefferson
11. Mekhi Wingo

Offensive Tackles (ESPY 16 Million)

1. Amarius Mims
2. Taliese Fuaga
3. JC Latham
4. Troy Fautanu
5. Kingsley Suamataia
6. Roger Rosengarten
7. Patrick Paul
8. Jalen Sundell

Wide Receiver (ESPY 25 Million)

1. Brian Thomas Jr
2. Adonai Mitchell
3. Ladd McConkey
4. Xavier Lagette
5. Xavier Worthy
6. Malachai Corley
7. Brendan Rice
8. Jacob Cowing
9. Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint

Defensive End (ESPY 25 Million)

1. Jared Verse
2. Laiatu Latu
3. Chop Robinson
4. Xavier Thomas
5. Mohammed Kamara
6. Jalyx Hunt
7. Nelson Ceaser
8. Jaylen Harrell
9. Gabriel Murphy

Tight Ends (ESPY 7 Million)

1. Brock Bowers
2. Erick All
3. Dallin Holker
4. AJ Barner
5. Ja'Tavion Sanders
6. Tip Reiman
7. Trey Knox

Running Backs(ESPY 3 million)

1. Blake Corum
2. Will Shipley
3. Audric Estime
4. Ray Davis
5. George Holani
6. Daijun Edwards
7. Kendall Milton

Interior Offensive Line(ESPY 8 million)

1. Graham Barton
2. Jackson Powers Johnson
3. Zak Zinter


Cornerbacks (ESPY 16 Million)

1. Mike Sainristil

Great work
I think our first pick will be one of these
Taliese Fuaga G/OT Oregon State
JC Latham OT Bama
Troy Fautanu OT Washington
Brian Thomas WR LSU
Byron Murphy DT Texas
Terrion Arnold CB Bama

(04-06-2024, 06:38 PM)Okeana Wrote: These are the players I feel the Bengals are most interested in by position and my perceived interest level.  I will also list the contract savings per year based on the top 5 contracts at that position(pick 18 contract value is 3.1 million)

Defensive Tackles (ESPY 25 Million)

1.  Byron Murphy
2.  Johnny Newton
3.  T'Vondre Sweat
4.  Justin Rogers
5.  McKinnley Jackson
6.  Maason Smith
7.  Ruke Orhorhoro
8.  Evan Anderson
9.  Marcus Harris
10.  Jordan Jefferson
11.  Mekhi Wingo

Offensive Tackles (ESPY 16 Million)

1.  Amarius Mims
2.  Taliese Fuaga
3.  JC Latham
4.  Troy Fautanu
5.  Kingsley Suamataia
6.  Roger Rosengarten
7.  Patrick Paul
8.  Jalen Sundell

Wide Receiver (ESPY 25 Million)

1. Brian Thomas Jr
2. Adonai Mitchell
3. Ladd McConkey
4. Xavier Lagette
5. Xavier Worthy
6. Malachai Corley
7.  Brendan Rice
8.  Jacob Cowing
9.  Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint

Defensive End (ESPY 25 Million)

1. Jared Verse
2. Laiatu Latu
3. Chop Robinson
4. Xavier Thomas
5. Mohammed Kamara
6. Jalyx Hunt
7. Nelson Ceaser
8. Jaylen Harrell
9. Gabriel Murphy

Tight Ends (ESPY 7 Million)

1.  Brock Bowers
2.  Erick All  
3.  Dallin Holker
4.  AJ Barner
5.  Ja'Tavion Sanders
6.  Tip Reiman
7. Trey Knox

Running Backs(ESPY 3 million)

1.  Blake Corum
2.  Will Shipley
3.  Audric Estime
4.  Ray Davis
5.  George Holani
6.  Daijun Edwards
7.  Kendall Milton

Interior Offensive Line(ESPY 8 million)

1. Graham Barton
2. Jackson Powers Johnson
3. Zak Zinter


Cornerbacks (ESPY 16 Million)

1.  Mike Sainristil

Are you using top 5 base salary or top 5 cap hit for these positional averages? Because If you're using base salary, you're selling the OT position short. For example, when I calculate the average cap hit of the top 5 tackles, as represented on the Spotrac site, I get ~$27M. So, subracting the value you gave ($3M) that would be a savings of ~$24M, and not the $16M as you listed. Also when applying top 5 cap hit average to DT, I come up with $23.7M top 5 avg, then subtracting the $3M rookie value leaving a savings of $20.7M, rather than the $25M that you listed.

I'm not pointing this out simply to be critical, but when examining potential positional contract value savings it would be nice to have everyone using the same data set.

(04-07-2024, 01:06 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Great work
I think our first pick will be one of these
Taliese Fuaga G/OT Oregon State
JC Latham OT Bama
Troy Fautanu OT Washington
Brian Thomas WR LSU
Byron Murphy DT Texas
Terrion Arnold CB Bama

I think first-round CB is totally off the table unless all their guys get taken and Mitchell Falls.

(04-07-2024, 01:30 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Are you using top 5 base salary or top 5 cap hit for these positional averages? Because If you're using base salary, you're selling the OT position short. For example, when I calculate the average cap hit of the top 5 tackles, as represented on the Spotrac site, I get ~$27M. So, subracting the value you gave ($3M) that would be a savings of ~$24M, and not the $16M as you listed. Also when applying top 5 cap hit average to DT, I come up with $23.7M top 5 avg, then subtracting the $3M rookie value leaving a savings of $20.7M, rather than the $25M that you listed.

I'm not pointing this out simply to be critical, but when examining potential positional contract value savings it would be nice to have everyone using the same data set.

The highest-paid right tackle in the NFL is Taylor at 20 million AVG per year.  I'm not calculating positional switch, positional increases year to year.  as far as DT goes, I'm looking at the interior defense group as a whole, but the top two guys were at 32 million a year, 4 and 5 are essentially 25 million, so I put the league average for a top 5 DT to be 28 Million. I could sit down and get exact predictive contract savings, but I just wanted to show that position group interest is, what rounds are those guys in, and what groups are not being focused.  For me its clear that Wide Receiver is a round 2/3 focus, DT has a wide variation in rounds 1-7 so that tells me that its a group of interest but not a priority early, and lastly the majority of first round guys they are interested in are Offensive Tackles.  

If I had to predict, just on this data, what their plan is.  1st OT, 2nd Receiver, 3rd DT/WR/RB/OT .  Tight ends/DT/Edge are all groups of interest at any point in the draft. 
Maybe an interior offensive line guy if they fall, but very little interest.  CB has almost zero interest, Linebacker has no interest, and Safety has no interest.  The Two players they have shown the most interest in are Amarius Mims and Erick All both with a combine, pro day, and top 30 visits.  

(04-07-2024, 02:30 PM)Okeana Wrote: I think first-round CB is totally off the table unless all their guys get taken and Mitchell Falls.

I don’t. Quinyon Mitchell has shot up and likely will push Terrion Arnold down. They’ve got Brown at RT. They’ve got Gesicki at TE. They’ve got Rankins at DT. But who is the experienced starter at corner? No one. They love Alabama secondary players and Arnold and Battle have played a lot of games together. I think if he’s there at 18 it will be him. I’d expect Byron Murphy or Brian Thomas very possible too.i disagree they will likely go Mitchell over Arnold. They usually go with players from college power teams in early rounds

(04-07-2024, 03:19 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: I don’t. Quinyon Mitchell has shot up and likely will  push Terrion Arnold down. They’ve got Brown at RT. They’ve got Gesicki at TE. They’ve got Rankins at DT. But who is the experienced starter at corner? No one. They love Alabama secondary players and Arnold and Battle have played a lot of games together. I think if he’s there at 18 it will be him. I’d expect Byron Murphy or Brian Thomas very possible too.i disagree they will likely go Arnold over Mitchell. They usually go with players from college power teams in early rounds

Great points, I am opening my mind to a Terrion Arnold pick at 18.

(04-07-2024, 03:19 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: I don’t. Quinyon Mitchell has shot up and likely will  push Terrion Arnold down. They’ve got Brown at RT. They’ve got Gesicki at TE. They’ve got Rankins at DT. But who is the experienced starter at corner? No one. They love Alabama secondary players and Arnold and Battle have played a lot of games together. I think if he’s there at 18 it will be him. I’d expect Byron Murphy or Brian Thomas very possible too.i disagree they will likely go Mitchell over Arnold. They usually go with players from college power teams in early rounds

again, the only corner they even talked to was a slot receiver from Michigan, what that tells me is they will probably sign a veteran or two after the draft.  They are just waiting to see if a guy falls later in the draft.  I'm not arguing for or against the player, I'm talking about the position group

(04-07-2024, 03:44 PM)Okeana Wrote: again, the only corner they even talked to was a slot receiver from Michigan, what that tells me is they will probably sign a veteran or two after the draft.  They are just waiting to see if a guy falls later in the draft.  I'm not arguing for or against the player, I'm talking about the position group

You’ve done great work but they are very interested in Arnold. Watch they will talk to him at the combine you’ll see.

Texas DT T’Vondre Sweat was arrested early this morning and charged with DWI, according to @KXAN_News in Austin.

Sweat is viewed as a potential day 2 draft pick.

— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) April 7, 2024

(04-07-2024, 05:35 PM)pally Wrote:

Texas DT T’Vondre Sweat was arrested early this morning and charged with DWI, according to @KXAN_News in Austin.

Sweat is viewed as a potential day 2 draft pick.

— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) April 7, 2024

That’s not a good look

Day 1/#18:
OT: Fuaga, Latham, Mims, Fautanu
DT: Murphy, Newton
WR: Thomas
-------Likely Gone------
TE: Bowers
CB: Arnold, Mitchell
OT: Fashanu
--------Trade Down-------
OT: Guyton, Morris
WR: Mitchell
IOL: Barton, Powers-Johnson
CB: DeJean

(04-07-2024, 03:19 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: I don’t. Quinyon Mitchell has shot up and likely will  push Terrion Arnold down. They’ve got Brown at RT. They’ve got Gesicki at TE. They’ve got Rankins at DT. But who is the experienced starter at corner? No one. They love Alabama secondary players and Arnold and Battle have played a lot of games together. I think if he’s there at 18 it will be him. I’d expect Byron Murphy or Brian Thomas very possible too.i disagree they will likely go Mitchell over Arnold. They usually go with players from college power teams in early rounds

I could see Arnold to us if available. 

(04-07-2024, 10:13 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: Day 1/#18:
OT: Fuaga, Latham, Mims, Fautanu
DT: Murphy, Newton
WR: Thomas
-------Likely Gone------
TE: Bowers
CB: Arnold, Mitchell
OT: Fashanu
--------Trade Down-------
OT: Guyton, Morris
WR: Mitchell
IOL: Barton, Powers-Johnson
CB: DeJean

I may be wrong, but I don't see us trading down since we have 10 picks, maybe up in either round 1 or more likely in round 2.

(04-07-2024, 11:36 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: I could see Arnold to us if available. 

Why?

Solid list.


Bengals love grabbing home town kids so Erick All is definitely higher on their boards. One tweek I would suggest is Maason Smith a little higher. They sent Marrion Hobby to LSU pro day and had him in for a top 30 visit.