Grade This Draft

[BFritz21]

I know you can't fully know how great a draft is until usually a few years down the road, especially since players like Mims likely won't start this year, but this is about addressing needs, value, potential, and what you think they could or should have done.

I think we nailed this draft and set ourselves up for the future. I would have liked to draft a center a lot earlier, but, while I don't trust Pollack to coach-him-up, I think Matt Lee could end up being a serviceable center. He was the third-ranked center in the nation in 2022.

Vote and you can leave a detailed analysis or opinions on a few players or nothing at all.

I'll give it an A with the potential to be an A+.

Mims

ABSOLUTELY nailed the top pick. Like Mel Kiper says, with more experience, he could have been a top five pick.

The fact that he doesn't need to start this year helps him learn and gain experience.

A+ on this pick.

Jenkins

We need a run stopper on our D and Jenkins is a hell of a run stuffer. He doesn't offer much in the pass rush department but our division had two of the top five teams in rush attempts in 2023 and three in the top ten, so this was a genius pick and well thought-out by our coaching staff.

A on this pick.

Burton

Dude is a speedster and has the big play ability. He needs to work on his route-running a bit, but that's not too hard to fine-tune with NFL coaching. I didn't really understand the pick since we have Higgins, but either getting jump-started for life after Higgins or planning on trading him. Either way, great pick. He makes our offense that much more dangerous.

Seems to be have a bit of a character concern (maturity), but we have Burrow and other leaders on this team, so let's just hope that he values winning and success more than anything that could get him in trouble.

A here but could be an A+++.

Jackson

Bring him in on pass downs and let him get to the quarterback. Has good speed and agility for his size, which I think will make him a nightmare to block. They say his size might be a problem, but you know who else was a smaller DT? Geno Atkins. I'm not saying he'll be as good as Atkins, but he is a little bigger and has nice potential.

A here.

All

He was on a bad team and still looked good, so I'm excited about this pick. He's going to be a reliable target for Burrow and has a lot of upside and potential. If he were on a better team than Iowa, I believe he would have been taken higher than here. It's hard not to like a guy that's 6'5 and will be a safety outlet for Burrow. He's too athletic for backers and too big for safeties, so choose to double him but then who's left for Chase and our other receivers?

B+ here just so I don't look like a Homer but I think it's an A.

Newton

Would have liked them to go corner a bit earlier, but Newton is good value for where they got him and, with Dax Hill looking like he'll play corner, it's a good pick to bolster our DB room.

Probably won't be an instant impact player but I give it a B.

McLachlan

I didn't really see the point in doubling up here at TE, especially when we need IOL so bad, but he's not the worst pick because he was good value for where he was expected to be drafted. He's a good blocker and can get YAC, so looks like a good pick.

I'll give it a B.

Johnson

Athletic freak. I don't have much faith in him against the run, but I think he can offer something as a pass rusher if he can get coached to use his hands better,

B.

Anthony

Depth and special teams player. Not a bad pick this late.

Lee

Like I said, not much faith in Pollack but I think Lee has the ability to be a solid center with a little coaching.

B+.

Like I said, I give it an A with the potential for an A+ because we took some players to address immediate needs but also to build for the future.

What is your grade?

Like I said, feel free to give as much or as little in your evaluation as you want or nothing at all.

[GodFather]

Too many "if's" in this draft. Players really could go either way in this year's draft versus past ones. I could easily see this draft turning into an A as well as an overall bust.

I do think this years draft and free agency is an absolute response to last years performance and that is a good thing because of the glaring problems we had, let's see if the players available at the time of the Bengals pick are up to the challenge and turn this year's draft into a success and hopefully on the road to a Super Bowl ring.

[BenZoo2]

I give a b/b+. I would have given an A had they gone iol earlier.

In particular I will be watching Christian Haynes vs Burton vs other wrs they could have gotten later if they had switched these two.

I will be watching All vs McCormack as well.

Now if they bring in risner or Connor Williams or similar type of quality veteran the whole off season gets an A from me.


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[SouthernFan]

I’ll give it a B overall, but really it’s too soon to even guess. Lots of high potential with several caution flags.  Experience, injuries, character/maturity questions. Really thought they had learned a lesson on taking injured and injury prone players in the draft.

Hoping for the best and maybe this can become an A down the road.

[BFritz21]

(04-28-2024, 06:42 PM)BenZoo2 Wrote: I give a b/b+.  I would have given an A had they gone iol earlier.

In particular I will be watching Christian Haynes vs Burton vs other wrs they could have gotten later if they had switched these two.

I will be watching All vs McCormack as well.  

Now if they bring in risner or Connor Williams or similar type of quality veteran the whole off season gets an A from me.


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Like I said, IOL is the only thing that I'm upset they didn't draft earlier and I've spent a lot of time since the draft and since this post wondering if we can find a quality free agent gets cut because there's always a few surprise cuts, especially at last cuts. I would have loved Haynes because I think he's an animal.

I do think we got Burton a little later than expected, so he could pay off, but you're right in the difference a receiver would have made in comparison to protecting Burrow, which is most important.

I've been keeping my eye on the free agent IOL to hope that I'll be pleasantly surprised when we bring one in.

[Gdale_Bengal]

C

They took shots on some players with high risk, even Mims.

Mims
Burton
All

These guys all come with some kind of baggage. Mims needs a ton of reps to know if he’s even worth pick 18 and has a lower body injury. I heard more about that stupid picture than his tape. Burton has character risks. All has several season ending injuries. Our best selection IMO was Kris Jenkins. I feel like he’s going to be the best pick of this draft.

Honestly, I don’t trust Frank Pollack. I know time will tell, but I feel like if another team drafted Mims he has a better chance at reaching his potential. And that both frustrates me and angers me, because the front office still hasn’t fired this guy yet.

But, if the Mims selection does work out, the other 9 picks almost doesn’t matter. An upright Burrow results in championship runs.

[Nati#1]

Mims and Burton will be great players.

[NATI BENGALS]

Went with a B. Want to give an A but can't.

I love all the picks. But the question marks on some of our home run swings prevent me from giving an A. If the home run swings were cleaner I would give an A.

I still have concerns about our LB depth and interior OL depth.

[Nicomo Cosca]

B+

I’ll never be mad about taking some big swings.

[007BengalsFan]

For right now Im going to give it a C. Too many he could be great if..... draft picks. Some of these guys will turn out to be good contributors, some wont. The future will let us know how well we drafted this year.

[casear2727]

(04-28-2024, 04:57 PM)I gave it a B- for now. Wrote: Mims

"ABSOLUTELY nailed the top pick. Like Mel Kiper says, with more experience, he could have been a top five pick."

Literally no one knows if we nailed this or not, but I would bet that he becomes very good.



Jenkins

"We need a run stopper on our D and Jenkins is a hell of a run stuffer. He doesn't offer much in the pass rush department but our division had two of the top five teams in rush attempts in 2023 and three in the top ten, so this was a genius pick and well thought-out by our coaching staff."

The most solid pick in the draft as of today. 



Burton

"Dude is a speedster and has the big play ability. He needs to work on his route-running a bit, but that's not too hard to fine-tune with NFL coaching. I didn't really understand the pick since we have Higgins, but either getting jump-started for life after Higgins or planning on trading him. Either way, great pick. He makes our offense that much more dangerous."

I think Burton will transform the offense.



Jackson

"Bring him in on pass downs and let him get to the quarterback. Has good speed and agility for his size, which I think will make him a nightmare to block. They say his size might be a problem, but you know who else was a smaller DT? Geno Atkins. I'm not saying he'll be as good as Atkins, but he is a little bigger and has nice potential."

Jackson is not small at all, the kid is 330 pounds and his game is not remotely close to Geno.  He has quite a bit of development to undergo and even then he will never be a DJ Reader, much less a Geno.  But hopefully he can grow into a short yardage ball stopper.  I wouldnt expect too much early.



All

"He was on a bad team and still looked good, so I'm excited about this pick. He's going to be a reliable target for Burrow and has a lot of upside and potential. If he were on a better team than Iowa, I believe he would have been taken higher than here. It's hard not to like a guy that's 6'5 and will be a safety outlet for Burrow. He's too athletic for backers and too big for safeties, so choose to double him but then who's left for Chase and our other receivers?"

Im pretty sure All's issues were 99% his injuries, not his team, but I agree he has very good potential.



Newton

"Would have liked them to go corner a bit earlier, but Newton is good value for where they got him and, with Dax Hill looking like he'll play corner, it's a good pick to bolster our DB room."

Newton is likely battling for a roster spot every year he is with us.



McLachlan

"I didn't really see the point in doubling up here at TE, especially when we need IOL so bad, but he's not the worst pick because he was good value for where he was expected to be drafted. He's a good blocker and can get YAC, so looks like a good pick."

McLachlan can become an excellent weapon and he has the potential to be the reason we do not resign Gesicki next season.



Johnson

"Athletic freak. I don't have much faith in him against the run, but I think he can offer something as a pass rusher if he can get coached to use his hands better,"

Young player who never took the next step after his sophomore season.  Likely practice squad candidate.



Anthony

"Depth and special teams player. Not a bad pick this late."

Another practice squad candidate.



Lee

"Like I said, not much faith in Pollack but I think Lee has the ability to be a solid center with a little coaching."


Lee has starter potential in 2 years, I assume we extend Karras next season.



B- for me for this class with some risky guys that could turn into stars.

[Shake n Blake]

I went B+. Would be higher, but there are some definite risks.

[Bengal Dude]

Went with a B.

The only pick I truly feel comfortable with is Jenkins. I will give the Bengals credit in that they went with something they haven't done too much of lately, and that's go with a home run pick. Either the guy will be an awesome player or it'll be a swing and a miss. I do agree with something Paul Dehner mentioned and that this draft felt like a 2025 draft.

[Isaac Curtis: The Real #85]

I am in the B/B- range.

I loved Mims & Jenkins.

I liked Jackson and Lee a LOT.

In isolation, I would have liked McLachlan a lot. One of the ESPN guru's had him in the top 5 TE's (Kiper?). Great value there in the 6th. But drafting 2 TEs (after signing Gesicki and Sample and Hudson) does not make a ton of sense to me.

I don't care for the Burton pick. Though I'll acknowledge there is potential upside there. A lot. But I do not buy him in the slot & view him as more of a Higgins replacement/hedge. Which would mean we really did not replace Boyd. The slot eould be Jones/Irwin. Chase in the slot sometimes?

The Ole Miss guys are meh for me. Likely PS. Which is fine for 6th/7th round guys. But I did not think we needed a DE (Guard or RB or LB), especially a raw one. But he does have decent traits. But Johnson seems like Gunter 2.0 to me. And I seriously doubt he beats out Ossai or Sample to make the roster.

Likewise Anthony is a versatile DB but we've had trouble finding a use for Hill who has similar versatility. If Ivey/Anderson are healthy (big if), we just have too many DBs (12). Maybe he could beat Davis out.

Newton os alright as a versatile/high floor guy with great intangibles. He's a captain (as were Jenkins, Jackson, and All). But I thought there were some higher ceiling guys available earlier, which brings me to....

All. Nothing against the player. Iowa is a TE factory. Captain at Michigan. But golly, his injury history is worrisome AND we could have gotten him later, methinks. Or used this pick on other needs (OG, RB, CB). I loved Punter Tory Taylor from Iowa who went in the 4th. Way too rich for my blood. But would have almost preferred him to All in the 4th.

We helped ourselves in a lot of areas. And if Burton & All hit, it will look great. But I am worried about not getting OG help. I am worried about counting on Hill to be a factor at CB. I thought we missed a gooden opportunity to upgrade slot WR. And as much as I like Jackson & Jenkins, neither is DJ Reader.

[IcoHolic]

I gave it a "B", not over the top fanboy positive... gotta maintain my internet clout status.

I have no idea... but watching Mims breakdowns over the weekend has been enlightening.... It's all there. Sometimes a draft can be defined by that one guy that is a 10 year solution to one of the harder positions to fill. I'd love to see it.

That 170lbs Turkish Get-up Jenkins made look easy was also a highlight of the weekend. I hate those things.

[Luvnit2]

As the OP stated, hard to tell how the draft shapes out. Injuries may dictate success or failure, but only one player had serious injury concerns in college.

I rated it a solid "B" with potential to be an "A+".

I feel the IOL group was very weak, so I am glad we did not reach for one yet seemed to have a potential very good center in round 7.

I am glad we did not draft another punter but grabbed a good one to compete with Robbins in camp. May the best man win.

I think Burton will end up being one of the biggest steals of the draft.

I give us an "A" for value picks. We got a projected 3rd TE in round 6 is one example. We got a center in round 7 who could be a major contributor when Karras runs out of gas. If Lee progresses and wins the job in 2025, we also will win on the cap front which matters in building our team.

All is a major risk. He is the biggest boom or bust in my opinion, but I gamble, and it appears he is a savvy blocker who can stretch the field, a 3 down TE so I understand the pick.

CB concerns me, but not sure if we should have drafted a CB over Mims and Jenkins.

I don't see Mims as a high-risk pick. People want to point to our poor picks of Ced and Fisher years ago, but Mims is a beast of a man. Mims has something those guys and Jonah lacked, brute strength. How many times did we see Jonah on the left or right side get pushed into our QB by bull rushes? I don't see Mims having that happen much.

Rumor has it the Steelers wanted Mims. We alway say the Steelers seem to take our guy. But, in this case I am very glad we got Mims and the Steelers did not.

[3wt]

You never fully know what you have here. The only thing I would like to have had that we did not get here was a quality guard.

But I think MIMs' floor is super high and his ceiling is through the roof - the only concern is his staying healthy

Jenkins sounds like a stud in the middle who will penetrate better than we expect. The guy is a total baller

Burton is a steal. The guy is going to finally give us a second guy who routinely gets separation. And again, he's a baller. LOVE the competitive nature. As long as he can self regulate better than Pacman I think we'll be OK. But look for teams - particularly the Steelers - to do everything to push his buttons at critical times of games. We need to play him the tape from the 2015 playoff game against the Steelers for education.

Jackson - has upside. Hopefully he grows into his talent.

All - again, if he's healthy - has the chance to be a very dangerous full service TE. Again - a baller

Newsome - I LOVE this guy!!! He's got the edge you need in a corner. He WANTs to play the outside. Total baller

MacLaughlin - I love that some people are talking about his blocking skills. But what I was hearing was that he is a great receiver

Johnson - has the tools to be formidable on the edge - and guys who can train him. He also sounds totally psyched to be playing. None of this "Oh yeah, I'm happy to be playing for the Bengals" it's like he is totally juiced to be rushing the passer

Anthony - along with Newsom is a ball hawk and a hard worker

Lee - A steal in the 7th and gives me a lot more confidence in the interior than any of our current backups. I big upgrade.


So this is just a gut. But I think we finally have depth at the tackle position and the upside to be amazing at the position. While it was a mistake to let Reader go, I think Jenkins and Jackson will definitely soften to blow and team with Rankins to form a really good interior. Burton takes us to a new level getting receivers open for Burrow and we finally have a deep TE room

Opportunity to be an A+

[Whatever]

I gave this one a B. There's potential for this draft to yield a number of starters, but also the chance it blows up in our face like an ACME dynamite kit.

Mims has shown enough on tape that I'm not too worried about his development. The concern is whether he can stay on the field. Still, I was happy we nabbed one of the top T prospects and can hopefully close the revolving door at RT.

Jenkins is a super safe pick with a high floor and significant upside.I have no doubts that he will develop into at least a quality starter. If some of these other risky picks don't pan out, he's gonna be the guy we look back on in a few years as the saving grace of this draft.

Burton is an amazing talent, but the characters concerns are there for a reason. Still, we desperately needed a WR3, so I get the gamble. Would've liked to address WR in the 2nd, but the run on WR's had decimated the board.

Jackson is a massive reach for a Day 3 level talent with serious character concerns of his own. I don't see him ever being a quality starter as a talent, and it doesn't give me hope when a kid with a felony drug arrest sounds completely stoned when the team calls him to pick him.

All, I don't get at all. I'm not spending anything more than a 7th on a guy with spinal surgery in his medical history. Then, the run on RB's starts right after the pick, decimating that board. Newton was a solid pick and kind of got the draft headed in the right direction again. McLachlan was a solid Day 3 TE prospect that some were extremely high on, but he makes the All pick even more of a head scratcher. Johnson was a late gamble on a freakishly athletic edge rusher, and those are always worth taking. Anthony is versatile, and that may help him stick as the 4th S. Lee is an intriguing C prospect.

[JoeyB2023]

Gave it an A-
I’ve wanted the bengals to go big over athletic for years on the online and they were able to get both here in mims. The sky is the limit with this guy. Only knock is reps but he will get that and much more behind both brown twins at tackle. This pick made too much sense.
Good pick
I would’ve liked to see the move up for Newton but I also loved Kris Jenkins so my thought was if u don’t move up I’m only happy if u get Jenkins and they did. Jenkins is going to be a force for us against the run and will provide the edge and spark and attitude we need now reader gone. Future team captain. Great pick.
Jermaine burton was
Exactly where I would consider receiver just cuz of the value and knowing guys would fall. Burton is special and with burrow and an oline with time higgins chase burton jones gesicki is gonna be fuuuun. Also brings a chip in his shoulder which this offense lacks imo. Can’t be just chase. I want guys with on field attitude problemsz. Burton one.
Great value great pick.
Mckinnley jackson could be my fav pick just cuz of what it solidifies which is the defensive line. We got our NT we got Jenkins as well with Murphy and Trey need more pass rush off the edge depth wise tho.
Great pick.
Erik all I can live with because now on day 3 it’s appropriate to target tight end or running back or linebacker. There’s potential here if he can stay healthy. He has big upside with his size soft hands and toughness. Time will tell.
Good pick. Timing was right.
Love tanner Mcglaughlin tho and think he’s gonna push for the back up spot in time. He was one of my favorites coming out
Like
Newton doesn’t move the needle much for me but we will see

Only pick after the tight ends that interest me are Cedric Johnson and Matt Lee. I think Lee needs all the reps at squat bench clean and dead lift he can get while also takkking a ton of first team reps. If we can move Karras to left guard Matt Lee
The steal of the draft and he’s a good player great pick

[Bengalion]

As long as Mims doesn't turn out to be a bust I think we'll be fine. Though we're going to need a top 10 defense to get back to the SB. That has me most worried. I know Joe was hurt last year, but our D wasn't it. The only pick I strongly dislike is Erick All. He underwent season-ending back surgery in 2022, and he says he's fully recovered from that injury but suffered a torn ACL last October that he's still rehabbing. There better options on the board in the fourth round, but other than that, I'm fine with our draft.

B+