Synric's Senior Bowl Mock

[SunsetBengal]

(01-31-2025, 04:41 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I thought PFN's blurb about Stewart felt pretty on-point.

They compared Stewart's elite traits but some boom-or-bust potential to the likes of Walker but also Jadeveon Clowney, both 1st overall selections.
Clowney ended up a 3-time All-Star, but he never reached double-digit sacks in a season.
Across his 11-year career, he averaged 7.0 sacks a season.

Walker is on pace after 3 seasons to be better than Clowney sack-wise, but neither contributed much their rookie seasons (Clowney primarily because he only played 4 games).

If Bengals can get someone to step into the DE spot opposite Hendrickson for 2025 who can for sure put up 7+ sacks, that would help allow for someone like Stewart to develop and serve more as a rotational guy his first season. Maybe Hubbard will be back to form after an offseason of recovery, or maybe Murphy is actually ready to take that next step, re-sign Ossai to cover a year, or maybe sign some other veteran for $15 mill or under.

I don't know if you can say though that Clowney really lived up to his 1st round (and especially 1st overall) hype.
Hope Stewart would end up being more productive than Clowney if Bengals were to take him in 1st round.

That's a good point, the "other" DE doesn't need to be a sack master, but he does need to be able to apply consistent pressure and be able to stop the run. Which is exactly why pre-injury Hubbard was the perfect compliment to Trey Hendrickson. I'll be curious to see the reports on Hubbard's surgery/recovery process. Having him back to being himself would take a lot of pressure off of the need to fill that spot with a producer.