What Are Your Priorities In This Draft?!

[*ochocincos*]

(04-16-2025, 01:36 PM)Whatever Wrote: A 3.08 RAS after testing tends to negatively affect your draft stock.  

But most 2-down NTs typically have lower RAS.
DJ Reader, for example, had a 2.98 RAS.

Would people think Reader should have been a 5th rounder looking back?

While TJ Slaton, the new Bengals NT, had a 7.96 cumulative RAS, his agility drills were not good (2.34 RAS for shuttle, 3.20 RAS for 3-cone).
Slaton also went in 5th round.

It's possible Bengals looked up typical athleticism for NTs and figured it's not as big of a deal, and they liked his tape, and as such could have had him projected closer to Top 100.

I guess the point I'm making is Bengals wanted who they believed would be a good NT, they had a 3rd comp pick as "extra" to use, and didn't want to risk waiting until 115 (or 149) to get a NT. We won't really know where they had Jackson slotted, but if it really was a 4th rounder, I don't see it being crazy terrible if they took him half a round early.
Most NTs get undervalued anyway on draft day, and they fall to 5th round. Maybe Jackson would have done the same, but I wouldn't have risked waiting to 149 to get him. I would have pulled the trigger at 115 if he was still there.