bfiner Mock (2025)

[*bfine32*]

I've done one this year (not counting the dreaded mock) and I usually like to get in 3 before the draft. This one looks quite a bit different than my bfirst:
https://thebengalsboard.com/thread-39998.html


RD1- TYLER BOOKER/OG  (6’5”/325)

The temptation is to go D-line on this especially exterior. Still, after Carter (DE) and Mason (DT) you get many players rated similarly, so we’ll focus on that in later rounds. TB is hands down the best interior o-lineman in the draft and only “falls” to us because of lack of versatility. Plug Booker in at LG and don’t worry about it for the next decade.


RD2: JACK SAWYER/DE (6’4”/260)

The “Modern Day Warrior” is the perfect replacement for Sam Hubbard. Same game, same school, same birth state.  Hell, he even wears the same elbow brace. Jack is never going to lead the league in sacks, even though he did post 4.5 sacks in the college playoffs alone; but he is going to set the edge, give you 100%, and pressure the QB


RD3: TY ROBINSON/DT (6’5”/288)


Ty is undersized for the interior at 288 but he’s strong. 28 reps at the combine was 2nd among defensive interior linemen. Ty may not be a full-time starter but he has shown the ability to get to the QB with 7 sacks this past season. Brandon Fiske was the best interior rookie D-lineman in the NFL this past year. Compare Ty’s numbers to his.


RD4: JONAS SANKER/SAF (6’0’/205)


Sometimes you wonder why a player is ranked so low and Jonas fits this category for me. He has good size, sub 4.5 speed and can jump out of the building. Is he productive? 107 tackles, 11 PBUs, and 3 FFs last year. Give Stone one more year to see if he returns to 2023 form, if not rise with sank


RD5: CONNOR COLBY/OG (6’6/309)


Corn-feed interior olineman from Iowa. This dude cracked the starting lineup as a Freshman at RG and stayed there. He has limited experience at RT and LG but IDC. I want a strong RG who is durable and has shown he can compete and excel at the highest level


RD6: JAYLIN LANE/WR (5’10””/191)


Special Teams demon with 4.3 speed. Excels at gunner and in the return game. Jaylin doesn’t have an extensive route tree but does great with YAC.Where could this help us? All those screens/reverses we run with Chase that seem to always go for about 1.5 yards

[NATI BENGALS]

Drafting guys to play the same position they were playing does make a lot of sense. I wonder if anybody has ever looked at the stats on that? As far as success rate of draft picks playing the exact same spot they did their final year in college vs moving them.

Booker is a blue chip player from a big time program at a position of need. When the stars align. This would feel like the Jonah pick to me minus the size concern.
Sawyer in 2 feels like a solid move with a low ceiling. For some reason Sawyer seems maxed out to me.

Haven't paid any attention to Ty Robinson until now. Holy shit I was slipping.


Scary scouting report quote on Colby "His pass protection is troubling, with areas of concern that might not be correctable." https://www.nfl.com/prospects/connor-colby/3200434f-4c06-9214-e68b-4d4ee96d1732

[sandwedge]

I can't decide if I like it or not. Very good players, but not clean. I would give it a B- or B

[Essex Johnson]

solid

[*bfine32*]

(03-29-2025, 05:07 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: Drafting guys to play the same position they were playing does make a lot of sense. I wonder if anybody has ever looked at the stats on that? As far as success rate of draft picks playing the exact same spot they did their final year in college vs moving them.

Booker is a blue chip player from a big time program at a position of need. When the stars align. This would feel like the Jonah pick to me minus the size concern.
Sawyer in 2 feels like a solid move with a low ceiling. For some reason Sawyer seems maxed out to me.

Haven't paid any attention to Ty Robinson until now. Holy shit I was slipping.


Scary scouting report quote on Colby "His pass protection is troubling, with areas of concern that might not be correctable." https://www.nfl.com/prospects/connor-colby/3200434f-4c06-9214-e68b-4d4ee96d1732

Many would love to have Walter Nolan at #17 and Ty had as good of a year. Nolan has a 1st round grade and Ty does not because Walter had a headstart. 

Nolen was THE #1 prospect in the Nation when he came out of High School, but Robinson was not. Of course, Nolen being 2-yers younger is a plus for him. 

There's talk of teams moving Nolen down their boards or removing him completely. He do NO testing or drills at the combine and all he did at his Pro day was bench (1 fewer rep than Robinson)

[sandwedge]

(03-30-2025, 03:36 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Many would love to have Walter Nolan at #17 and Ty had as good of a year. Nolan has a 1st round grade and Ty does not because Walter had a headstart. 

Nolen was THE #1 prospect in the Nation when he came out of High School, but Robinson was not. Of course, Nolen being 2-yers younger is a plus for him. 

There's talk of teams moving Nolen down their boards or removing him completely. He do NO testing or drills at the combine and all he did at his Pro day was bench (1 fewer rep than Robinson)

That isn't a good look. Unfortunately, it's gonna backfire on him.

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Robinson is probably my favourite player this draft lol: if we did this, I'd be over the moon.

[Whatever]

So, the RAS scores for OL the Bengals have taken in the 1st this century...

Levi Jones 9.21
Andre Smith 4.03
Cedric Ogbuehi N/A(didn't test)
Kevin Zeitler 7.66
Jonah Williams 5.49
Billy Price N/A(didn't test)
Amarius Mims 9.53

Other notable Bengals drafted this century...

Andrew Whitworth 9.11
Clint Bolling 8.14
Eric Steinbach 10.0

Tyler Booker 3.93

[Bengalstripes9]

I like the draft but would prefer defense in round 1 and guard in round 2 for better value.

Robinson in the 3rd sounds like a good pick.

[*ochocincos*]

Solid.
Would improve multiple areas and give a few immediate role players.

Bengals dug themselves into a huge hole needing a Guard in a class that is arguably not stacked at that position.
With that said, any Rd 1/2 draft pick at Guard should realistically be able to compete with the guys they got and earn a starting gig because the Guard room is, in fact, that poor.

[3wt]

(Yesterday, 11:51 AM)Whatever Wrote: So, the RAS scores for OL the Bengals have taken in the 1st this century...

Levi Jones 9.21
Andre Smith 4.03
Cedric Ogbuehi N/A(didn't test)
Kevin Zeitler 7.66
Jonah Williams 5.49
Billy Price N/A(didn't test)
Amarius Mims 9.53

Other notable Bengals drafted this century...

Andrew Whitworth 9.11
Clint Bolling 8.14
Eric Steinbach 10.0

Tyler Booker 3.93

Larry Allen's was 3.83

And Eric Steinbach was the guy that gave up the sack to Kim Von Oelhoffen that destroyed Carson Palmer's knee.

[*ochocincos*]

(Yesterday, 11:51 AM)Whatever Wrote: So, the RAS scores for OL the Bengals have taken in the 1st this century...

Levi Jones 9.21
Andre Smith 4.03
Cedric Ogbuehi N/A(didn't test)
Kevin Zeitler 7.66
Jonah Williams 5.49
Billy Price N/A(didn't test)
Amarius Mims 9.53

Other notable Bengals drafted this century...

Andrew Whitworth 9.11
Clint Bolling 8.14
Eric Steinbach 10.0

Tyler Booker 3.93

(Yesterday, 05:58 PM)3wt Wrote: Larry Allen's was 3.83

And Eric Steinbach was the guy that gave up the sack to Kim Von Oelhoffen that destroyed Carson Palmer's knee.

Maybe I just never fully understood how OL blocking works, but I never saw a huge deal in IOL athleticism unless having to block laterally or at the 2nd level.
If Bengals need/want their Guards to do a lot of that, it may make a difference, but if they're primarily staying home to pass block or driving north-south, guys like Booker would be perfectly fine.

[SunsetBengal]

(Yesterday, 06:22 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Maybe I just never fully understood how OL blocking works, but I never saw a huge deal in IOL athleticism unless having to block laterally or at the 2nd level.
If Bengals need/want their Guards to do a lot of that, it may make a difference, but if they're primarily staying home to pass block or driving north-south, guys like Booker would be perfectly fine.

That is a very good point. How can they expect to fully utilize "athletic" OL, when they drop back and throw the ball 50X/game? If they want to run a wide zone, then they need to adjust the overall offensive game plan.

[sandwedge]

(Yesterday, 05:58 PM)3wt Wrote: Larry Allen's was 3.83

And Eric Steinbach was the guy that gave up the sack to Kim Von Oelhoffen that destroyed Carson Palmer's knee.

To be fair, that was a very late hit

[*Synric*]

I'm a massive Tyler Booker fan even calling him the best OL in the draft and although I think Membou has the most upside and has a chance to steal that title Booker is going to be better year one. That said I would rather my first round guard to have a little more run scheme versatility even if they don't really need it.

[Whatever]

(Yesterday, 06:22 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Maybe I just never fully understood how OL blocking works, but I never saw a huge deal in IOL athleticism unless having to block laterally or at the 2nd level.
If Bengals need/want their Guards to do a lot of that, it may make a difference, but if they're primarily staying home to pass block or driving north-south, guys like Booker would be perfectly fine.

Well, a lot of the modern run game is predicted on the OL having to make reach blocks and,/or climbing to the second level and getting blocks there.

Like, Larry Allen's name has been invoked in this thread, but the game was a lot different then.  The FB was still considered a starter and much of the responsibility for getting a second level block fell on them instead of the OL.  RB was also a much more valuable position because a lot of the responsibility fell on them to win one on one's, break tackles, and get yards after contact.  If a RB went Top 5 in those days, you didn't bat an eye.  Teams would trade up for them.  

Denver was really the first team I remember going heavily to zone blocking with athletic OL that could get out on the second level consistently.  This also devalued the RB because they had to win fewer one on one's, and they usually relied on later draft picks and rode the hot hand, which gave rise to the philosophy that "you can always find RB's later".  Unfortunately, folks try to marry unathletic OL with that philosophy and it just doesn't work.

The screen game is also a big part of the game that suffers when you have an unathletic OL.  It asks your linemen to get enough of a piece of the DL that they can't be immediately in the QB's lap, then release and get second level blocks down field.  When they can't do that, the screen gets blown up.  And we've been a bad screen team for awhile.  

[Luvnit2]

(7 hours ago)Synric Wrote: I'm a massive Tyler Booker fan even calling him the best OL in the draft and although I think Membou has the most upside and has a chance to steal that title Booker is going to be better year one. That said I would rather my first round guard to have a little more run scheme versatility even if they don't really need it.

I like Booker as well, I think he is immediate upgrade and plug and play day 1.

But, I like Donavan Jackson more because he has the ability to also play tackle. I think Booker goes in top 20 and Jackson goes in top 32 (round 1).

Nice job Bfine. You put guys on th radar I did not know.