Your 2025 Draft Grade: The Poll

[Frank Booth]

I'll take a draft expert's opinion over bfine's lol 25 year old rookies have historically not worked out

[NUGDUKWE]

I went with C-
I saw PFF gave us a C which put us in they're bottom 3.
Stewart- Not a fan he was the one player i did not want. To throw another 1st rd pick at a position that we just failed to hit on a couple years ago on another player that had extremely low production that you barely met with is dumb.

Knight- I like the player not the spot. Just his age alone (which i think he's 24 turning 25 right before camp) says that he's most likely maxed out as a player although may increase is start immediately upside. It limits his future. The ultimate goal is to find very good starters that you can extend on your team that is extremely tough outside of the top 2 rounds. Knight is all but guaranteed not to be extended at the time of drafting. To pass up a starting caliber guard or the chance to trade down is dumb as well.

Fairchild - i like the player and think he may have been undervalued so his draft position seems good. Still a bigger risk than I want to take waiting until the 3rd rd to select a guard when you don't have a starting guard on your roster. Should've been a top priority heading into this off-season.

I'm fine with the rest of the draft.

The Bengals are stuck in they're ways and it's severely hampering our chances at the ultimate goal. We draft players based on need which this draft has made extremely obvious. Taking an DE in rd 1 to replace a player on his final year yet again going back to a mold that has worked out horribly for us. We signed Higgins and Chase but yet again unnecessarily front load the contracts to limit our ability to maximize our free agent haul to limit the need of the draft as much as possible. If we had saved some money this year we could've resigned Trey and probably a starting caliber guard. Allowing us to go best player available like Harmon, Jihad or Zabel all better prospects than Stewart.

[BrownAssClown]

I gave this draft a solid B.
The only pick I didn't like was Stewart at 17 with Derrick Harman still on the board and of course Pittsburgh got him.
If Stewart pans out, this grade moves to an A+ and I'll gladly eat some crow under the Richard Simmons Memorial Rainbow.

[NUGDUKWE]

(11 hours ago)Ell Prez Wrote: Because if he hits (just basic statistics makes any draft pick hitting a low number), then you can’t really resign him and you have to replace him again with draft capital and you have to hit again. If he’s 20 and hits, you resign him and your next pick hits…you now have 2 really good players as opposed to 1 on the roster.

He looked good as a 26 year old man playing against college boys. How’s he doing to do against grown nfl men? Well see

Yeah. I think age alone gives our 4th rd linebacker to be a better player for us just on the basis of potential growth and length of time he is with the team. It's easy to say we don't like 2nd contracts anyway but it is tough to hit on players and we've all seen it's not easy to replace players in the draft. To do that in the 2nd rd when your chances of hitting are slightly higher it's a wasted opportunity. 

Also easy to say we are in win now mode so we value a player that has more upside right now. But may want to share that with the team because they haven't attacked the off-season like we are in any kind of special window.

[Bengalitis]

C not great, not too bad... Not too bad because we didnt get Sanders, not great because none of them stood out. Not addressing the secondary is gonna get us burned.

[samhain]

I gave it an F.

For positives, we replaced Hubbard with a guy in Stewart who's solid vs the run and can kick inside. His potential is obviously far greater than Hubbard. He's a souped up Sam until he managed to turn pressures into actual sacks. Problem is, Sam wasn't the 17th overall pick. At least he seems like he has a really good work ethic.

I'm unsure about the linebackers. Prioritizing the position is new to this regime. Knight seems like a 2 down backer in an established defense. Speed seem like an issue, but it's not like this defense was lighting the world on fire vs the run. Time will tell if it sticks.

Fairchild seems like the lower end of potential plug and play guards. It's another reflection of what the organization think of positional value on the interior. They most definitely could have done better by using a 2nd. Rarely will they throw more than a 3rd at it, and they have no qualms about sticking a failing player in there to fill a hole. Hopefully Fairchild isn't that. Volson was.

The rest is fine. Expecting to hang our hat on late day 3 guys is a stretch. Some on here point to the lack of success in later rounds as an indictment on the team's draft strategy. IMO, guys taken in that range are all suspects anyway. If you get a solid backup that plays for 4 or 5 years, you're playing with house money. The real indictment of the draft approach is what happens in rounds 1 and 2. Despite the locks like 9 and 1, these guys piss away more high value draft capital than they can afford. Also, they consistently do it when actual solutions are staring them right in the face (Starks, Ratlege).

Geno Stone remaining a starter is a failure and a big one. I think passing on a TE like Helm to fill in for the loss of All is another oversight. Gesicki is a TE in name only. Dude is our slot receiver. If you remove him from that room, what are you left with?

In summary, this team isn't much better than they were when the season ended from a personnel standpoint. That leaves me at the key point of concern for us as fans: It's on the staff to make this work. It all hinges on development of talent that is in sore need of it and fast. I personally have zero faith in that happening. As I've said, he's Al freaking Golden, not Monte Kiffin or Bill Bellichick or Steve Spagnuolo. He has less success as an NFL DC than Third and Teryl Austin. That's a lot of hopes and dreams tied up in an unknown.

[tBengal]

C-

Dont think we’ll have any great players from this draft but could see Knight, Fairchild and Carter become average to above average players for us.

[BrownAssClown]

(10 hours ago)Bengalitis Wrote: C             not great, not too bad...    Not too bad because we didnt get Sanders, not great because none of them stood out. Not addressing the secondary is gonna get us burned.

You may be right about the secondary but our corners were injured. I hope we move CTB to Safety and/or sign Mike Hilton to play Safety.
Bell didn't show anything last season, Stone was underwhelming and Battle is just average.

[Timanky12]

C

As usual, the Bengals didn’t knock it out of the park, just average. Probably no impact players in near future. Here’s hoping a new D coordinator can make secondary play better and get more pass rush, because if that doesn’t improve, it will be another long year. Look to score 30 points to get wins.

[TheFan]

(Yesterday, 09:09 PM)bfine32 Wrote: I have 0 idea why folks are downgrading the Knight pick because he's 25. We've got him for 4-years and we're not in the middle of a long rebuild. If he's too old at 29 in 4-years let him walk and get another one. I'm worried about how he'll do over the next couple years, not the next decade.

As to the draft the only fine favs on it are Stewart and Fairchild. But I dig that everyone appears to be of high quality and only 1 (Rivers) comes with injury concerns.

I'll give it a B-  

For me it's that you're using your 2nd round pick on a guy you know you very likely won't be giving a 2nd contract to. Maybe he comes in absolutely pro ready day one but chances are it takes him half a year or year to get up to speed. I think he's a good player and obviously the character stuff is a boon but the age definitely is a negative for a player taken that high in a position where age does matter. It's not like he was an absolute beast and the only reason he dropped is age, he was still just a good player. 

[BFritz21]

I voted B but I think this could be a good draft for us, which most fans don't see, but I'm trusting the coaches on this one.

I think Stewart will end up being a 10+ sack guy a year with a lot of pressures.

The Knight pick was a little confusing to me but it's who Golden wanted and they didn't want to risk him getting drafted before our third round pick.

Love the Fairchild pick and it fills one guard spot, which G1 and G2 were our biggest needs.

Not real sure about taking Carter in the fourth, but Golden was a backers' coach, so I'm kind of trusting him with this and the Knight pick.

I like the Rivers pick a lot and think it helps solidify our interior line to give Burrow the protection to have an MVP year.

Brooks is a great change-of-pace, IMCO.

I give it a B but the coaches could know a lot more than us, so it could be an A+.

[SunsetBengal]

Too soon to tell, check back in 3 years. Hey there's an idea, let's review the 2022 class and compare how they have developed versus our view of it immediately after the draft?

[Luvnit2]

I think it is silly to grade drafts before these rookies play 1 down.

My take is on paper the draft created a lot of questions. Stewart is not a boom or bust due to him being stout against the run. So, at worst in my opinion he will be Sam Hubbard who was not picked 17th and a 1st round pick. At best, he gets 8-10 sacks a year in 2 two 3 years with some explosive plays like strip sacks. The grade in 3 to 4 years for our 2025 draft will be based on Stewarrt hitting the floor or the ceiling. Stewart is obviously the most athletic DE in the 2025 draft, the question is can he use that atleticism to finish and get immense pressure or sacks. I don't see a comparision to Murphy simply because Stewart can also go inside and rush the passer on throwing downs from DT and he is also a stout run defender, something Murphy was not in college and has carried over hos first 2 years.

I liked Knight as we needed an upgrade over Pratt who forgot how to tackle. I wanted Campbell in round 1 and then a guard in round 2 since I felt DE/Edge was deep. But once Bengals went with a DE and had already decided likey defense would be pick and 1 to imrove a crappy defense, then since Knight was obviously 3rd best LB on their board, they either risk losing their choice to replace Pratt or draft him. The 2nd best LB was taken early in round 2 so very unlikely the 3rd best LB in the draft (Bengal's board) would last for 32 more picks. In fact Martin who was ranked worse than Knight was taken with pick 75 or 6 picks prior to our 3rd round pick. For those who say we could have traded up, it would have cost us ur 5th or 6th round pick and we only had 6 picks the entire draft. Obviously if the had a chrystal ball they would have known their second choice at LB would be available, but no way to know that would happen almost 70 picks later.

The more I read about Fairchid (many sites grade him a "C" pick or worse, I like him better than Rutledge who I wanted in round 2. It appears Peters liked him better than Ratledge as well. Zac was not confident he would be there at #81 telling me they had a higher grade on him that a lot of pundits. I love he was a wrestler and when you see him on tape, he displays the nastiness of a wrestler. He is about 8 to 10 lbs. bigger than last years starting guards. It is impressive 0 sacks in 2 years as a starter as well. I disagree with those saying this was a bad pick. I think he may be a solid NFL starter for the next 10 years.

Our 4th pick after a lot of thought was the biggest surprise to me since we grabbed Knight in round 2. I felt there were a lot of ways the team could have gone with the pick. I like the player, just not sure we needed to draft 2 guys to replace Pratt (who likely will be traded or cut). I am trying to trust Golden on this pick. It seems he may use more 3 LB looks than Lou who mostly used 2 LB's (Wilson and Pratt). Golden said they need to be 6 deep at LB, that tells me he picked another LB to get closer to 6 knowing Pratt is likely gone. In 3 years we will determine if this pick was needed (maybe this year) for Golden's scheme or if he is just a great special team player.

Our 5th pick I had no idea who he was when he was drafted. I learn after he is an actually a T/G who has started in college at both positions and last year played at tackle for one of the most potent offenses in collge football. It appears he has had some major injuries which dropped him to later rounds. This is one of those picks that could be boom or bust in my opinion. If he can't shake the injury bug, he will be a bust. But, if he can stay healthy it is valuable to have OL tht can back up the tackle position and compete for a starting guard position. This is a pick that was needed as our interior OL is a weakess, if we can get it to average versus poor, we keep JB from taking the hits he took in 2023 and 2024 (number of them) nd hopefully give JB an extra hlf second, we all know JB is dynamyte when given time to throw.

Our 6th round Pick Brooks in my opinion was a great pick. He is a compliment to our RB room, he is bigger than Brown, shifty and could be become our goal line back. He could beat out Perine as our 3rd down back. I like Sam, but this guy is younger and has the potential to be a 3 down RB in the NFL. He dropped to us only because the RB class in 2025 was insanely good. He can pass block, had a ton of yards the past 2 years and is a great receiving option.

The UFA class is being formulated. These rarely give us great players. I am hopeful the former Alabama and Ohio State center could be a great add. He is ranked number 1 UFA on a lot of boards. Karras is getting older so woul great to have his replacement on the roster.Karras is also in last year of his contract, so we now how 2 centers Peters can work with so in 2026 determine if Karras is deserving of another deal, if not can 1 of these 2 step in for him.

I don't do grades. I am hopeful Golden, Hodges, Montgomery and Peters got the guys they felt theu needed to get back to the playoffs. I may bein the minority, but feel an area the coaches are banking on CB is an unknown. I like the CB room, but Turner and Hill being hurt last year cost them experience and Hill recovering from an ACL can be tough only 1 year later.

Last, I see the team cutting/trading Pratt giving us an additional 5.2 million in cap space.If so, after injury funds, practice squad and going to 53 from 51, we should have a minimum of 18 million to spend in 2025 if they desire. I understand the team's position and feel it would be stupid to tear up the extension he sigened 2 years ago. However, I do hope the 2 sides can come to a reasonable extension increasing Trey's guaranteed money (right now only 15.8 million) give him. nice extra bonus in 2025, then give him his 30 million in 2026 and 2027, but only 40 to 50% guaranteed as he is 31 this year so hard for any team to give out guarantees like a guy is 27.

It will be intersting to see if we do sign a vet guard or roll with the draft picks and the existing guys. Will they look at a vet safety or CB? Or are they done with FA until final cutdowns or done period?

I think we have a playoff roster right now with no more moves. I hope this draft pans out, but as I said a lot of question marks.

[JaggedJimmyJay]

Folks keep saying Stewart is good against the run, but that ridiculous missed tackle rate makes me wonder why.

[Frank Booth]

(9 hours ago)SunsetBengal Wrote: Too soon to tell, check back in 3 years. Hey there's an idea, let's review the 2022 class and compare how they have developed versus our view of it immediately after the draft?

Daxton hill was good for 4 games. Maybe he turns into a decent slot corner. But for now, he hasnt been good

CTB ok for his first 2 years but fell off a cliff year 3. If you go by the "what have you done for me lately" way of thinking, its not looking good. But I think he can bounce back to being ok if the pass rush improves

Zach Carter LOL

Cordell Volson lol

Tycen anderson special teamer

Jeff gunter irrelevant

overall, not good at all, jim

[Frank Booth]

(9 hours ago)JaggedJimmyJay Wrote: Folks keep saying Stewart is good against the run, but that ridiculous missed tackle rate makes me wonder why.

he makes tackles when the RB's run right into him. Thats at least a positive

[Luvnit2]

(11 hours ago)Frank Booth Wrote: I'll take a draft expert's opinion over bfine's lol 25 year old rookies have historically not worked out

There are so many so called draft experts. Which ones do you accept and agree with their grades? Which do you don't?

I have seen experts all over the board both individually for players and the entire 6 rounds? If you did into those who provide both, poor draft grades normally come down to them giving Stewart a "C" grade. Ths ranking it higher are higher on Stewart.

I gave my detailed opinion a little bit ago. I don't give out actual grades as I think it is to premature, but if you read my thoughts, you can come to your own conclusion. It was not the way I wanted it to unfold, other then JB and Chase 1st round picks, rarely does the team pick my guy and they did not once again in 2025.

[Luvnit2]

(9 hours ago)Frank Booth Wrote: he makes tackles when the RB's run right into him. Thats at least a positive

If you are going to use expert opinions do so consistently. PFF and others rank him as a great run defender. Why diss just to diss? Life is too short.

[Frank Booth]

(9 hours ago)Luvnit2 Wrote: If you are going to use expert opinions do so consistently. PFF and others rank him as a great run defender. Why diss just to diss? Life is too short.

PFF also says he misses way too many tackles. Stop being positive just for the sake of being positive.

[Luvnit2]

(9 hours ago)JaggedJimmyJay Wrote: Folks keep saying Stewart is good against the run, but that ridiculous missed tackle rate makes me wonder why.

Simple, just as you trusted experts to say he is bad, we trusted experts who said he is a stout run defender.