It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Damian Parson here,
co host of the Locked On NFL Draft podcast, Join Keith Sanchez and me
for Mock Draft Monday. We'll tell you which college football stars your team will
be taking in the twenty twenty four NFL Draft. Check out Mock Draft Monday
on the Locked On NFL Draft Podcast, available wherever you get podcasts. With
a plethora of needs, the Bengals could go a number of directions in the
first round of this year's draft. Let's talk about the possibilities and try to
rank those needs. You are Locked On Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast,
part of the Locked On Podcast Network, Your team every day. One
up, Bengals fans, and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals Podcast.
I'm your host, Jake Lisco. He's your host, James Rapine.
Together we are the Lockdown Bengals Podcast, covering your team every day on YouTube
and everywhere you get your podcast. If you're new to the show, you're
just dipping your toes into some Bengals draft coverage. This year is the playoffs
are coming to a close and we're ready to put the twenty twenty three NFL
season behind us. Make sure you subscribe. That makes it really easy to
join the first listen club. The ranks of Lockdown Bengals every days, and
we appreciate every single one of you who does either or all of those things.
This episode is brought to you by prize Picks, the easiest and most
exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Go to prizepicks dot com, slash
Lockdown NFL and use promo code Lockdown NFL for a first deposit match up to
one hundred dollars and James. Today, we dive in to Cincinnati Bengals draft
needs. When we were talking about this episode before the show, when we
were planning our topic for today, the list of first round potential targets is
long, and trying to rank them in terms of priority, it's sort of
difficult. I mean, you got five six positions on this list when we
were talking about this last night. Yeah. I think this is a unique
position that we haven't seen the Bengals in in quite some time, where one
they're picking earlier than we've seen the past couple of years, and two in
recent years it's been well, there's no obvious needs, like, there's needs
down the line, and we saw them take Dax Hill, which we'll see
if that pick works out or not. And last year it was like,
well, there's no obvious needs. You could go tight end. I pushed
for running back, but both of the running backs that were worth first round
picks were long gone, and after that it was kind of like, we'll
see, like what they do. We knew it wasn't receiver, but we
kind of had it narrowed down to multiple defensive spots and maybe tight end.
There were a lot of people against the running back trains, so won't even
mention that one. So that was pretty much it right now and full disclosure.
A year ago at this time, the Bengals were playing the Chiefs.
We weren't into draft mode yet, but right now there are far more needs.
You could go tight end, and certainly make that argument. The reason
you aren't, and I won't argue running back is more to do with the
draft class than it is the idea that they wouldn't take one, So we'll
scratch that one. But still, offensive tackle certainly in play, defensive tackle
certainly in play. A lot of people talking about defensive tackle, defensive end.
I don't think it's completely rolled out. Cornerback certainly on the table.
So there's five? Is there a six that I missed that I rattled off
wide receive? I are you okay? Yeah? What is going on?
Why would I not remember wide receiver? I should have let off with that
one, because of course wide receivers in play as well. And so they
you go, there's six different positions that I think there's at least some realistic
chance and realistic possibility that that's the route they go with the eighteenth pick.
And we still have what three months exactly, It seems like a're pretty close
to exactly for the NFL Draft, And yet I do think it is that
open where you're talking about six different positions at least in the running as of
right now. And obviously this episode is far too early to really say what
we think they will do in the NFL Draft. Free agency will change this
significantly. The Senior Bowl, the Shrine Bowl, the combine all these major
draft events that give us a lot more information about the prospects will occur and
will adjust accordingly when we know more of what the Bengals roster is going to
look like and more of what this draft class is going to look like.
But one of the big lessons, and we'll talk about this when we compare
how this year and last year could be different for the Bengals is I don't
think they can draft for the future this year, and we can spend a
lot of time I think talking about this philosophical approach beach theme from the Bengals
really in each of their last three quarterback regimes where at some point they tried
to draft for the future. Notably under Andy Dalton we saw the tackle future
Draft, and I think we've seen a couple of drafts in Cincinnati the last
couple of years where the late first round pick is not necessarily geared toward let's
find a guy that will make an impact on the team this year. And
I think that is a difference this year when we're looking at why this will
be such a challenging exercise is because you know, the way you framed it
to me, this is also interesting, and when we were talking about this
yesterday, is you know, you're saying the Bengals are really opened this year
as far as what they can do in the first round. And I think
that's true. Last year, that's how I would frame it last year,
where this year I would say, Oh, they need a whole lot of
things. Let's see what need is left. So in a sense, they're
open. It could be any number of positions, like you said, any
number of six positions, even it could be something we haven't even talked about,
right, But it's because they will need it. It's because they will
need an impact player at that position. And maybe it's not even a positional
thing. It's just that I think the approach to this year's draft needs to
be, and we'll talk about priority and trying to rank these positions needs to
be Let's find an impact player. Let's find a Pro Bowl, All Pro
potential player, regardless of position. And that's where I would start with this
year's draft, just looking at how this year went for the Bengals and how
you can kind of project toward twenty twenty four. I agree. I totally
agree, and I think one for years now, multiple years, it's been
hey, can you can you land like the Windows now land an instant impact
player. So they might be forced into that because of the needs. You're
right, and so do you want to look at it on one end of
the coin or the other end? I think it is interesting, but we're
really going to see this front office have to marry and they've tried to do
this in the past, but marry the draft and free agency and they did
it, and yeah, no doubt they had done it, but marry it
and nail it. And they nailed it in twenty twenty one. And you
look up and they're in the Super Bowl two years ago, right, Like
it's wild when they were doing that. But you get Chittobe Wuzia, you
get Mike Hill when you split that William Jackson money essentially that he was going
to get on the open market. And by the way, both of those
guys still in the league. William Jackson is not. So they nailed it
there, and so they need to get back to that where they get it
right in free agency and follow it up with instant impact guys. One thing
that I think is notable. We'll probably discuss them a lot over the next
few months. The Bengals. It's not like they didn't like tight end.
There were tight ends they liked and they went off the board. Let's say
they had a round three grade on Tucker Craft. Well, by the time
their third round pick rolled around, Tucker Craft was long gone. They're not
picking at the end of every round now, and I do think that that's
unique because at the past two years, I think they got burned at and
that's why they trade it up multiple times in twenty twenty two and in last
year. I think that's why the draft went the way the draft did at
certain positions. So that's another element. For sure. Picking in the middle
of the round certainly easier than picking at the end of the round, but
not as easy as the last couple of draft classes where they found some guys.
When they're picking top five, top one, that certainly makes it a
little bit easier. But free agency obviously going to have a huge impact on
how we ranked these positions, and we're going to get to the ranking.
It might be in the next segment. But offensive tackle, defensive tackle,
corner, wide receiver, tight end. You can throw edge defender in there
as well, so we can try to rank those six. But they need
to have answers for each of these positions at the end of free agency.
Can't go into the draft not having a starting right tackle, can't go into
the draft having what they have at defensive tackle and tight end, where there's
essentially nothing in the room. Can't go into the draft with Jamar Chase,
Charlie Jones, Andre Josuvash, and Trentner as your four receivers, right so
they will and T Higgins likely to be on the franchise sac. So maybe
that kind of down plays or diminishes that the push for a first round wide
receiver. But this class at wide receiver is going to push that right back
up, just because it's an insane class at wide receiver. So we're told
corner could be a place where they feel like they've got their starters, but
how confident are you and the guys they have? And again, a place
where value could push corner up in the first round, But we'll get to
that prioritization. I just wanted to make the point that they cannot get to
the draft with a burning need for a starter. They need to one find
an impact player that can contribute right away, which is not something they've been
able to do for the last couple of years since they drafted Jamar Chase.
But two, they can't go into the draft where it's that player or bust
at a particular position. That's why I kind of framed it initially as being
a little bit positioned, Agnost that can they just need to find the player
rather the Billy Christ droves up to find the position. Yet you can't.
You can't panic pick a center just because the guy you wanted in Frank Rag,
Now, let's pick one pick ahead of you. We'll get to that
conversation around ranking those positions and talking a little bit more about how twenty twenty
four will be different for twenty twenty three coming up next. Today's show is
brought to you by Prize Picks. Prize Picks is daily fantasy the way it
should be. What do I mean by that, Well, it's you versus
the Prize Picks projections. You don't have to deal with pros sharks thousands of
other players. No, it's you making a call more than or less than
on NBA players. Maybe you want to roll with Lebron James and you took
hopefully if you already playing Prize Picks, and I know a lot of our
listeners, are you took them more than on Lebron James's points and rebounds and
assists for Saturday Night and that thriller against the Goal and State Warriors. But
it's NBA. It's NFL and you can mix them together too. I love
prize Picks. You can earn up to twenty five times your money with prize
Picks and the Beauty. You can make your selections in just a few taps.
So go to prize picks dot com, slash locked on NFL and use
code locked on NFL and you're gonna get a first deposit match up to one
hundred dollars. It's that simple. Prize picks dot com, slash locked on
NFL and use code locked on NFL for a first deposit match up to one
hundred dollars. Hi, I'm Jake from Lockdown. Think of all the amazing
things in life that are expressions of you. Your favorite football team, what
you wear to the playoff watch party, that song that you stream over and
over to get you pumped up for the gym, or the recommendations that you
share with your friends on the top six comedy podcasts that are best to listen
to you on a long roadship, or even your new haircut, which may
or may not be an epic ball cut from the nineties and hopefully is everything
that makes you you makes all the difference. State Farm believes insurance should work
the same way your plane. Your coverage selections can be personalized by you and
the ability to choose the plane you want by picking the options that fit you.
Like choosing to bundle your home and auto policies is what The State Farm
Personal Price Plan is all about, getting the coverage you want at an affordable
price, just for you, Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are
selected by the customer availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary
by state. You ready to rank some positions as of January twenty eighth,
James, before the NFL playoffs are done? Wide receiver wide, receiver wide,
receiver wide. No, I'm just kidding. I'm ready to go.
I'm ready to go. There we go. I'm back baby, I'm back
baby. Let's go. All right? You wanting to rank them, I'll
rank them. I was seeing you out. Let's start with the first one.
Biggest need as of right now, you could go a few different directions
to me. As of right now, it's defensive tackle. Because of right
now, DJ Reader set to become a free agent. Josh Tupo said,
to become a free agent, you have the uncertainty of Reader, and outside
of BJ Hill with Reader's injury, and outside of BJ Hill, what are
you banking on J two Fela Zach Carter like, this is a position where
you need multiple guys where it wasn't good enough this year with DJ Reader and
now you have a question mark with Reader and whether or not Holli back.
You have the injury question mark with him, and so even if you brought
him back, let's just say he was under contract, it would still be
a major need. I had defensive tackle number one, and this kind of
shows the needs because I think you could make the argument for multiple spots here,
but I have DT just slightly above the rest. Yeah, I think
that there's a pretty good argument for that when you look at the way the
draft might fall as well. And we'll take a look at potential first round
targets for sure, But Newton, Johnny Newton, he's going by now,
not Jershon Newton, Illinois defensive tackle. If he's the guy that's available there,
and that's the way that things fall right now. That feels like a
common pick that we're going to be seeing in a lot of Cincinnati Bengals mock
drafts because of that needed defensive tackle, but as you said, not a
position the Bengals frequently prioritize in the first round, and a position where you
can easily see them spending money in free agency, and that's part of what
makes this challenging. But between that and right tackle a couple of positions where
again you expect the Bengals to spend money in free agency to have some pieces
there, and right tackle an offensive linemen in general in the NFL, as
rookies, especially if you're not picking them in the top five often and even
then sometimes often need some seasoning. You don't want to necessarily have to rely
on a rookie right out of the gate. That's where offensive tackle is right
up there with defensive tackle. Right I mean, they have no tight ends
on the roster, so technically, if you want to into that one,
you can talk about tight end. But they also don't have a starting right
tackle on the roster. And we talk a lot about this offensive line needing
to play better, needing an athleticism infusion. Picking a little bit earlier in
a very strong offensive tackle class, talk about how strong the wide receiver class
is also true for tackle, but I think Dame Brugler had like double digits
tackles in his first first round mock draft of the year. So I mean,
you're talking crazy tackle depth and you can get an infusion of talent and
athleticism there. I think those are the two that we're talking about at the
top when you're talking about draft needs for the first round. Let me ask
you this, and I'm putting you on the spot, but you just look
at that depth Chary at both of those positions, and I agree with you
that that's the debate, and I think you could flip them either way.
Who do you trust more? And these are just guys that are on the
roster and under contract right now. At defensive tackle you have j two Fla
and Zach Carter. Or at offensive tackle you have Jackson Carmen and Deontay Smith.
That's quite easy, isn't it? Hit Like you trust the defensive tackle
because they're not putting Joe Burrow at risk. That's it Like it's worse for
your defense probably, But I don't trust either one. I think the answer
is not. I don't even really trust at least three of the four as
quality backups. To be honest, it's just at least that way, you're
not endangering your quarterback with a glaring weakness on your offensively. Sure, and
come back to this, if they go into the season with Jackson Karmen as
plan a for right tackle, because we need to hold ourselves and we're going
to continue to hold them to that standard, because that would be there.
There should be a better chance. No, I'm serious about this, There
should be a better wait, like one hundred to one should be the odds
if you look at Fandel that Jackson Carmen is your your starting right tackle given
any circumstance, including injuries, as starting the year. But the other element
of this is you're right, they should they should pay. But he I
think it's more likely that he's not on the roster than he is the starter,
to be very clear. And I don't think they'll cut I doubt it.
But and everyone talks about the Billy Price trade like you can just cook
up someone that wants Jackson Karmen. I don't think anyone wants Jackson Karmen anyway.
No trade value there, all right, So we both agree dtot basically
six and one hand half a dozen. The other top needs at the top
of the board. Third, I do think it is tight end. I
do, and it's tight end because there's no like, let's say you even
had Tanner Hudson and Drew Sample back on the roster, and I think those
are two guys that a lot of people look at and say, hey,
they can help this offense. Which I agree, that's still one of your
worst spots and one of your worst positions. And that's no knock on them.
They just don't have any young, controllable, rookie contract guy or proven
even remotely close to Pro Bowl type player, yeah, at that spot,
and so those are good role players, but they need to get better at
tight end, and draft wise, it stinks because it's Brock Bowers and then
there's a drop off, and you do wonder if in rounds two through four
they'll be able to find a guy that can contribute right away, which it's
hard to do at tight end anyway. You know, some of these guys
did it this past year with Kincaid and Laporta and Tucker Craft, and I
could go on and on. It's not always like that, and it was
like that this past year. No, it was a crazy tight end class
and they missed out, and that's unfortunate that they missed out, But like
you said, that's the way the board fell at. Picking at the end
of the round makes it hard to overdraft a guy like picking Tucker Craft at
the end of the second round. What would have been the alternative? And
I know there's some Bengals fans out there that don't think DJ Turner had a
very good rookie season. And that is my segue to cornerback because between tight
end and corner, I think that that is again impacted by the draft.
This is not a great draft at either of those positions, but it's certainly
better at corner than it is tight end. There are corners that are besides
Brock Bowers, there's only one tight end. There's multiple corners I think that
are worth first round picks that will be picked in the first round. So
if you're talking about priorities in terms of what they could pick in the first
round, James, I would put corner ahead of tight end because I think
Bowers is gone. But if it's Bowers versus corner, obviously tight end kind
of jumps over everything. I think, unless it's like somehow you have a
decision between Brock Bowers and Joe Allt and then it gets really interesting. But
they played themselves all that consideration. You won't yeah, will not be yeah.
There's a small sliver for Bowers, a small one where you could say,
hey, positional value wise, there's this offensive tackle or this is why
receiver, multiple quarterbacks go that our borderline Round one guys go ahead of the
eighteenth pick, like you could see the fall two DT's go. I don't
think you're getting a top seven or eight offensive tackle. But if Bowers falls,
all right, would you take Newton or Bowers? That would be the
one? And that's the popular debate. What would you do if both are
there and they won't know it's January twenty eighth. I don't know yet.
There you go. That is the dream and it probably will be borderline dream
for this team over the next three months. I think that's fair. Right
of one of those guys falls, now, it could change some. I
think these receivers they're kind of slotted the way they're slotted. I think we'll
have some risers. I think we'll have some guys that make their push for
that eighteenth pick, and who knows what t I think the t stuff.
It's just so interesting because you and I both have talked tag and trade.
I think that makes a decent amount of sense, and I think there's a
market for Tea. Even with a deep wide receiver class, A lot of
teams would be interested in trading for Tea, just so out of character for
the Bengals. We have a couple more positions to get to. Then we'll
take a look at who's some potential first round targets where we've talked about a
couple of them, a couple of the dream targets. We'll continue those conversations
coming up next. This show is brought to us by our sponsor, A
Better Help. Sometimes we all need the opportunity to get something off our chest,
big or small. Certain things can really start to get to you,
and it's important to let that out, especially to someone who's unbiased in your
life. So whether it's work, whether it's school, whether it's just everyday
life, whether it's your favorite sports team not being alive in mid January even
though they were over the past couple of years, or something far more serious,
which we all deal with things much more serious than the Bengals are our
favorite sports team. Betterhelp is something that can help you, and therapy can
be different from for everyone. Most of us have bigger problems than our favorite
sports team, like I mentioned, and it's important to get those things off
of your chest. If you're thinking of giving therapy or starting therapy and giving
therapy a try well, try Betterhelp. It's entirely online, designed to be
flexible and suited to your schedule. Is it betterhelp dot com slash a locked
on to get ten percent off your first month. That's Betterhelp HLP dot com
slash lockedwn. I'm Joe Marino, host of The Lockdown Bill's podcast, and
you know, in today's world, it seems the best treatment is reserved only
for a few. Well, Discover wants to change that by making everyone feel
special. That's why with your Discover card, you have access to twenty four
to seven live customer service, as well as zero dollar fraud liability, which
means you're never held responsible for unauthorized purchases. Finally, no matter who you
are or where you are in life, you'll always feel special with Discover.
Learn more at Discover dot com. Slash credit card limitations apply just a couple
more positions to fit into our hierarchy. I think we're more or less an
agreement. Offensive tackle defensive tackle kind of tied ish for first you can make
an argument either way. Tight end, corner I think probably goes tight end
then corner, but I think for first round priority, like I said,
corner gets pushed up just because of the draft class. I think wide receiver
also gets pushed up because of the draft class. Not necessarily that it's a
burning need right now, but when you have a class like this, we
ask them every year, hey, this is a really strong class of tight
end. Hey, this is a really strong class and wide receiver. Let's
dip into that. How does that play into it? With edge defender as
the other one of the six that we mentioned, Yeah, I think edges
is last. I think wide receiver, like there's a scenario where it's at
near the top and at leapfrogs tight end and it becomes like, all right,
it's the best tackle wide receiver. That's a vail. Like if T
Higgins isn't on this roster come draft time, or there's real legitimate hey they're
willing to trade him, then wide receiver has to be up there. They're
a wide receiver based team and unless they're completely changing their offense. I don't
expect them to. They rely on wide receivers as much as any team and
multiple and I think the wide receiver at eighteen is interesting because you're right,
they win at the end of the year, and I think they play themselves
out of like the top guys, right Neighbors is someone A lot of people
like he might not make it past Brian Callahan's Titans at seven, I think
or five, I mean or higher? Sure, I just mean, like
the floor is probably seven. We know what Marvin Harrison Junior is, So
let's just cancel those two guys out because they're going to be long gone.
Could roma Dunza fall I think that's really unlikely, less less likely than let's
say brock Bauers fall or Newton falling, Just to give you an idea of
some but if he was there, even with Tea, you would consider it
because that's like, oh, freak show stuff, and you're doing it in
round one. I'm not as I don't think they'll run to the podium,
Say for a Kean Coleman. I know he's in the mix. Brian Thomas
is interesting to me, but I don't know if unless T is gone ready,
would they consider that tier. I think the Roman Dunesday is probably the
last guy that they'd be like, oh, well we have tea franchise tag,
but that dude's still there, which it has happened. I will say,
Ceedee Lamb fell in the draft, Like, let's not go say it's
crazy justin Jefferson fell in the draft. But everyone knew Ceedee Lamb was a
stud and he still fell to seventeen I believe, so it isn't completely outlandish,
but it's pretty unlikely this great tackle class, there's going to be tight
end. Sorry, there's going to be quarterbacks. Pick. We know Brock
Bowers is likely to be picked. There will probably be a defensive tackle,
probably an edge player in there. No positional value will play a part in
pushing guys up the board. But today it's hard for me to make a
big argument for wide receiver just because I expect T to be on the team
and until that changes, that's kind of why wide receivers mention where it is.
That said, I would still love the Bengals to take a wide receiver
in this class, it just might not be in the first round. Edge,
you know, not particularly robust class. They have pretty significant depth there
in twenty twenty four, they need to be better. But when you're talking
about Sam Hubbard can stample Joseph O Saide, Trey Hendricks, and Miles Murphy
being the five guys on the roster right now, that is first round pick.
One of the NFL sack leaders, depending on your definition of a sack
long time Cincinnati guy, veteran captain type, and Sam Hubbard plus good role
players and can't sample and a guy that we keep having expectations for. Maybe
we don't anymore in JOSEPHO said, but that's your fifth guy. To think
about a first round edge player fitting into that mix, unless it's a guy
that you think is gonna come totally displaced Sam Huck. But when you've already
got Miles Murphy on the roster, then that is tough. And I wonder
if there are positions that we're getting yelled at about that we haven't talked about.
I don't know that there's a first round interior offensive lineman in this class.
I don't know much about the safety class. I can imagine those two
potentially have some folks interested, maybe punter, Maybe people want the first round
punter. I think we nailed it because if they take a dang you imagine
I'm taking a center at eighteen, Like, no, that sounds ugh.
I can't especially this year. I don't think there's a guy. And by
the way, if they take a safety at eighteen, he'd better instantly be
Jesse Bates because they've already invested draft cap. I mean, you're talking about
two valuable picks in that position. And when's the last time they had a
first round offensive tack or a third round offense tackle. It's been a while
outside of Jackson Carmen in Round two, which we knew in the moment it
was a dumb pick. So yeah, we gave it time. By the
way, but we knew in the moment it seemed very very questionable at best.
Just to be very clear, and the receipts are there, you can
go listen to our old episodes. Whenever the Bengals make a pick, we
will try to frame the upside right and the draft. That is what the
draft is for. You're often picking players for upside, but you will certainly
hear skepticism when we are skeptical of the player's chances of hitting that upside.
Let's take a quick look, James at some of the potential names. We're
going to load up a draft simulator here on PFF. So let's get that
pulled up for the people on YouTube and we'll talk through it for everybody that's
just listening. Let's get that pulled up now, and here we go.
If you're watching on YouTube, we have the PFF mock draft simulator. We're
just gonna let this run and take a look at some first round draft targets.
We're not gonna do anything crazy fancy here. We're just gonna hit this
enter draft button and see where the players go. Some of the players that
we talked about, and Jaydeon Daniels is their baby. So here we've got
the situation that meaning getting past three what of the quarterback falling? But some
of the guys we discussed, like Roma dunesday long gone, Marvin Harrison long
gone, the leak Neighbors long gone, Brock Powers long gone, Joe Dunes
ahead of Harrison. What what planet are we on PF? The order doesn't
really matter though, right, It's just these are players. Oh, Nick's
ahead of Jayden and Daniels matters to me, So Here's the thing about that
is lanzer Line, Mike Renner, and Matt Wollman all have Bonex ahead of
jayde and Daniels. And this won't happened on draft night book, And I
love Mike and I love those other guys too, But I'm just saying that
bo Nicks from Auburn apparently it's a different player from Bonix at Oregon, but
that's not what we could talk about. He is anyways, JC Latham at
fifteen. It's so funny seeing people like Latham is not good and then others
like, yeah, give me Latham, and then other people say, no
Alabama tackle. If Latham's there at eighteen, I think that's a pretty good
scenario. It's go ahead. That is the name to talk about. I
think tally Esa Fuaga, whose name I might be getting wrong, is another
tackle who is earlier in this sim then I think he will go based on
what I understand right now on Draft day. But that's another lineman that you
could talk about. Dallas Turner one of those edge players you could talk about.
Nate Wiggins one of the corners you could talk about, and and Johnny
Newton picked as well. Terry On Arnold another corner you could talk about.
And Mayatu Latu from UCLA, the edge player, one of the edge players
that I think will be in consideration for the Bengals if they were looking at
edge in the first round. I saw some good players though. When we're
looking at draft simulators and Nats are going to hear a lot of are guys
like Brian Thomas, Amarus Mims, potentially kool Aid McKinstry, the corner from
Alabama. We talked with Mike Runner about him in our draft primary a couple
of weeks ago, and verse yep would would be another edge player that I
think some folks would have been happy with a while ago. Bira Murphy also
an interior defender who's working his way into first round consideration. And if you're
one of the draft of safety crowd, Cam Kitchens from Miami another name here
that I think would potentially draw some consideration. Anything else wrapping out at you,
James, No, not really, you covered most of them. I
think Amarus Mims. Did you mention Mims? I did, yes, all
right, Amarius Mims to me, kool Aid McKinstry vaults to the top of
my board because of the name. I mean the things that the Bengals fans
would do if kool Aid was awesome and you had Juice and kool Aid as
your starting corners, like with Jan Drago as you as you're maybe your slot
corner long term. Very fun. Yeah, that's a lot of fun.
I have watched little Brian Thomas. Dude's a baller. Just going to throw
that out there. It's early. I think Amarius Mims may have that,
like one of the higher ceilings in this tackle class. And we talked with
Mike g Renner about him some, and I think there will be a lot
of fans that are like, no to an experience, too risky, but
I think he could very well be the pick in this scenario Byron Murphy too.
I'm surprised he's that low. I feel like he's there's a good chance
he might not even be there at eighteen. We've seen him mocked ahead of
Newton. Yeah, yeah, I believe that was Dame Brugler's mock as well.
Yeah, I think I could. I could be misattributing that one.
But when I scroll through this list for everybody watching on YouTube that he sees
me scrolling while James is talking, you see that the list of tackles is
pretty deep. There's also Troy Fatanu from Washington who maybe kicks inside in the
NFL. The list of wide receivers is quite deep. You have to scroll
for a while before you find uh Kean Coleman, who is a bit down
on the PFF board compared to like Troy Franklin. And if we just look
at the wide receiver position group here Brian Thomas, Troy Flank, Troy Franklin,
Ladd McConkie, Devontes Walker, key On, Coleman, ad and Mitchell
Xavier Legette. So yes, like Get's interesting at forty nine Bengal second round
pick, and Maconkie is interesting Lad and as well. I think will be
another one in Jalynne Polk. Like the list of receivers goes on, you
can tell, you can tell which guys we've seen a little bit of in
which month we have. There's three months to go, people, we will
know everybody inside and out. I promise it's just early as of today.
If we were doing mock draft Monday today, James, and we'll get out
of here. I would pick Marius Mems in this scenario based on what I
know today, which is not I would eat. I would take Mems or
it would be Trenches or Murphy and I so I'd probably take Murphy because I
said that defensive tackle is their biggest need. Free agency will impact that sound
And this is why they have to marry the two is because they have to
know have a good handle as they go into free agency of how they think
they can approach the draft and how realistic it is that they get a first
round OT. Will they consider a first round DT even though they haven't taken
one since nineteen ninety four when half of our listeners, maybe not half,
but some of our listeners weren't even alive. I think there are some interesting
scenarios there. Do they like Brian Thomas enough? Because he's good yack and
he's a good contested catch type of receiver, and he runs well well,
nobody runs, but he looks fast, so we'll see. I think it's
I think it's interesting, and Jake I will say this, I'm officially really
really excited about the draft. Draft season is here, lets Gomy. He's
had to open the draft simulator. Once we're ready to go. We're ready
to go here in lock time. Back a Marius Men's test thing going to
be extremely interesting. The risk there is that he was hurt, but you
heard Mike talk about him if you listen to the show every day, very
very high on Amarius Mens and wouldn't be remotely surprising to see Men's go earlier.
I'm in for Men's here, just to get some athleticism on the offensive
line. Let's just make the pick go to turbo mode here to wrap up
the first round on PFF just for fun, B plus solid stuff. Notice
how Jake got his way. He went with mems. I'm controlling the simulator,
James yep, ultimate control. He's trying to be Bill Belichick of Lockdown
Bengals. That ain't happening. Man. Just wait, I'm calling David Locke
right now. Go for it. That's gonna do it. For this episode
of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. The championship games will be complete by the time
you hear from us, and next we might have some takeaways from those episodes
or from those games. And we're gonna talk about the Bengals linebackers this week
as well in the season they had in twenty twenty four. Until next time,
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals Podcast. Woda and
have a good one. Are you looking for a new way to play daily
fantasy sports, So let me tell you about the easiest and most exciting way
to get it done. It's with our friends over at Prize Picks. It's
you versus the projections. You pick more or less on two to six players
in their stat projections, and you'll watch the winnings roll in. Easily the
most fun I've had winning twenty five times my money back this football season.
So if you want to check it out, go to prizepicks dot com,
slash locked on NFL and use the promo code locked in NFL for a first
deposit matchup to one hundred dollars. Prize Picks Daily Fantasy Sports made easy,
Hey Prime members. You can listen to this Lockdown podcast ad free on Amazon
Music download the Amazon Music app today. Is your team eliminated from the playoffs
and in need of reinforcements. Maybe it's time for a rebuild, or maybe
they're just a player or two away from taking home the Lombardi Trophy. Either
way, join Keith Sanchez and Damian Parson for Lockdraft Monday on the Lockdown NFL
Draft podcast. They'll tell you which college football stars your team will be taking
in the twenty twenty four NFL Draft. Check out lock Draft Monday on the
Lockdown NFL Draft podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast network. Your team every day