It's the Lockdown podcast Network, your team every day. The Bengals twenty twenty
four NFL Draft is in the books and how did they do? Trevor Sikima
of Pro Football Focus is here to break it all down. You are Locked
on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast, part of the lockedwn podcast network,
Your team every Day. Hi again everyone, and welcome in to the
Lockdown Bengals Podcast. I'm James Erpen. I'll be joined by Jake Lisco and
Trevor Sikima. Pro Football Focus will join us coming up in just a second
to talk all things Bengals draft. Today's show is brought to you by Monopoly
Goo. I admit it, I have a competitive side and it is a
big fan of Monopoly Go the mobile hit twist on Classic Monopoly. So join
your friends and download Monopoly Go now free on the App Store or Google Play.
And as always, thank you so much for making us your first listen.
Hit that subscribe button on YouTube, follow wherever you get your podcasts.
And without further ado, let's get to Trevor Sikima on all things Bengals draft.
Let's chat with Trevor Sikhama a PFF's lead a draft analysts and co host
of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast about this Bengals draft class and Trevor, it's
a B plus for you. I notice with the PF post draft grades for
every team, but one question in addition to the grade is where do you
rank it if you had to put it top third, middle third, bottom
third of NFL draft classes this year? Where I heard you guys talking in
your live show that it seems like NFL teams aren't making a ton of extremely
crazy decisions this year. Do you think that that B plus puts them in
the top third of the NFL and draft classes this year. Yeah, I
would say top third for sure. And honestly, B plus might be kind
of harsh on my end because the only pick I really didn't love was the
McKinley Jackson selections. I know they were going for. It was just a
big time reach for where he was ranked on my board, But so many
other picks that this team had, I mean the a Mariusman selection. I
think it's a perfect landing spot for him. Love them getting Chris Jenkins Junior
to really improve that interior defensive line after losing out on a reader, Jermaine
Burton could be the X factor of the entire draft honestly and what he could
mean for Cincinnati both short and long term. I love Eric All He's my
tight end three in this class. I really like Josh Newton coming into the
season. Struggled a little bit last year, but I still like him as
a player. Cedril Johnson I see the athletic upside too. So this draft
was great, I think so, honestly, Like just hearing that out loud
and when you ask it, like, oh, where does this rank?
In my head, immediately I was like, I mean top ten probably,
like you know, eight, nine, ten, something like that. But
that B plus label might even be a little harsh if I was comparing it
to where what grades I gave other teams just because of the McKinley Jackson pick.
But I really did like Cincinnati's draft a lot. Amrius Mams was obviously
therefore selection and going with the big tackle, given Joe Burrow and given the
fact that they want to protect him. I think a lot of people are
on board with the philosophy of it, but there are plenty of people in
town, specifically that are looking at those eight starts that look at a guy
that had the hamstring at the combine and the ankle injury this past year.
How risky of a pick is it. How concerned should Bengals fans be?
Obviously we all know about the upside at this point. Yeah, I mean
it's worth bringing up, right, I mean, injuries are they're tricky,
right because even if you have a guy who has been injured quite a bit,
as long as the injuries aren't chronic, like unless it's something where okay,
yeah, like medically we can see you're really weakening your body in this
area, you're highly prone to injuring this. Again, like outside of these
chronic injuries, it's just a violent game. It's just a fast game.
It's just one where you're just gonna get hurt all the time. So you
know, with Mems, yeah, he hasn't played a ton of football in
this past year. The ankle injury was a big reason why. But the
years before that, the reason why it wasn't starting is just because George is
an incredible football program, so he really couldn't get on the field. So
yeah, okay, he has this past year as a starter and he goes
through the injury. Obviously, the hamstring injury is not great either. But
if you get him into the NFL with a really good strength of conditioning coach
that understands the body limitations and how hard we need to push him in the
offseason, what we need to do for maintenance during the season. Like,
I don't look at Marius Mims and think this is an injury pro player,
like this is a risk in terms of health. The only real questions that
I have with Mims is if you were to start him year one, week
one, the technique's not really there the way that it needs to be.
To go up against NFL pass rushers, they're gonna be able to set them
up really well. I think the hand uses, especially against the guys that
are much more seasoned in this league, they're gonna be able to bait his
hands and really swipe the hands away and really just not allow him to get
those long arms on him without really causing those fouls. So, to me,
the big question with Mims is simply the fact that if you were going
to start him right away, you might have to go through some growing pains.
But that's why Cincinnati, to me, is the perfect spot you gotta
only in a brown junior. You signed Trenton Brown, and now Mims does
not have to start right away. You can really groom him. And heck,
even if he starts the second half of his rookie season, I think
that that's a better scenario because you're gonna get a guy who's gonna be ready,
gonna be hungry to get that out there on the field. I mean,
he almost transferred from Georgia because he's like, I'm not playing here,
and they basically had to convince him like, hey, your time is coming.
We invested this in you, in you, we wanted you to come
to Georgia. Your time is coming. You please stay here, and he
did. And obviously I think that when he was on the field, he
looked really great, even going back to that twenty twenty two season at the
end of the year when he had to fill in. So this is somebody
who when he gets to Cincinnati, I think that he's going to have that
same sort of hunger to be like, okay, like I'm ready to play,
and I think that's only going to increase his desire to get to that
point and get on the field and be a contributing player for this football team
and the feat and pass protection. To me, Trevor looked like a real
strength to his game. It looks like he's a natural mirror. He has
natural pass protection ability. You see him occasionally overset, lose across his face,
guys breaking inside. I think there's maybe one rep in the Tennessee game
James Pierce, next year's projected first round pick, gets him on an inside
move. But that Ohio State game his first start, I believe, in
the College Football Playoff in twenty twenty two, I mean it's shutdown stuff,
and sometimes in the run game he looks a little bit lost, like he
maybe isn't sure what his job is supposed to be. To me, that
looked like the biggest question for him. But the past protection, production and
consistency, to me was really impressive for a guy who didn't have a ton
of time, who seems pretty aware and you're talking about hand usage. Is
that something that is consistent? Is that on inside moves for you or was
that something that you think is just something that needs to come along. Yeah,
First of all, James Pearce Junior gets everybody with the inside moves,
so I wouldn't be too concerned about that. I think he's going to be
a top fifteen pick next year because of how great of a speed rusher that
he is. But yeah, I think that you brought up some really good
points. I think the footwork is good. I think the feet are fast,
especially for a guy who's three hundred and forty pounds. I mean,
that's the alluring part. Right. Normally, when you get offensive linemen that
are above three twenty five, three thirty, you're sacrificing something. You go,
Okay, they're a little bit better. They've got the power profile to
them, but the feet are just naturally going to be more heavy because you're
dealing with more weight up top. But Mims, it feels like he moves
like a three hundred and five to three hundred and ten pounder with those feet,
and he's sitting here weighing in a three forty. So I think that
in that regard, he is already further ahead of where you would want him
to be. But yeah, you talk about okay, sometimes he sets up
the inside shoulder to get attacked a little bit too easily. But to me,
he has one the body type to be able to make up for it,
and it's just a time thing for him. Right, it's just about
anticipating a little bit better, making sure that Okay, let me see what
this guy's doing. Let me understand what his pass rush plan is, and
I can understand, Okay, this is when he typically goes inside, and
he could be ready for it because the recovery athleticism and again the recovery length
is just so ideal from him, and you're right, okay, run game.
He's still kind of understanding that a little bit better. But that's that
speaks to the lack of snaps to me, right, those two areas of
his game where you say, realistically, he just has not played enough football
to anticipate inside counters as well as he would need to, or hand placement
as well as he needs to, which you gotta remember this too. When
you have longer arms, it's without a question and advantage, but it also
requires you to be even more technically sound and understand your body really well,
because if not, then you just become this hugger of an offensive lineman where
okay, the hands are coming up and they're coming wide, and they're going
to the shoulder pads and now all of a sudden, you're giving up your
chest. You're allowing guy to dip underneath your shoulders, you're susceptible. The
holding calls because it's really easy to see for officials to see if you're like
hanging onto the shoulder pads or anything like that. So you know, when
you have those longer arms, it's great, but they've got to be compact,
they've got to be ready, they've got to be up, and they've
got to be quick and precise. So these are all things that just get
better when he gets more snaps. So the areas where Mims has those deficiencies,
to me speak, just much more towards lack of playtime than any sort
of lack of ability. Which is why I love this landing spot the most,
because you get to ease him in, you get to get that confidence,
you get him to again, I say this again, but I really
believe it be hungry to be a starter, be motivated to be a starter,
and I think you're going to get a really good product whenever it is
that he becomes that starter for this team. I think that's certainly something a
lot of people are hoping for with Mims as he develops into a starter.
Today's show is brought to you by Monopoly Go. Monopoly Go is the game
you need because us well, Monopoly Go is perfect for you, me,
anybody else who's competitive, who wants to play a game with friends that they
can pick up and put down at any time. And Monopoly Go you can
team up with your favorite people and the planet too well. Have time tournaments
whether you work together to build up each other's boards. The more you win
together, the more awesome prizes you unlock. And it's anything from unique stickers
where you can trade with friends to complete big albums for prizes, or maybe
you want to unlock different travel pieces to play on unique boards, hilarious emojis
to tant friends. Whether you want to win, whether you want to compete,
or whether you want to team up to win. Monopoly Go has something
for everyone. It feels new and exciting with constantly changing tournaments and challenges.
There's also new timed events that let you win big like massive multipliers. There's
something fun for everyone to discover and Monopoly Go. So get off the bench
and get into the game right now. Download it for free on Google Play
or the app Store. Game on expectations for their second round pick and Chris
Jenkins might not be starting level right away, but it's certainly instant contributor.
You mentioned that you really like that pick. What do you like so much?
Well, I like the fact that, I mean, he is just
such a pound for pound really strong football player. I mean they calling the
mutant from Michigan, and it's just because of the athletic ability that he has.
Now, you know, he's not built like his dad. He's not
six foot five, three hundred and fifty pounds, but he's got a lot
of that DNA strength to him still. So even the pound for pound version
of strength that we are getting here from Chris Jenkins Junior is going to be
plenty adequate for this team. And I think the Bengals are really at their
best when they have that force and that strength up front in the middle,
and losing reader is tough. You know. That was a big corner stone
of what they did along the defensive line and allowed them to get a lot
of one on ones with the edge rushers. It allowed him to send a
lot of blitzes from the linebacker level because they knew they were covered up well,
because they knew that those guys in the middle were covering their gaps and
not letting anything get in between them or get around him, or really get
pushed too far back off the line of scrimmage. Now, obviously, with
Jenkins being a little bit lighter of a player, that might naturally happen a
little bit more. But even at Michigan when you saw him when he was
asked to take on double teams, you know, he could really execute a
good corkscrew technique, really bringing his knee to the ground and holding the line
of scrimmage against two really talented offensive linemen that maybe we're trying to execute a
duo block or a combo block on him and just get to that second level,
and he would be able to hold those guys long enough to keep the
linebackers free to get to their spot to disrupt things to where okay, maybe
you're not making the tackle at the line of scrimmage, but maybe it's only
a two yard gain instead of a five six, seven yard gain and asking
the safeties to get involved from depth. So to me, I wish that
Chris Jenkins would have developed a little bit more as a pass rusher this year.
That was ultimately our hope for him. That was what we saw as
the thing that held the key to him potentially being a first round pick,
But to me, the second round was always the law for him because he's
just such a steady presence in the middle as a defensive lineman there, and
I think he's going to be able to contribute right away, maybe not a
full starting role, but a contributing role right away as a rotational player.
In his rookie season, Steve Pallazola called him one of the best playmakers in
the run game in this class. Obviously had a very very high PFF run
stop rate. When you talk about the pass rush ability, what kind of
upside do you see there. Is that more of a product of the role
he was in at Michigan playing on a very talented defensive line and an NFL
style defense with Harbat Or is that more of a product of the individual player
where he needs to develop a pass rush plan in pass rush moves. Yeah,
I think it's more of the ladder. Like if he had the opportunity
to be more of a pass rusher at Michigan, I think they would have
given him those chances. We just didn't really see him be put in those
opportunities very much. I think it's just because it's not his game right now.
So there are plenty of things where even if Jenkins isn't the most finesse
three technique defensive pass rush out there, I think that there's still room to
grow for him as a pass rusher, you know, getting better at those
bull rushes, getting better at those you know, stack and shed opportunities to
really be able to get in the backfield. He is explosive too, so
being able to understand, Okay, this is how the offensive line is setting
up, this is how they like the slant. When they like the slant,
let me try to get myself in between this gap, really get into
the backfield. That to me are opportunities for him to make plays behind the
line of scrimmage. But you know, it's just the I A should say,
like the timing of his pass rush moves. It's not like Johnny Newton,
right, And I know I'm bringing up somebody that Bengals fans wanted to
be on the team, so I'm sorry about that. But like Johnny Newton
is just like a karate master with his hands sometimes. I mean, it's
just so hard for this guy to stay blocked because of how well he is
using his hands and Jenkins just did not. He just didn't have that approach
really, Like you can tell he said to himself, I am getting my
hands up and inside. I am going to make sure that I have control
of the guy in front of me, and then we'll see what happens after
that. Instead, you have other three technique players, like just Johnny Newton,
but like a Bradon Fisk as well, Like He's another example of these
are guys who just say I am going to get past you as fast as
I can, no matter what. And it's just kind of a different mindset.
So I wonder if there will maybe be more of a push for them
to say, hey, let's you know, we know that you could shoot
your hands inside and you can get control of the guys in front of you
pretty well, but let's see if we can increase that hand speed and really
keep you off blocks more over the next couple of years to develop your pass
rush profile out for you to be a three down defensive lineman at all times.
And we're just thinking that you could be a high impact player because you
mentioned it. He's already a really good run defender. It's just what more
does he have in the tank. Second round pick, like I said,
was always the floor for him. Is there more to say? Man,
In a couple of years, we will look back at this one and we
go what a steal the Christiankin junior pick was, Trevor, I know we're
going to ask you about the tight ends and I almost skipped, but I
don't think we can skip the Burton pick because it's such a a surprise.
I think in the moment for a lot of people here, it certainly surprised
me. The first two pickst and this one did. But it seems to
fit like a glove. What do you think about his game, particularly in
this Bengals offense with Joe Burrow Jamar chasing company. Yeah, I mean,
look, Jermaine Burton was one of the most talented wide receivers in the class.
He really was, And I think that a lot of analysts kind of
came to the same conclusion. Is you know, we've kind of been told
from different sources that a little bit of a hot head, maybe a little
tough to control, kind of marches by the beat of his own drum,
and because of that, we're teams going to draft him. I'm gonna be
honest with you. I had a second round grade. I'm on him on
tape, could have been even higher, could have been like an early second,
maybe even late first on him. I know there's some people who had
him as one of their top five receivers in this class. He wasn't a
high for me, but man, he is somebody who I think could be
a major PAC player. He played at Georgia, he played at Alabama.
He was impactful at both the way that he get off the line of scrimmage
with so much speed and precision and body control, and the strength that he
has at the catchpoint despite being a little bit smaller, his ability to just
stop on a dime and really hit a comeback or just a post route or
like an over route over the middle just to create that separation. I mean,
he really brings you everything that you want in a player of his size,
and it sets up in a potentially elite wide receiver trio with Chase with
Higgins and now it's yourmain Burton here for the twenty twenty four season. And
genuinely, this move for Cincinnati could give them the flexibility to move on from
t Higgins if they want to. And so there's a world where if Burton
plays really really well this upcoming season, or you could just tell that he's
jelling well, he's got a good chemistry with Joe Burrow, he's a productive
player. They might look in next season and say, Okay, we can
afford to let Tee Higgins walk because we know that we've got a really good
one two combo. Anyways, then you could bring in another veteran wide receiver
if you want, You could draft another one if you want, and so
you could reload in that a bild in that way. So the Bengals,
to me, those first three picks that they had were so great at supplementing
their current situation. Was it was a great combination of both improving the team
in the short term but also building it long term. I was so impressive
with what they were able to do for these first three picks. And who
knows exactly what's going to happen with Burton, but all I can tell you
is that when that dude's on the field, he's a force, and he's
an incredibly talented wide receiver. So as long as he is on the field
and he is a contributing member of this team, they're going to get good
return on investments. From I already saw that in this tape over the last
couple of years. Today's show is also brought to by fandul fand was a
one stop shop for all things sports wagering, including NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs.
In the NBA, well the Knicks, they had it, they had
them, and they let them off the hook. Tyrese Maxi in the seventy
six Ers, escape Game five, Escape New York with a victory, and
will they be able to win two more and shock the New York Knicks eliminate
the Knicks. I didn't think it was a conversation. Now it is.
Will the Magic be able to rebound after losing by one point of the Cavaliers?
Will the Bucks continue to rally after losing Giannis Attendakoumpo and Damian Lillard to
injuries? They won Game five to extend that series against the Pacers. You
can wager on all of those things with fandel and right now. You get
one hundred and fifty bucks in bonus bets with signing up right now with fandle
That's right, New customers get one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets with
any winning five dollars bet that's it. So throw five bucks on the team
you think is going to win, or a prop bet that you're bullish on
Boom. When you win, you're going to get one hundred and fifty dollars
in bonus bets to use on spreads, money lines, player props. In
more, visit fandle dot com slash locked on to make every playoff shot count.
Fandle America's number one sports book. I don't know if you saw the
video of Zach Taylor's reaction after they got the pick in like he's slamming his
chair. He's as excited as I've ever seen Zach Taylor in the draft room,
so he's stoked to get Burton in there. The Bengals have been pretty
good at drafting receivers too, another reason to I think potentially be bullish on
Burton. I have two questions for you as a follow up. One,
you do player comps NFL comps? And if so, do you have them
for Burton? In two, Steve Smith called Burton a vertical receiver. Isn't
so sure that the rest of his game is ready for the NFL? Yet,
where are you on how he would be best used? At the next
level, so I didn't have a good comp on him. I was laid
on doing comps this year, just didn't really have time to get a lot
of them in for the draft guide. So I don't have a good comp
for you. I wish I did. But to Steve Smith's point, yes,
Burton is more of a vertical wide receiver right now. Like we saw
that again at Alabama, we saw it at Georgia. His average shift the
target is really high, so a lot of what he did they were just
sending himlong. And I can understand the reason for it. He's really quick,
the acceleration is great. His releases are lightning fast. So if anybody's
playing against him in press coverage, he's got the hand usage and he's got
the releases in the good footwork to be able to get even with these players
very very quickly. And then it allows the quarterback to give him a shot
deep down the field, most notably towards the sideline, because he has that
speed in that athletic ability to do it. So you can understand where Steve
Smith is coming from with saying, hey, he is a vertical receiver right
now, because that's a lot of what he did in college. But the
way that he is able to stop on a dime, the way he is
able to control his body to sink his hips, to chop his feet,
to flip the hips over like that, all gives me a lot of encouragement
that if you put any route in front of this guy, he's going to
be able to do it. He's going to be able to do it crisply
and create that separation. So, yes, he is more of a vertical
wide receiver right now, but I think there is so much more in the
tank for him to become a well rounded, can run the whole route tree
type of a guy. Trevor, let's switch gears. Let's talk about these
tight end stick with the offense. And you mentioned it earlier in the show.
It certainly got my attention. Eric All was your third tight end.
And I'm not going to compare this tight end class to last year. Certainly
it's a weaker tight end class, but the fact that he was your third
tight end I think is interesting. For sure, what are the Bengals getting
with Eric All? If Eric All is healthy, this is a starting caliber
tight end at the NFL level. I played a little bit for Michigan,
he was in a crowded tight end room. Twenty twenty two, he played
the beginning of the season, then he ended up having to have back surgery,
so he missed most of that entire twenty twenty two season. Transfers over
to Iowa for his final year of eligibility and only played in I believe it
was six or seven games for Iowa before tearing his ACL. So admittedly not
great, right, I mean, like, these are two major injuries for
the game of football, when you have a back injury that you're recovering from
and then obviously a major knee injury. So the health is a reason why
I think he would have been drafted around where he did, somewhere in the
early parts of Day three. But on the field, on the field,
this is an impactful tight end, truly, Like, this is somebody who,
again I think can do whatever you want to do from the tight end
position, and he's a really good receiver. I think he's got the ability
to run a lot of different routes. We saw him be able to tempo
his routes when he was at Iowa. Heck, he only played six or
seven games for Iowa and he still led the team in receiving at the end
of the year. Now, maybe that's more of an Iowa stat than an
eric alstat, but they were not afraid to get this guy involved because they
knew the return on investment was there for him. I think, to go
along with his good receiving ability, he is a really nice blocker as well.
He is somebody who I think you could put in inline situations, wing
back situations, as a fullback out of the backfield, but also as a
slot receiver as well. So to me, I saw a lot of what
you would want to see from Erica all in terms of a potential starting tight
end at the next level. So as long as he is healthy and it
might take a little bit for him to get fully confident again coming off that
knee injury, I really do think that this is a really good long term
option for them and a potential starter. At what point can we start scouting
the helmet with Iowa tight ends? Yeah? Three years ago? Yeah,
I mean they truly are tight end you at this point because they also have
another guy who I liked as well this year who also got hurt, Luke
Leche, who is going to be one of the best tight end prospects in
next year's draft as well, So they're growing a montrees out there. The
fact that you're able to produce in an Iowa offense period as a tight end,
you know you mentioned, is a product of the Iowa offense. Probably,
yes, but that's probably a good sign that he was able to be
productive in that offense. Unfortunately, the injury, of course, cutting short
his season, and who knows what happens if he's healthy the whole year as
a productive Iowa tight end. We've seen what those guys have done at the
next level. Any Tane McLaughlin thoughts, is this a guy that can be
a supplementary piece, a good pass catcher. He's twenty five years old coming
into the end of the league, obviously had the path from Canada to Southern
Utah to Arizona before he started really playing with a high level football program,
but seemed to be a smooth athlete, a smooth receiving, productive player in
Arizona. Can you do that at the next level? Yeah, I mean
I figured that he would be a depth piece tight end. I know some
people were higher on MacLaughlin than I was, but you know, you look
at his background, zero star recruit coming from Canada, ends up going to
Southern Utah, plays there for four years, played wide receiver, and then
kind of gained a little bit of weight move over to Arizona started to play
tight end. But really you're going to use him as that big wide receiver
type of player, like that big slot maybe that pseudo X receiver. He's
not really somebody that you're going to want to put on the Lion of scrimmage
very much. If you do, he's going to be again more kind of
like detached from the Lion of scrimmage in that like wing back formation if anything,
maybe asking him to block and split zone concepts. But even that,
I mean, you don't really want this guy in the trenches blocking. That's
not where you're going to get that high return on investments. But he is
a nice receiver I think for his size certainly that gives you that plus value.
And you need to play special teams as well in order for him to
make the roster. So I think that's going to be the key is to
when he officially makes that game day active, you know, fifty three man
roster. So I think that he could be used as a good wide receiver
but he's to me just much more of a depth piece than somebody who's eventually
going to become a starter at the position. To your point, does he
fit with all? It sounds like he would fit with all long term,
I think so. I mean certainly, because this offense likes to make sure
that they can have receiving threats basically from all angles, right like whether it's
wide receivers, whether it's tight ends, whether it's running backs. I mean,
that's when Joe Burrow was at his best at LSU, That's when he's
been at his best at in Cincinnati, is when he has a plethora of
options to go to because Joe's going to see things pre snap, post snap
where he's going to be able to find the open guy. And you don't
want a situation where, Okay, well I found the open guy, but
he's not really the target that I want to give the ball to. You
want to make sure that whoever's on the field has that roi ability, and
I think that McLaughlin does. Oh, and they've had that. I've accused
Burrow of having blindness for certain tight ends on this roster in the past,
where like they're open and he just doesn't want to pull the trigger there,
right, So having guys that are reliable, I think is a a big
deal, and they're sort of starting to build that now. I think with
the depth with adding these two guys, and I think McLaughlin having Mike is
SICKI and even Tanner Hudson to learn from. Hudson being a lower end but
crafty zone beating kind of tight end in Cincinnati could be helpful for his career
trajectory if he does make the team. If you can't contribute on special teams.
Last guy I want to talk about is Josh Newton Trevor, a guy
that you mentioned you had a I think day one great on going into the
season, and then just didn't go great for him to start the year.
You mentioned the Colorado game. What were you high on coming into the season
that he didn't live up to the hype? I just overall consistency. Honestly,
I think that this guy's got a lot of really good athletic ability.
Maybe he doesn't have quite the long speed that I thought that he did,
but especially in twenty twenty two when they were making their national title run,
really competitive football player, somebody who you could play in off coverage and in
press. I think he showed good ability in both. And I just think
that he played with a ton of confidence in twenty twenty two. And I
wonder if that Colorado game and him going up against Travis Hunter sort of really
really hurt the confidence for him in twenty twenty three, just because I didn't
really see that same football player as the year went on. I thought it
was a less than ideal game from him. But I was like, Okay,
well, Travis Hunter, it's a tough assignment, so you know,
maybe he'll be able to bounce back, and he just really didn't. And
corners kind of that tough position. It's as much as it is physical,
it is mental, right because you get beat a lot as a corner and
you've got to be able to come back and bounce back. And it just
didn't feel like Josh Newton's year. So to get him where they did believe
is a fifth round pick, that made a lot of sense for me to
get him as a depth player, as somebody who I think has starting potential.
I know it's tough to save for a fifth round pick. You know,
he's certainly got to get that confidence back, but that twenty twenty two
season, Newton was awesome and he was. He was a fringe first round,
late second round player for me going into the year, and I don't
really think that ability disappeared. Maybe he's not quite the athlete that I thought
he was in twenty twenty two, but you get a guy playing as confidently
as possible. He's gonna give you the best he can, so to me,
really nice depth beats for Cincinnati to get in the fifth round as a
potential starter at that position, which you don't get to say very often.
You mentioned the long speed, and obviously testing he was in the four or
five range. I believe does he play a little faster even this past year.
Did he look faster on film than four or five? He looked faster
in twenty twenty two, but i'd have told you that like in twenty twenty
three. Yeah, he kind of looked like somebody who you're worried about the
long speed a little bit there, And I don't know if it's just because
he was seeing things a lot more confidently in twenty twenty two, because let's
face it, you know there are some other corners in this class, like
Kaylen Carson from wake Forest is another one who I really liked coming into the
year because you are able to mask a little bit of athletic deficiency at the
cornerback position if you anticipate really well, you know, like if you are
if your foot's in the ground exactly when it needs to be, or even
a little bit before to see things well, then all of a sudden on
tape, it looks like you're running stride for stride with this player, when
in reality that guy might be a lot faster than you. You just got
to take off a half a step before him. And at that case,
and when that's the case, I mean, let's face it, four four
four five. I mean it's zero point one zero of a second difference,
right, and so it's not the biggest difference in the world. And when
you're able to anticipate, you can make up for that. So I just
felt like he did that a lot better in twenty twenty two and in twenty
twenty three. He has adequate athleticism to be able to do that. But
when you're not anticipating well and when you're second guessing yourself, that's when you
really start to see that, Okay, you don't have this elite four to
three recovery speed. To make up for it, you really have to somebody
who can see it pretty well. So it might take a little bit of
time for Newton, but I do have faith that he could be a good
pro. Trevor, we appreciate the time and the depth here that you've been
able to give us on this Bengals draft class. You can find Trevor on
the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast, thes PFF's lead draft analysts and until next time,
that's gonna do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Thanks
for listening, Wode, and have a good one, hey Prime members.
You can listen to this Lockdown podcast at free on Amazon Music. Download the
Amazon Music app today.