Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals Will Have PLENTY of Talented Linebacker Options in 2026 Draft

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Cincinnati Bengals weren't very good at linebacker in 2025, and they could use a talents upgrade. They haven't found one in free agency. Can they find an impact in the NFL draft? Let's discuss linebacker targets for the Bengals in the 2026 NFL draft. You are Locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. I'm Jake Liskow, your host of Lockdown Bengals, along with today.

Starting point is 00:00:37 Joe Goodberry, once again, joining us for our position deep dive series where we're going to be getting into targets by day of the draft. And well, Joe, we're going to talk about linebacker today. And there are some guys on all three days of the draft. But day one, day two, probably the most interesting, especially if you're looking for early impact. We just saw what happens when you have rookie linebackers on the field together. I don't know that you're going to necessarily get the kind of leadership that you need from this draft class at the position,

Starting point is 00:01:11 something that the Bengals Brass has talked about, and they did not get done in free agency, not for lack of trying, despite what you might have heard. We do believe very strongly that they were in on a number of linebackers in free agency, but now we're looking ahead to the draft, and we're going to be talking about Sunny Stiles. We're going to discuss Arvel Reese a little bit because if he does somehow fall to 10, which is prohibitively unlikely. it's good to know a little bit about Arvel Reese and what he can do in the NFL. But even Sunny Stiles feels unlikely at pick number 10 at this point, Joe.

Starting point is 00:01:44 So the conversation is more like, well, is he worth it? If he is there, the answer is probably yes. And the good thing about this, I think, is if you've listened to this series, we talked about corners, we talked about defensive line, we talked about all these different spots. There's a whole lot of guys worth that 10th overall pick. So the Bengals should be able to get a player there that's really good. And the question would then be how much does he fill an immediate need when you shouldn't be drafting for need? But when you can get both, that's nice.

Starting point is 00:02:12 And Sunny Stiles represents your ability to do those things. Later on in the show, we'll talk about who they can get on day two, day three, whether they're guys that could be impactful there. But let's start, Joe, with Sunny Stiles. And we'll obviously, like I said, I'll also talk about Arvel Reese a little bit here. If Stiles was there at pick number 10, is it worth picking a lot? linebacker and picked number 10 the way that I cackled and made fun of the Steelers for drafting Devin Bush in the top 10 when they traded it up together.

Starting point is 00:02:40 Well, good thing you bring up Bush. I mean, that's the last time Devin White was also in that class. That's the last time a linebacker has gotten a multi-year deal with the team that drafted him in the first round was Devin White. It does not happen. If you're going to take a linebacker in the first round, these guys are hitting free agency after four years. They're not getting the fifth year option.

Starting point is 00:02:59 So it's less about styles. It's less about Arval Reese, who some people say may be an off-the-ball linebacker. I bet he's going to rush enough that it's going to make it okay for that team to pick up the fifth-year option and ultimately pay him. But the linebacker spot has been probably the trickiest of every in terms of that fifth-year option of the franchise tag because they get paid like a defense event. So that's really the conversation. Is it worth it?

Starting point is 00:03:21 Why would Sunny Stiles even be there at 10? It's because nine other teams said it's not worth it. It's not. What are we going to do? Four years here. How many of these teams are in win now? Would the chiefs do it? Probably not.

Starting point is 00:03:31 And it's the Bengals then. So you've got teams of front of them that are probably looking further than just the next three years. For the Bengals, it'd be worth it. We need to win now. We need impact. We need that instant of what Sunny Stiles represents. I think he is the prospect that's built in the lab this year. We always have a couple of them.

Starting point is 00:03:49 But when you're 6.5, 244 with a 9.9 relative athletic score, former safety that moves like it. It's extremely smooth, extremely patient, accurate in all of his steps. They let him read and react, which he does very well. His reading is okay, but his reacting is amazingly quick, and he can get to plays in a heartbeat. Two different types of inside linebackers we're going to talk about, the Reed React type and the downhill attackers.

Starting point is 00:04:13 Sunny Stiles is the read and react, and that's how the Bengals play defense. So he would be a very good fit. I think he could probably be a Will linebacker and a Derek Brooks-type role where I can do a lot with them, let them roam, let them cover, let them chase from behind, and be that guy that's just a pain in the butt from the backside, because he's so athletic and he's so accurate in his steps and his pacing and path to the running back.

Starting point is 00:04:35 To me, Sunny Stiles, is as a player completely worth it. He's a better prospect than he is player right now. I expect him to continue to get better in the NFL. Again, it's only two years at linebacker. He was much better this year than he was the past year. Two missed tackles this year. The previous year, he did have some misses. But I believe he had one penalty in his career as well.

Starting point is 00:04:55 So he's a very clean prospect from that perspective. There's some guys in here that are just nut jobs, right? We have Vibontes Burr-Fa-Ty types. We'll talk about them. But Sonny Stiles isn't that. He is more of. And the comparison you're getting now is like Brian Ehrlicher, because the 6-5 guy is rare.

Starting point is 00:05:13 And Ehrlicher was also a former safety that had to transition. He outgrew safety and became a linebacker. And Ehrlicher was a freak athlete at the time. The top two linebackers were you're Ray Lewis and your Brian Ehrlicher for that generation, if you're a millennial like we are, Jake. To me, two very different types of guys. a thumper hitter, tone setter, leader in Ray Lewis. Erlocker was a different type of leader, more silent leader,

Starting point is 00:05:35 and just watch him on tape do things that no other linebacker has the range to even do. That's what Sunny Stiles is. Sunny Stiles also drawing the Fred Warner comparison for our... He doesn't have that intensity, if it's me. He's not as intense. If you were to knock something on Sunny Stiles, he doesn't play, he never ramps himself up to tone setting, this is what the defense is going to be. Like, we need a play, we need a hit.

Starting point is 00:05:59 He will let the guys around him. It's kind of a criticism I have the entire Ohio State defense. They're very good. There's so many good prospects. The only violent guy on that front other than Katie McDonald is Arvel Reese. And does Sunny Stiles, do you think, hit the ground running? Because they're spending the 10th pick, right? And he's worth it as a prospect.

Starting point is 00:06:18 Sure. How much of a difference can he make as a year one rookie linebacker knowing what we know about the transition for linebackers from college of the NFL? Like sometimes it works out. Just had a, didn't we just have a linebacker rookie the year in Cleveland? Carson's Westinger, yeah. It scored super high for us in the spreadsheet. I think it was 15th overall. It was someone that, well, you know, we should have been talking about a little bit more as a clean prospect.

Starting point is 00:06:41 He was mentally, like they said, that guy was off the charts, former walk on that it was also a freak athlete. So mentally, he was ready to hit the ground running, but it's a much different game. And I wonder if Sonny Stiles is ready for that more than just being Reed reacts to and flowed to the ball. He does have 2100 career snaps. It's not like he's completely fresh. now Irville Reese with his 960 career snaps. Sunny Stiles has played. I do think he'd be fine and would fit in quickly.

Starting point is 00:07:06 And Stiles transitioning from safety to linebacker, where he's another one of these former safeties out there. Just comparing to last year's class for tape grades, we have slightly higher tape grades on Sunny Stiles and Carson Swessinger last year. Pretty similar tape grades to Jahad Campbell. Mike Santagena liked Campbell a little bit better than he liked Sunny Stiles, the data is excellent for styles. The athleticism is excellent for styles.

Starting point is 00:07:35 Production is there as well. So a guy that is worth it at 10. And let's discuss quickly, Rvel Reese. We don't need to spend as much time because I think there's a much smaller chance he's available. Although, like, both of these guys have just seen their stock solidly, like top six, seven at this point. So Rvel Reese, if he makes it to 10, I think he's a pick for the. Bengals, Joe. What do you see his role in the NFL? And just like when we talk about the end and

Starting point is 00:08:05 we're going to mention David Bailey, right, when you watch that episode, just because you have to, because I would like to think we root for a team that if the guy got close, maybe he'd go get him. Maybe he's at pick six or six or six or seven. I know, we're laughing. If you're not watching, we're laughing even saying it. But if you get to pick six or seven and Arvo Reese is there, he'd be a tremendous fit for them as a Sam linebacker. He sets the edge very, very well. I think the pass rush flashes that he has, ever why someone's going to draft him. He's one of the youngest players in this class,

Starting point is 00:08:32 20.7 years old, under watching tape, he's 19 for most of that. He's the best, if you were to put him with the D-Ns, he's the best tackling defensive end in this class, so edge guys. And if you put him with the linebackers,

Starting point is 00:08:45 he's his downhill versatility, ability to blitz, but he can also be patient, hang back, drop into coverage. Ohio State did a lot with him, maybe too much. If we're talking like,

Starting point is 00:08:55 they should just let him rush at times and let him be Micah Parsons. They didn't really ever let him do that. They would only think it would give me a little bit of pause of like maybe he can't be a high-end rusher, but he's so young and a lot of clips right now of him not bending as well as like Ruben Bain or something. He is so young. I think he's going to be fine. He's a different type of player.

Starting point is 00:09:13 He's a different type of versatility in your front seven. This is the hybrid type of guy that would be awesome to put at Sam linebacker and just say, you know, we're getting better at pass rush and we're getting better in our base downs. and we're getting better against the run. Versatility, yeah, I see why he's going top five. Is there a poor man's Arval Reese in this class? Are there guys like that that can fill that role for this team? Let's talk about some of the day two targets at linebacker coming up next.

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Starting point is 00:11:31 Given that it's unlikely that Sunny Stiles or Arvel Reese are available to the Bengals at pick number 10 and that it's unlikely to say it lightly that the Bengals trade out to go get one of those guys if they slip to pick seven or eight in the draft. I don't know, maybe I can start to talk myself into it at eight, but probably not. That's not the Bengals way. Let's talk about some of the guys that could be there in the second round. for the Bengals because this is where it feels potentially like the most likely spot for them to pull the trigger on a linebacker prospect.

Starting point is 00:12:05 If you have a mix of young guys, older guys here, more experienced guys here between the third years, the junior guys, CJ Allen, Anthony Hill, and the fifth year, Jacob Rodriguez, and Jake Golda. Talk about some of the day two options, Joe, and the different kinds of players are because there are some very different kinds of players. and whether or not they're going to fit what exactly the Bengals are looking for, I think is an interesting part of the conversation. Yes, we've got three different types here.

Starting point is 00:12:32 We'll start with the downhill attack type style guys. They're both 21. So when you're watching them on tape, they are 20. This is C.J. Allen of Georgia, Anthony Hill of Texas. Let's start with C.J. Allen, 6-1, 2.30, 75-inch wing. That's small, right? He's not a big linebacker. This is O'Dell Thurman size.

Starting point is 00:12:48 Thurman, I think, was 228 at the time coming out of Georgia. Did not test. So, and it's no surprise you didn't test because when you watch him on tape, you're like, oh, yeah, he's not a great athlete. It's surrounded by a bunch of Georgia four and five star guys. Georgia's been turning out defenders for how long now. Very boring defense, though. They don't, they just play their role, do their job.

Starting point is 00:13:06 And if you watch it and really get the microscope tight on these guys, you can appreciate what they're doing. But when you watch CJ Allen, when he's going backwards, I don't want to even draft him, right? Like in coverage, in movement in space, if he's got, he does. It's like he's playing in complete darkness if he's going backwards. Terrible in coverage. Absolutely dreadful in coverage. I cannot, like, tell you this enough.

Starting point is 00:13:31 But then going forward and then attacking and tackling and hitting and playing the run and setting the edge if he gets down there and sifting through the trash and making his way to the running back, I'm like, he's not that fast when I'm watching a move. He's not that agile when I'm watching the move. And then the play's going. Then the run is to the ball. The ball carrier has the ball. And he's like, knifing through, gets there, gets to the backside, flips him up.

Starting point is 00:13:55 And I'm like, oh, that was very athletic. Screen pass. He knifes through both blockers, slams into the running back and drops him. Absolute, like, stone cold stunters him into the 50-yard line. You're like, geez, you should be tried for murder. Like, he is, when he's going forward, he is a very fun player. I would love to have that in run defense. You got to take him off the field on third downs, but he's 21.

Starting point is 00:14:19 Maybe he gets much better at that. Maybe he gets more athletic. Maybe he's still developing. Probably is. He's 20 on tape. I'm going to say a lot of these things about Anthony Hill as well. And you don't need like elite in coverage. You need it to be okay.

Starting point is 00:14:33 And he's not. And yeah, if he's not, then he's not. But when we're talking about these guys for their flaws and what they can grow into, especially for these younger guys, you don't need your linebackers. Like you're spending a premium pick. You want him to be Fred Warner in coverage. But you get to the second. round depending on the role you're asking them to fill.

Starting point is 00:14:54 And I think that's going to be such an issue for some of the players of Bengals are drafting this year for some of these positions, lineback are definitely one of them. You have to have that specific role in mind for those guys. And that's going to be true for like a Caleb Downs or Emmanuel McNeil Warren at safety kind of thing or also true for a lot of the linebackers we're going to talk about. Zero penalties also for CJ Allen. So very clean, even though he's destroying people. Anthony Hill, very similar player, but a little bit bigger, 6-2-2-3.

Starting point is 00:15:21 he did test very well. He ran a 4-5-1. So as a young guy with elite athleticism and his production score is really, really high for us. He gives me Malik Jefferson vibes, right? Same school I know. But because what they ask him to do, they're telling him, go forward and do not change your direction, right? Just hit this B gap, hit the C gap, hit the A gap. And that was what Texas did with Mike Jefferson. And he got a lot of production out of it, but it didn't translate to him knowing what was going on. And when you watch Anthony, the more you watch, you go, oh, he doesn't know where the ball's going. He doesn't know what's happening around him. He gets sucked up by

Starting point is 00:15:54 blocking schemes. He gets, he'll be following the ball if you're on video here. He's watching this guy. He's sidestepping. And the blocker just gets him from the side. He has no idea that guy's coming. He doesn't know how to get off blocks very well. But, and I think there's a lot of development too. I think his body, like seeing him at the pro day and stuff. He's got some, he can get a lot stronger. He can get a lot tremor. He can, there's probably a lot more development to him. Some teams are going to see that as a negative. Like, he's not ready. And then all the teams are be like he's going to be better when he's 23, 24 years old. He had seven penalties in college and his limited snaps, which is pretty bad.

Starting point is 00:16:27 Why I wanted to bring that up right after C.J. Allen, to me, I wouldn't touch him in the first two rounds at all. I know it's like for our spreadsheet, it's going to score him decently. I, and I can see the upside. The flashes are very good. I can see why in a limited role he could have success right away. I'm going to bet he struggles right away. And I'm going to bet we're going to have to reevaluate when he's going to that second contract. In four years, we're going to be looking at him in the 2031 free agency. Like, yeah, I'll take Anthony Hill, actually. And he's only 25 years old.

Starting point is 00:16:54 He's developed. Let's do it now. But I don't want to spend the pick on that. Yeah, you let someone else do the development as a strategy that you can employ at tight end as well, tight end and lineback are a couple of spots for like sometimes the second contracts or the best contracts for those guys in terms of the value that you can get. Different kind of player. And one of the, I think, most popular mock draft choices for Bengals fans in the second round is

Starting point is 00:17:18 Jacob Rodriguez from Texas Tech. He's a little bit older, like I said, fifth year player. He's going to be 24 as a rookie, but a very different kind of linebacker to C.J. Allen and Anthony Hill. Very, very different. He's a read and react type that did a lot in coverage for Texas Tech. Some of these guys weren't talking about,

Starting point is 00:17:37 they don't even ask them to cover, right? Sunny Styles didn't do a whole lot in coverage. Alan and Anthony Hill didn't do anything in coverage. Just said, Trotter. nothing in coverage at all. Jake Golda, different. He goes in the slot. We're going to talk about Jake Golda and what he does and how he's different. Rodriguez is patrolling the middle of field. He is your Logan Wilson in this draft class, right? He can run up the middle and in the cover two and carry the guy, the number three up the seam. He can react super quickly to things

Starting point is 00:18:06 coming in front of them to the hook curl to his side. Like he is just, he's very, very good in coverage. He tested much better than people. We're thinking third, fourth round. Some were saying fifth round for him. I wrote on year that he's consensus right now, 50. I think he's going to get overdrafted on that. He tested so much better than expected, but he is smaller, 6-1-2-31, sub-31-inch arm, 74-inch wingspan. That's Mansour Delane wingspan.

Starting point is 00:18:31 He misses a lot of tackles because of it. We're going to speak very highly of Rodriguez. He does miss tackles, and I think it's largely because he doesn't tackle well outside of his frame. He's willing to die for plays. He's willing to get to a lot of plays. He's willing to put everything on the line to get to it. And it helps.

Starting point is 00:18:47 We need guys with that energy. and that intensity, but he does miss because of it. But like, just going over some data real quick, ran a 457, relative athletic score in 96 percentile. His defensive grade at linebacker puts him the 98th percentile coverage, 97th percentile, zone coverage, 95th percentile, run defense, 93rd percentile. He's a good blitzer. He is highly disruptive.

Starting point is 00:19:08 He punches the ball out. He forces fumbles. He's a magnet for the ball. You know, T.J. Watt, we're like, how did the ball find him again? That is Jacob Rodriguez, that linebacker. I would love to have that. any interviews I watched of his, whether it was be at the Senior Bowl, at the Combine, I like, yeah, teams are going to love him for the leadership.

Starting point is 00:19:25 You mentioned you started talking about linebacker, are they going to find the leadership? It would be Jacob Rodriguez at 41 if you could do it. He would come in and that's your guy. Everyone's listening to him. He's got exactly what you're looking for. Zero penalties in all of his snaps. That's good, too. Yeah, I think Rodriguez will be and will continue to be one of the favorites for the Bengals

Starting point is 00:19:46 to target in the second round if they do go for a linebacker in that spot for all the reasons that you're discussing there. And there's no unlike corner. And if you haven't seen the corner episode, go check out the corner episode. Like you could get some, I think, really high end upside. Could lead your cornerback room. Could be Pro Bowl kind of corners in the second round this year. It doesn't feel that way to me as much a linebacker unless some of these guys really

Starting point is 00:20:11 hits some projection. So there's more projection there to me with some of these linebackers. There are a couple of other guys that I think we should talk about for day two and some day three guys that we should certainly get to here to finish up the show coming up next. It's tax time, but for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is a lot. Trying to book an appointment that's not the most convenient, sitting in a waiting room with a stack of papers, emailing back and forth, wondering if they really get your situation. But this year, you're getting a major upgrade. Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. You can meet face to face with a real TurboTax expert,

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Starting point is 00:22:20 Jake Golda and Josiah Trotter, you mentioned Kyle Lewis also in the mix. And he's more of a special case, Kyle Lewis, talking about how there's different kinds of players. Like he might be Nickyman Worry in the NFL where he is playing your overhang, guarding tight ends, not necessarily playing stack linebacker. but crazy movement skills just absolutely enthralling to watch you're just like whoa that shouldn't do that an incredible athlete at 220 pounds could be a really fun player for the things you can't do but let's talk golday trotter lewis here before we get to some of the day three guys yeah so golda is a former defensive end i think he was at hos state before going to cincinnati six four two 39 ran a four six two which is solid for that type of guy he's a sam linebacker relative athletic score put him in

Starting point is 00:23:10 then 9.8, 2,000 snaps. So when we're looking for a Sam to get Demetre Snyde off that spot, right? We want a guy that can play on the line of scrimmage, set the edge on the run. And also he's going to have to kick out and do some coverage, right? Sometimes we're going to detach a tight end. You've got to be able to go with him. Golda does all that. They use them exactly the way the Bengals would probably use them as well.

Starting point is 00:23:30 So it's an easy translation. And I think that I try to write which guys are easy projections, easy tape watchers to like what they're going to do because they get overdrafted in the NFL pretty routinely. I probably wouldn't take Golda until round three because he's a bit clunky, still a bit stiff. He defeats blocks really well because he's a former D-end. He really attacks and can dip around and really set

Starting point is 00:23:50 the edge and be effective as a blitzer. And all that's his former D-N background. But he is a bit clunky despite scoring and grading really well from PFF in coverage. They ask him to do a lot in coverage. And that's fun. I want that. But to me, the clean projection may put him in

Starting point is 00:24:05 round two, I'd feel more comfortable in round three. Josiah Trotter, different player. We've had a couple Trotters now at this point. You know, obviously the son of Jeremiah Trotter, who was an absolute psycho. I'd love to have a 22-year-old Jeremiah Trotter. Trotter just turned 21, so he's 20 on take. Gold Day would be a 23-year-old rookie. Kyle Lewis 22 when we get to him. But Trotter is a downhill run defender. I have a lot of capital writing in my notes for him. He's terrible in coverage again, so they don't ask him to do it. He's got 1100 career snaps. He did not test athletically, so we don't know what he is because you can, you can

Starting point is 00:24:40 kind of see some clunkiness in his athleticism. But capital letters, run defense, he's the best run defender. He takes on blocks so well, he knifes through traffic so well, he meets ball carriers in the hole before they even get there. Very anticipatory player, very smart player, knows where it's going, even though he's downhill attacking, he'll quickly get out of that gap, sidestep a blocker and get to the next one and make the play. Very good that. Very good with that. He's a power tackler, defeats blocks on a missile of a blitzer. Jeremiah Trotter coming forward. is the day three version of Hill and Alan that I mentioned. Josiah.

Starting point is 00:25:15 Yeah, Josiah Trotter, sorry. Not the death. Not the dead. Very much like him. But this Trotter, this version of Trotter, the Gen Z Trotter is a good player coming forward and very young. I think he's got a lot of development to go. Still as a guy moving backwards, still not there.

Starting point is 00:25:30 You're not going to play him on third downs. But if you want to run defender right now, he's probably the best one you can get. So as far as the fit, like there are a couple of different fits that we've talked about. far and these are the more impactful guys probably that we've talked about and that's arville rice and jake golday is kind of the sam type of guy jacob rodriguez for your leadership he's going to run that room kind of guy yeah is there a fit for allen hill and trotter that you see with this team given what we expect the roles to be for demetrius knight and uh barrett carter in year two so hill did do some sam stuff as well they have tray more on the other side who we're going to talk about

Starting point is 00:26:06 is day three guy more of the sam former d end at texas and they will kind of of put both of them. So Hill has done that and you could probably keep him in a limited role. And is that worth a second round pick? I've seen some recent mocks. It looks like he's falling a little bit. If he's there in the third, I do think you could find a roll for him right away. The same guys, I think would start right away. Redriguez would just replace Barrett Carter as your inside guy. I think they could use everything. It just really depends on if they see it. Because the last few guys we're talking about here, are they clear upgrades to Demetris Knight from last year's draft grade? In my opinion, they are. Will the Bengals feel that way?

Starting point is 00:26:40 begging and praying that night would be there. And even if they do see it that way, do they see it that way significantly enough that they're willing to pull the trigger? Because where we do think that they tried to bring in a linebacker, I don't think that they'll see it the same way when it's a rookie. When it's a rookie coming in, they're going to expect there to be some growing pains

Starting point is 00:26:59 and expect for these guys not to necessarily hit the ground running. And so when we talk about some of these, you know, day three options, and I want to make sure we talk about Kyle Lewis a little bit. but it's harder to say they're necessarily targets, I guess, if you talk about the likelihood of the pick at some point, because at some point they're going to sit there and say, like, do we think these guys are significantly better enough?

Starting point is 00:27:23 You talk about the marginal upside of the pick versus what's on the team. We might see it one way from the outside, but the Bengals, we know, often see these things differently when they have guys on rookie contracts and they want to give guys chances for growth. And I do think that they want to address linebacker. I think that we are in agreement there, but I do wonder how that will affect their willingness to draft certain guys unless they see them as big values. And that's why Sam would make a lot of sense, like a goal day, right?

Starting point is 00:27:50 Because you're not taking snaps away from Carter and Knight. And if anything, you're putting those guys in better position to succeed. You're not getting Knight in a position where I thought he looked his worst last year. And that's when we get to Kyle Lewis as well. Maybe they want a nickel, overhang, slot, more versatile guy that can do more coverage things. and Lewis, a lot like Kyle Dugger, is just under six foot, 220 pounds, kind of that hybrid defender. Lewis, though, is an elite mover.

Starting point is 00:28:16 It's incredibly efficient footwork. His feet don't slip, and he's playing on that terrible turf a lot of times that pit, that terrible grass, and it does not affect him. He looks like everyone else is playing in quicksand, and he is on a track turf. Like he is, he is so smooth, so agile, so explosive, he is tremendous in man coverage. A lot of his plays come in man coverage. I don't even know why teams were targeting him. There's not a lot of snaps in man,

Starting point is 00:28:41 but when he is, his rate of getting his hands on the ball was extremely high. He's a playmaker in coverage. But also, they had him shooting gaps and getting a lot of tackles for loss as well. He is very hard to get a hand on, very hard to block his anticipation there. He is not just a slot. You can bring him in and let him do things. You want a 220 pound Mike Hilton? Like, that's what Kyle Lewis could do.

Starting point is 00:29:02 But actually, he might be a better mover and better in coverage. than Hilton was. You can't say enough how good he is. He's a chaos blitzer as well. It creates a lot of disruption. They blitz them from the slot, and it's like teams are just not ready for it. For how fast and quick,

Starting point is 00:29:15 he can bend around that corner. He's one of the funest players to watch. Of the guys we've talked about so far, would it be fair to say that the most exciting fits are Stiles, Rodriguez, and Lewis? With Goldie? Yeah. I mean,

Starting point is 00:29:30 I want a conversation for you. Yeah, he's not as exciting. like in terms of making plays on the ball. He's exciting to help the other guys and a fit and why he could play right away. I would love to have Jake Golda. But if we're saying like who can come in and probably make a splash and give you something different that you would notice affect the ball, I mean, Rodriguez and Lewis are going to do that. Yeah, for sure.

Starting point is 00:29:51 Let's talk day three guys. And we knew the bulk of the conversation would be day two. And we're very short on time here for some of the day three guys. So we'll talk about some names and we'll highlight some of the better fits here. Talk about some of the day three targets that you think could help this team, Joe. Yeah, a couple Sam guys I got here in J. Sean Barum out of Michigan, who I think could go much higher. Like, he scores really high for us at the defensive end. He's that tweener, DN linebacker.

Starting point is 00:30:18 They actually used him, again, like Jay Golda and like how I think the Bengals would if you're saying it's a 3-4 outside linebacker, 4-3 Sam and a bare front type thing. J-Shon Barum is a physical kind of a nut. And I really like the way he plays, and he tested pretty well, too. He ran a 4-6-4, which is pretty good for that type of guy. You could bring some serious pass-rush juice in that hybrid role there. Yeah, you don't have to completely get out of your defense. Like, say we're in our base defense and say, well, you know what?

Starting point is 00:30:44 Now we want to let you pass-rush because the offense shifted and something else. Go ahead. Run the arc, right? And kick Schmar Stewart inside to the 4-I. It would work completely. So I think he's a fun player. And if they targeted him in round two, I wouldn't be shocked or mad about it because I think he would be a fun fit for them. But his consensus puts him past pick 100.

Starting point is 00:31:02 maybe he's there in round four. Another guy like that, that's supposed to be a day three guy. I mentioned Trey Moore out of Texas. He's 6-1 and 5-8s, 243. Former D-N, very similar to how Joseph Osai developed, where he was a linebacker that moved to D-N.

Starting point is 00:31:17 He kind of weren't, he didn't look completely comfortable as the D-N-O-Sai. Moore didn't look completely comfortable at linebacker, but the flashes of both guys were like, yeah, they can do it if you let them develop into it. You would need a developmental plan and figure out what you want to do with them, but that's ideal for the Sam spot. He ran a 4-5-4, so even faster than Barham and Golda.

Starting point is 00:31:37 So, like, Primor is a high-end athlete. So those are your Sam guys. If you're looking for more of the athletic, similar to Kyle Lewis, maybe you can do more coverage stuff with him. That's Caleb Elam's ore out of TCU. 6-2-234-9-6-R-A.S, ran a 4-4-7. Plays very, very low. Really great leverage, takes on blocks very, very well for a small guy.

Starting point is 00:31:58 Defeats blocks, hard to get your hand on. he's, even though he's small, you don't really see it. He depends the run really well, but I think you can do a ton with him in coverage because he's got the athletic ability moves extremely well. He's a fourth round pick right now. That's a guy in a fourth round I'd like to take a shot on. And then we've got two downhill physical types. So if you're looking for run defense, you're looking to set the tone.

Starting point is 00:32:19 Some people love Kishon Elliott out of Arizona State, 6-1 and 5-8s, 231. He's a blitzer, very similar to the Anthony Hill type, the C.J. Allen type. we'll take on blocks probably the best of anyone in this class. Like just so I try to defeat them very quickly dips around him. Elliott is taking them on and just absolutely going through guys. All of his tape is just blowing up blocks. Ivan Pace type, if you remember from the senior bowl, like just running through. He does not care where the ball goes afterwards.

Starting point is 00:32:48 He's kind of rough because of that. Like PFF scores him extremely low. But the tape is fun of flashes. It's probably what I would be there on day three. And that red Murdoch out of Buffalo, If you want to watch some highlights, you want to watch a guy who forces a ton of fumbles. And they want to say 15 force fumbles in his career. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:33:04 And he's actually playing Cover 2 running up the seam. I remember a play. A guy's running a dig route dagger. Dagger's coming. He's going up the middle on cover 2. Smoke's the guy. Helmet comes off. Like, you remember old Madden games?

Starting point is 00:33:15 The helmet would pop off. It looks so silly. And you see it multiple times with Red Murdoch. I've been calling him Mac Perfect. You're looking for Avantez Perfect. This is Mac Perfect here. He's big. He's slow.

Starting point is 00:33:26 But he destroys people and he moves efficiently. Like he really, he must be extremely smart like perfect was and have a good feel for the game. And he's just super instinctive. We've talked about Arvel Reese and Sunny Styles on day one, C.J. Allen, Anthony Hill, Jacob Rodriguez, Jake Golda, Josiah Trotter, Kyle Lewis of day two options. Day three, we talked about Barham, Caleb El Arms Ord. Did we talk about El Arms Orr? We did. And Trey Moore, Kishon, Elliot, Red Murdoch, as some names.

Starting point is 00:33:56 And there's other guys. Potential targets. Yeah, the honorable mentions would probably be Tori and York. Yeah. Maybe a Harold Perkins honorable mention for a developmental pick, depending on where he goes. Who else is on your honorable mention list here, Joe? I mean, I was going to say Tori in York, but he's 5, 10, 2, 23. He doesn't know he's small.

Starting point is 00:34:16 He plays through guys, tries to go through all these blocks. He's pound for pound, a very, very fun player. We've got a lot of these hybrid tweener, weird type, body type guys. And he's very good. He's just small. I know that Bryce Becher from Oregon has some fans as well. Physical coverage has a lot of passes to defense. Because of the Michigan connection, I'm just going to mention Jimmy Roaldor's name.

Starting point is 00:34:39 Take some blocks very, very well. That's about all I'll say about Jimmy Roaldor, but the Bengals clearly have been drafting out of Michigan in recent years. Let's wrap up there for the linebacker position. We've got the full series going on this week for all of the positions of need for the Cincinnati Bengals and getting into targets on day one day, two, day three of the draft. You can find Joe Goodberry on Twitter at Joe Goodberry. Find his work over on the Bengals on the Brains show with first star logistics where you'll find some film breakdowns and some of the players we talked about in this episode.

Starting point is 00:35:12 And until next time, that's going to do it for this episode of the Locktime Bengals podcast. Thanks for listening, Hoodey and have a good one.

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