Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Cincinnati Bengals Bolster Defense in Our FIRST Mock Draft of 2026

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

The Cincinnati Bengals need help on defense. They get it in our first mock draft of 2026! From David Bailey to Caleb Downs, the Bengals have plenty of juicy options to pick from. James Rapien and Jake Liscow make some tough decisions in their two-round mock draft.Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans.Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclubJoin the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsFind and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAgStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!TurboTaxFor a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 — all in, if a TurboTax expert didn’t file for you last year. Just file by February 28. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today.FanDuelUse your Profit Boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA Finals.Play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started. IndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast.ZocdocStop putting off your doctor’s appointments and get the care you need.Go to http://Zocdoc.com/lockedonnfl to find and instantly book a top-rated doctortoday.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's a middle of February, and we haven't done a single mock draft yet, and it's time to fix that. Let's dive into two rounds on a mock draft Monday. 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 a little bonus episode of the Locked on Bengals podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day in the number one sports podcast. Network in the land. He's James Rupin. I'm Jake Liscoe. We've been hosting this show between the two of us since 2016, your best one-stop shop for all things, Bengals. And somehow, James, we've gotten to February 16th. We haven't done a mock draft. And something that we are going to launch here on this channel is some extra content for all of our everydayers and all of you who make us your first list and

we're looking for a little bit more content. And this week it will not be everyday quite yet. We're going to get into this and part of that is logistics i'll be traveling for a couple of days here but something that you can look for going forward are extra episodes many days every day we'll find our rhythm and today we're going to get it started with our first mock draft of the year james before free agency before the combine we've got the senior bowl in the books at least so so we know some senior bowl names and i i think this is the latest that we've been doing this podcast together, probably that I've been doing this podcast period, that we've gotten to a mock draft in the middle of February.

I don't think we've ever waited quite, even the Super Bowl run. We probably did one pretty shortly after the Super Bowl. I don't know. We would have to check that Super Bowl run. Yeah, we would have to check. That was a crazy one. But I'm excited. The Combines next week.

And that means it is time to start mocking, my friend. And how much will they change when we get wowed by the combine numbers that everyone who's been following the draft all year, the day Bruglers of the world will be like, ah, yeah, you know, I already thought he was going to be athletic. So he didn't really move for me. And we'll be like, I didn't know who this guy was. I'm really excited about him. Let's draft him. And that's the difference between the people that follow it all year and the people that cover a team all year. But we're going to get started here.

Jays, we're going to do a couple of rounds today. in a two-round mock, we're going to use the NFL mock draft databases mock draft simulator. We'll get it up on the screen here. And we're going to watch some players get drafted before the Bengals pick at 10. So let's get this thing started, James,

and let's see who we're debating in our first mock draft of the season. David Bailey somehow makes it to us at 10. So let's first recap the players that have been picked. Arbrel Reese picked second by the New York Jess Ruben Bain picked fourth by the Tennessee Titans Spencer Fanonow picked six by the Cleveland Browns Mackay Lemon

by the New Orleans Saints and Jeremiah Love picked ninth by the Kansas City Chiefs. So the options for us here are pretty tantalizing. You've got David Bailey, you've got Caleb Downs, Sunny Styles, Mansour Delangor, Germain, McQuay, but probably one of those

first you guys, David Bailey or Caleb Downs. One of the rare scenarios, James, where one of the pass rushers falls all the way to take. Yeah, I mean, that's, you get two corners you really like, and could be at the top of your board. And that's a very real position that they could take. Caleb Downs, David Bailey. I think everyone's going to say Bailey,

and then there's going to be some that say, heck no, get downs. I'm not sure you can go wrong. I think it's a matter of, and this is where you've got to set. yourself up in free agency so you could just stick to your board. I think overall, obviously we're using the mock draft database. David Bailey is higher on consensus. Feels like that's the route we should go here. Do you agree? Do you feel like it should be the other way? I think either way, you're getting a really high-end football player that can help you hopefully instant impact style on a defense that desperately

needs it. Yeah, I mean, this is what makes it so hard. I think David Bailey is an awesome pass rusher. and when he wins, it's so good. David Bailey is one of the guys that I've watched a couple of games of for this draft so far, and he's got the ghost move, he's got the spin move, he's got the incredible burst and good finishing ability. He's a little bit older. He's going to be just shy of 23 when he's drafted, and he's not as stout against the run.

He's more of a pass-rushing kind of player who will give up some ground in the run game. He's not as physical as a Ruben Bain, has probably 25 pounds on David Bailey, the 275 versus 250 difference there. With the Bengals drafted player that light, I think he would be the lightest defensive end they've drafted certainly early in the first two or three rounds that I can recall, certainly in recent history. But very, very productive pass rusher is David Bailey. On the other side of things, I think Caleb Downs is the better player. And that's where it's difficult.

because a good defense event who can get after the passer versus a great safety, there's that positional value discussion there, right? Say they don't need either. You don't need a safety at defensive end. You don't need a starting safety. You don't need a starter at either position because of what they've done in free agency, right? How do you approach this then? I think that's really hard because David Bailey could be.

the best pass rusher in this draft. Could be. I think it's Bain personally, but you never know, right? You never know. Caleb Downs could be the best, second best player in this draft, but he's a safety. And it's not like this is a defensive staff that I have a whole lot of faith to use him creatively if they've got two other starting safeties. So I do think it's really challenging here. I think that a lot of times, if Caleb Downs is available at 10, I'm picking Caleb Downs and I'm laughing. I'm thrilled about it. But if David Bailey makes it to 10, I'm probably pretty happy about it too. Yeah.

And I think you can tell which way I lean. A lot of Ohio State fans might not be super excited about it, but we'll make our pick and go a whole other round. Round two as well. We'll do that coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Zock Doc. Zoc Doc is where you need to go. Why it's going to make finding a doctor, well, much, much easier. Finding a doctor can feel like trying to find a diamond in the rough.

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Jake, I think this is going to come down to one thing when it comes to David Bailey. And that's where I lean. Do the Bengals feel like he can give them enough in the run game? Enough. And they certainly need juice on the edge. He had the production you look for, had 19 and a half tackles for loss, 14 and a half sacks last season. It's an All-American. One year at Texas Tech, if he can give them and be physical enough in the run game, even if he isn't going to be a run stuffer, I think that that's where they would go. And that's the way Eileen, I lean David Bailey. As much as I like Caleb Downs, I think that safety-wise, whether it's free agency or. or later in the draft, you can find it. Maybe we will in round two. David Bailey comes in, should be able to contribute right away. I think the thing that you could sell me on here,

and we'll take David Bailey and we'll play that scenario outright, because I don't think we're going to get to do many of these if we do a lot of mock vats, which we probably won't do a ton this year. But maybe with this extra avenue for content, we'll do a couple more than we normally do, or than we did last year. There are going to be a whole lot of scenarios

where we have the opportunity to pick David Bailey, or Ruben Bain for that matter, even though we did see Ruben Bay mock to the Bengals in one mock draft recently. So let's take David Bailey here. Let's see where we go in the second round, because like you said, maybe it is a safety in the second round. Maybe that's where we go at this point, having picked the past rusher early.

And one thing that has worked out beautifully for us here is Emmanuel McNeil Warren is still available to us in the second round. That is a top 30 player, I believe, for Dave Bruegler. Yeah, fun, very fun safety prospect. And I think the very, very clear pick here, unless you like Dylan Thineman from Oregon a little bit more, different styles of players, different styles of safety. So it will depend, I think, a little bit on what the Bengals are looking for there. McNeil Warren more of a guy that is going to play in the box for you quite a bit.

Thineman, more of the classic safety, more deep safety ability. So it depends on which skill set the Bengals value more. knowing that Jordan battle, or maybe they sign a guy, whoever they have on the roster would already exist there. What are your thoughts here, James? Yeah, I think it's interesting. And it's interesting also Lee Hunter out of Texas Tech. If you wanted to keep the Texas Tech theme going,

I think it's someone you could potentially consider here. Mason Thomas as well as someone. I'm going to mention a receiver because why, no, I'm just kidding. I won't do that here, even though I do think receiver would probably be in play. at some point for the Bengals in this draft. Look, adding key pieces on the back end of your defense and in the trenches, that would be huge. And so whether you have gone Caleb Downs and then you go with a Mason Thomas now or the other way

and you get McNeil Warren or the name, like your defense should be significantly improved. And so regardless, like these scenarios, if they play out, feels pretty good that the Bengals are going to add some instant impact guys that can come in and help them win this season. And that's what they need on defense. That's what they've lacked on defense. And they've really struggled to find that in recent seasons because they've used a bunch of draft capital on defense and it just hasn't panned out the way they want at least as quickly

as they wanted to. Yeah. I wonder personally, we looked at this recently, if the Bengals would go to such a small school as Toledo here, where they've been big school dominant on day one and day two in recent years. And just because of that, I'm going to mention as well. Christian Miller, defensive tackle from Georgia, I think. That is a guy that if he is available in the second round,

should be considered, comes into the league with strong run defense chops already. And is, I think, a solid athlete will have to see how he tests. We're doing this before the combine. R. Mason Thomas, so if you go Caleb Downs in the first round, R. Mason Thomas in the second round or David Bailey in the first round in one of these safeties in the second round, whether it's McNeil Warren or Thineman, you're probably pretty happy with either of those outcomes. Yeah. Let us know in the comments, whether you'd rather have Bailey and a safety or downs and Thomas, because I really like Armason Thomas.

And if you're talking about Nick Benito, I think that is the closest approximation of Nick Benito in this draft class. I love Nick Benito in that draft class. I knew that he was a small guy who was going to be a pass rusher, pretty much only in the NFL. And Armaason Thomas might be going the same way, listed at 249. So we'll see what he weighs and how he looks at the combine because he's going to be a crazy explosive. athlete. So I like McNeil Warren a little bit more here, but if you like Thineman more out there as you're watching this, just pretend we pick the other safety, pick the safety that you like the most here and let us know in those comments who you like the best between those couple of combinations that we've talked about here. And the Bengals had a couple of defensive players, David Bailey and Emmanuel McNeil Warren in our first mock draft of the year. And as always, we're going to pat ourselves

on the back, James. I think we did a pretty good job here. I do. I think you're right, though, my friend, Miller and Hunter, those two guys. I would be very interested in them if they fall to 41. That defensive tackle room would be, it would be nice if you could add a guy like that. And regardless, all of those options, it sounded like the Bengals could be in a pretty good spot. And so mock draft round one or 1.

Or 1.0, however you want to say it, the first two, rounds we've done, I think the defense can clearly get better with some guys that are going to make an impact. And of course, free agency will change things a ton. The combine certainly will change things. We'll find out who the Bengals are talking to, all those fun things. And we'll have you cover for all of that right here on the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Until next time, thanks for listening to this shorter episode of Lockdown Bengals. Who day and have a good.