Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Mini-Mock Monday: Caleb Downs... and then what?

Starting point is 00:00:00 James really, really wants to draft Jeremiah Love 10th overall. Let's see if we can to today's mini mock draft. You are Locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What up, Bengal Sands, and welcome to a mini episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. The number one sports podcast network in the land. He's Jay Zerpene.

Starting point is 00:00:33 I'm Jake Lisco. and today we dive into another two-round mini mock draft Monday for you here on lockdown Bengals where we've been covering your Cincinnati Bengals going all the way back to 2016. The other episode for you today we covered, I guess, Sunday afternoon is when that episode went up. Chase Brown and a potential extension for him looking at Giovante Williams contract as a comparable deal. And during that conversation, James Rapine, you mentioned your desire for the Bengals to consider Jeremiah Love at 10th overall. And we'll see if we do or do not get that scenario today, because as I mentioned, there is a very real chance that Jeremiah Love is picked long before the Bengals were on the clock in 10.

Starting point is 00:01:14 So we'll see what we get here today. We're diving back into the NFL macdraft databases mock draft simulator here. We're going to do two rounds, like I said. And just shout out to all the everydayers out there. Everyone who makes Lock Tom Bengals here first listen, joining us here for our second episode of the day, or maybe your first episode of the day, depending on when you. listen to these episodes. So let's let this thing run to pick number 10 and see what our options are for the Cincinnati Bengals as we run through another two-round scenario on the mock draft database.

Starting point is 00:01:46 I saw at least one tackle go. It looked like you're celebrating James. Am I? What do we got here? Oh, I might be celebrating. Now I goa, David Bailey, Jordan Tyson, Spencer Cano, Kno, Kelo, Keloch, Fulman. Oh, no, Jeremy.

Starting point is 00:02:03 to the Kansas City Chiefs, which means are we just straight up drafting Caleb Downs here? Oh my God. What are you doing to me? Look, look, look. Hey, I'm going to look right in the camera. Andy Reed, don't make me come to Kansas City. Don't make me come to Kansas City now. You don't want to take that devalued position that is worthless.

Starting point is 00:02:23 Jeremiah Love will be so good in Kansas City. That be, they signed Joe Flacco and then he's handed off the Jeremiah Love while Pat Just coming back anyway. Talk about nightmare scenarios. Yeah, I mean, Caleb Downs is near the top, right, of this scenario. You know, Ruben Bain is gone. David Bailey's gone. You have a guy in Caleb Downs makes a ton of sense.

Starting point is 00:02:44 Sunny Stiles in the mix. Both corners in the mix. And I think they will be, right? I think Mansour Delane is going to be very much in the mix. I think that McCoy going to be in the mix and the health factor, which is huge this week with the NFL Combine, the medicals for for jaban mccoy the the tennessee corner but let's be honest here as much as i would love mackay lemon and there are scenarios where i think macky lemon's in the mix here carnell tate you

Starting point is 00:03:17 could make the arguments in the mix here one of these offensive weapons is mix here am i down with downs sometimes you got to get down with downs jake and and so to me this is that scenario it's very comparable. The Jeremiah Love scenario and the Caleb Downs scenario, they're very similar. One is a bigger need. One played for Ohio State. And I think that matters to some people. But ultimately, you want to take the best player.

Starting point is 00:03:45 You want someone that can make an instant impact. You want someone that can help change your identity, the same way Jamar Chase did, the same way Joe Burrow and T. Higgins did. And that guy could potentially be Caleb Downs out of Ohio State. So, yeah, I would be comfortable with him here in this scenario. Yeah, we spent some time talking about Caleb Downs with Mike's Antagena last week. He's going to probably be Mike's top-graded prospect this year. And for a lot of people, this is a player seen as a clear elite player,

Starting point is 00:04:15 a player seen as potentially by a lot of people, one of the best, if not the best player, in the entire draft class. And so it's really a position value issue here. And that's exactly why you bring up the similarities between the Caleb Downs, conversation in the Jeremiah I love situation. You're paying two positions where you're not getting a whole lot of surplus value from a monetary perspective if you're allocating just south of $8 million per year to your 10th overall pick. Compare that to a corner, especially compare that to an edge rush or you're getting potentially a premier talent for just $8 million a year, which say at the

Starting point is 00:04:49 edge position could cost you $30, $30 million plus per year. Whereas at safety, the elite safeties might be in the high teens, low 20s, maybe by the time Caleb Downs is at the end of his rookie deal. And then you're talking about needing to extend a player at a position where the Bengals have not been able to get that done in recent history when they drafted and developed one in Jesse Bates. So if it's Caleb Downs here, you have to be on board for the versatility, for the impact that he can make on your defense, and the idea that you would extend Caleb Downs. if he is the player you expect him to be,

Starting point is 00:05:25 if you pick him 10th overall. Coming up next, we will get into the second round here of the mock draft simulator. We're going to pick Caleb Downs and let this thing run. We'll figure out where we go in the second round coming up next. The show is brought to you by TurboTax. And TurboTax, well, it's here. TurboTax season, well, it makes tax season that much easier.

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Starting point is 00:07:56 If you could get Emmanuel McNeill Warren at 41, Dylan Thineman at 41. I don't think either of these guys are going to be there. They might not make it out of the first round. You've gotten a lot of buzz as of now. And so I'm still very much comfortable with taking downs at 10. Theteman may be a top 20 pick. I think McNeil Warren may be a first rounder.

Starting point is 00:08:18 And there are others, I think, McNeil Warren's ahead of Theateman. Regardless, both of these guys are available here. Would you consider taking one after taking downs? Would you do that if they fell all the way to 41, even though we're not expecting them to? I don't know how strongly you could really consider it at that point. I mean, it depends on what they do in free agency, right?

Starting point is 00:08:38 We're doing this before the combat, before free agency, all those things. But they would have to have really addressed the defensive line, really addressed the linebacker position, really addressed all these things. That being said, I don't know how much we're really considering those positions. here given what's available and you don't want to be too guided by need right and when we look at the top players available it looks like the edge class has really been picked over at this point when we look at the top guys available at edge is gave acus from Illinois Derek Moore from Michigan Joshua josephes from Tennessee Romello height from from Texas Tech and I think it's a little bit

Starting point is 00:09:15 early for a lot of these guys maybe you consider them here maybe not you look at corner this is a position where, I mean, just a premium position, right? You can see the Bengals invest here. We talked about it in the first round. If they do enough on defense because they consider a corner, Chris Johnson, a really interesting name from San Diego State. DeAngelo Pons, obviously undersized, but extremely interested in talented player from Indiana, despite that size. You look at the interior defensive line, Lee Hunter and Christian Miller both really stand out here. And then the other position that I think I would talk about is looking for a potential left tackle the future, Blake Miller, and I don't know how to say his last name yet.

Starting point is 00:09:55 So I'm going to call him Max the offensive tackle, right tackle from Arizona State, who I thought had a really good game against David Bailey when Arizona State saw David Bailey in Texas Tech earlier this season or last season. So those are some guys that I would be thinking about here, just looking at who's available. What are your thoughts as you consider the second round option? Yeah, I think when you pick Caleb Downs in round one, you're hoping that an edge or a defensive tackle that someone's going to be there, that it's a trench pick. I'm trench man for a reason.

Starting point is 00:10:23 And so you're banking on that. DeAngelo Pons is tempting, man. Because you think about it, you're like, man, DJ Turner, Dax Hill, DeAngelo Ponds, Caleb Downs, you're really rolling, probably a free agent safety. Jordan Battle is your third safety in this scenario, which bottom line is before draft day. They better have signed a starting safety. So that's why I'm saying that. Like, you feel awesome about your secondary.

Starting point is 00:10:47 But I can't go with Pons when Downs may play. some of that for you. He's got that versatility. He's got that ability to do that. And who knows who you sign at safety and free agency. So to me, the Lee Hunter, Christian Miller, who do you prefer out of those two? We talked about that a little bit last week before we ultimately went with the safety that we don't think is going to be here at 41 anyway. So yeah, to me, it's Hunter and Miller. You get one of those two guys. There's no edge that stands out. Unfortunately, of the other guys that almost got there like McDonald who I think out of Ohio State who's probably going to be a first rounder anyway he got the middle of the second the middle of the 30s

Starting point is 00:11:31 but didn't get all the way to the Bengals like those are the type of guys banks out of Florida if he gets there at 41 I'm down with taking banks and in banking on those physical traits and those flashes and him being healthy and all of those things that being said yeah I think Lee Hunter and Christian Miller I'm down to those two yeah I don't have a a necessarily strong opinion between these two guys as of today before the combine, before I've gotten a chance to watch a ton of them. I know Lee Hunter is a couple years older than Christian Miller. I know that Georgia defensive linemen are exposed to some really challenging concepts in college. It might be more pro-ready or might be more adept to adapting to the pro

Starting point is 00:12:12 game. And it really comes down to which of these guys you think is going to be able to do more in the future for you as a pass rusher, I think, because both of them would come in of the league, I think pretty set at as potentially plus pieces in the run defense part of their game right away. I think we could just go Lee Hunter here. He is going to be a higher player by census right now. We'll see how these guys test. I think that if you ask me in a couple of weeks, I could land on Christian Miller.

Starting point is 00:12:38 Christian Miller is a player that I'm pretty interested in seeing where he lands in the draft, seeing where he lands in terms of his NFL future. But if we don't go into your defensive line here, I do think there's a pretty steep falloff until you get to Grayson Hulton, whose data profile looks really good, looks like he can be a potential pass rushing piece for you in the future. I think you're talking about that. Third round at the earliest, maybe even fourth round. And again, we'll see how these guys test.

Starting point is 00:13:03 But you could just say, you know what? You're getting Lee Hunter in the second round because you're getting a discount, because he's coming into the league a little bit older. I also think that I would be sympathetic to some people who are saying, man, you're really not getting an impact player here because maybe you see Lee Hunter more as just a nose tackle in the NFL. He did have decent pass rushing data going for him, and there's a chance that that can hit a little bit.

Starting point is 00:13:29 If you're looking for more of the upside pick, the guy that might be able to develop that part of his game a little bit more, another guy that could be a really good athlete and Christian Miller, maybe you go that way instead. But they're fairly compelling arguments both ways here, and I don't have a super strong feeling between these two guys as of today on February 22nd. And that's fair. Here's why I think we should go with Christian Miller Because I would call Amarius Mens and be like,

Starting point is 00:13:51 Hey man, can Christian Miller, is he a baller? Yes or no. And Amarius is going to be like, yeah, he's a baller. No, he's not. Or he's this or that. No, in all seriousness, obviously plenty of time to play it out. They need impact on the defensive line room. I think we nailed it with one of these two guys.

Starting point is 00:14:08 Let's go with Miller. Let's go with the young Georgia bulldog. They like Georgia Bulldogs. Let's go with Miller. You can talk me into it. A little bit better pass rushing data in college, too. And he's younger. He's going to be two years younger than Lee Hunter, well, for his entire life because that's how date of births work.

Starting point is 00:14:26 So we'll go Christian Miller in the second round. And a couple of defensive players for the Cincinnati Bengals in today's mock draft Monday. Until next time, we appreciate you listening to this mini episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast, Hootay, and have a good one.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Mini-Mock Monday: Caleb Downs... and then what?

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