Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - MOCK: Bengals' Draft Strategy Explored | Balancing Protection and Defense

Episode Date: April 6, 2025

What if the Cincinnati Bengals are prioritizing their needs a little bit differently than you think? With a glaring need for a guard, linebacker to replace Germaine Pratt, and a desire to challenge Geno Stone at safety, how might that impact the Bengals' early picks? Hosts Jake Liscow and James Rapien dive into the possibilities, discussing an alternative path with a 2nd round dilemma between a guard and falling defensive prospects.Join 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!ChewyChewy has everything you need to keep your pet happy and healthy. And right now you can save $20 on your first order and get free shipping by Clicking this link: https://prf.hn/click/camref:1011l3Huc8/creativeref:1011l164602GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.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.

The Cincinnati Bengals might be approaching this NFL draft much differently than we're expecting. Let's explore what that could look like in today's 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 another episode of the Locked on Bengals podcast. I'm Jake Flisco. He's James Rapine and we are locked on Bengals on the Lockdown Podcast. network, your team every day on YouTube and everywhere you get your podcast.

We've been covering the Cincinnati Bengals here on lockdown Bengals since 2016, making it the best place for you to get your consistent daily coverage of your favorite football team. And we'll have you cover with insight and analysis heading into the NFL draft. That's the focus right now on today's mock draft Monday. And James, we're going to take a different approach to this week's draft. We're going to get into a different simulation. as well for those that have potentially been looking for us to break away from the pro football

focus simulator and get into a different world of rankings and machinations in mock drafts. That is what we're doing this week. So for the everydayers that have seen us do it in PFF for a couple of weeks, you get to see us do it in a different simulator today as we get through a mock draft. And we appreciate everyone out there who makes us their first listen. as we dive in to the PFN simulator, James. And I thought this week, we could try to reframe how we're approaching this and try to address the question of what if the Bengals approach this thing a little bit differently than perhaps we've been thinking about it for the last couple of weeks. Or perhaps how the world has been thinking about it because everyone's just thinking, all right, well, it's got to be trenches, trenches, trenches, trenches, trenches. and the moment you mock something other than trenches,

people get frustrated. And I would say that if you checked the Fandul odds, that at least two of the Bengals' first three picks, odds are that there's a good chance that they're not trenches, that you're looking at one trench pick in the first two days, and not the other way. And that could just be a guard. Maybe it's a defensive tackle.

Maybe it's an edge. And maybe you do get multiple trench. picks, but there's a scenario, certainly, where it doesn't necessarily go that route because of all of their needs. They have multiple needs on defense. We obviously know they have a need at guard. And so when you mix in all of those needs, yeah, it's going to be fun to approach it a bit differently because when you look at this draft, I think that you could certainly argue, hey, you should take this position early because there's depth here, here, and here. And they may view it that way as or maybe that's just the way the board fall.

So it's going to be fun in this PFN simulator to take a different approach. That might be the right approach. And it might be exactly what the Bengals do in less than three weeks. The draft is two weeks away from Thursday, Jake. It's almost here. And so we'll dive into it now on Machraft Monday. Crazy how quickly it is approaching. And you mentioned the Fandul odds.

So I pulled them up. I was curious. And they've got odds for the Bengals first pick at 17 right now. And heavily favor. is defensive lineman or edge rusher, that's the only one with negative odds, minus 140 for a defensive trench player, cornerback, second, at plus 340, safety, third, at plus 550, offensive lineman, fourth, plus 750, linebacker fifth at plus 1,500, tight end, six at plus 3,800. So that's your, that's your fan to odds right now for the first round pick. Any of those

sounding, particularly juicy to you? Yeah, safety sounds pretty darn juicy. I think, linebacker that's a jihad Campbell to debate do you think he's going to be there do you think they're all in on him in they could be in on him if he's there and uh an offensive line i think offensive line is pretty intriguing because i plus 750 that's yeah there's just a scenario where it's clearly bpa and if you're them you're not going to go away from bpa if it's an offensive lineman like you you'll be fine with that just like edge or defensive tackle and that's why it leads it. By the way, I'm not saying that they don't take those spots, but it just, it might not fall that way. And if it doesn't fall that way, they have other needs where they can go best player

available and address a need. And we will talk about how those look as we run the PFN simulator and we'll see who is available to us at Pick 17. PFN obviously gives you some trade offers as well. Do you want to trade out of the first run altogether? We got a couple of offers to do that we're not going to take any of them today and here on the board we see that kelman banks has been picked at 14 three picks ahead of us as the cincinnate bengals mike green picked one pick ahead malachi starts up at 11 will johnson all the way up at eight ashton genty who when i was doing my my test runs here of james i did see ashton gentie fall to 17 at least once you're lucky i can't do this with james if i'm going to have to get him to not pick ashton genty because that's

is never happening in a million years. But look at the players that are available. Jalen Walker is the top of the PFN board here. Colston Loveland, Derek Harmon, Nick Eman Worry, Tyler Booker, Jehag Campbell, Jaday Barron, Josh Simmons, Walter Nolan. Any of those screaming at you from the jump? Yeah, I think a couple. Look, Derek Harmon is always going to be mentioned.

Walter Nolan is someone we've mocked. But if you look at some of these other guys, Nick Emanworry, like I'm officially in that camp. I'm in the Nick Eamon Worry camp. I was reading Bruce Feldman's mock. And at South Carolina, they called him Nick the Eraser. And coaches praised his football IQ, which is something, if you're talking about a six, three, 220 pounds safety that can do a bunch of different things for you and is super athletic.

Well, great. But is the IQ there as well. And the Bengals are bringing him in for a pre-draft visit. We know that. And so there's a lot of boxes that are checked with Nicky Monroe. And so, yeah, I'm certainly considering him here very seriously, I would say, because the IQ element, that's just one question mark. But if that's how he was viewed at South Carolina, well, then why couldn't that elite athlete

that has great size play the back end for you at least some? Of course he could. And so it doesn't mean he has to do it all the time. But doing that and adding a playmaker on defense, I think, is at the top of the Bengals' priority list. So it would not be shocked at all if they say, no to Derek Harmon, no to Jalen Walker, Jihad Campbell has the shoulder. Nikki Munwry, you're a Cincinnati Bengals. Yeah, an explosive straight line athlete. We don't know how he tested for agility, change the direction because he didn't test.

but both on tape and in testing, explosive and great straight line athleticism. The jumps were great. The straight line athleticism was great. The size is great. This is one of those, if they pick him and announce him as a linebacker, it's not entirely impossible.

I think he's a safety. Don't get me wrong. The size, compare him size-wise to some of the linebackers in this draft, and he's right there with some of the spelled linebackers coming out of college football these days. Yeah, I mean, he's not.

much different. He's taller than Akeem Davis-Gafer in just a few pounds lighter than Akeem was coming out, just to give you an item like four pounds lighter than Akeem was as a rookie. But I, you know, who I think the Bengals would think of, and by the Bengals, you know, you go deep into the front office. I bet Mike Brown will be like, David Fulcher was a big guy. David Fulcher was a big guy at safety, and he could do it and he could make plays and he could be everything you need him to be on the back end. So just wanted to mention him. There are obviously other guys here. I mean, Jihad Campbell, Jaday Barron, I think both of those guys would be considered. I also wanted to take a moment here to make sure we mentioned Donovan Iziriaku, who is lower on the

PFN board, but has, it seems a little bit of steam behind him right now for a clear first round pick and often in Mox going in the range of the Cincinnati Bengals. So they did want to go to an edge rusher here. And in speaking of ed rushers, you're probably wondering why we're not talking about James Pierce. Mike Green picked one pick ahead of the Bengals in this market 16. Why we probably wouldn't be talking very much about Mike Green in this situation is because the quotes from coaches and it's all anonymous. So who knows, right? It's really hard to tell what's real right now. But James Pierce and Mike Green is such that you would have to ask the question realistically. is he still on the Bengals board for both of those guys?

And that's probably why there's not more discussion around those guys. Nick Scarton, another guy that I think is worth talking about here a little bit. And I would also mention Josh Simmons in the conversation. Sure. Depending on how the Bengals feel about that knee. We talked about him last week. If they feel like he can be a guard that in the future can play tackle for them, you look at the guards they're talking to in this draft.

They're all essentially tackles. guard converts that could be tackles in the future. That would be the case for Kelvin Banks. If that was a pick here, he's been gone for a few picks in this mock as well. Then I think you would have to consider Josh Simmons, depending on the knee, not knowing about those injury questions the way the NFL teams well. But we'll come back and make our pick here in the first round in just a minute coming up next. This is a message from Intuit TurboTax.

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Now this is taxes. Get an expert now on turbotax.com. Only available with TurboTax Live full service, real-time updates only in iOS mobile app. See Guarantee details at turbotax.com slash guarantees. All right, James. Let's talk about this first round pick and try to make a decision here. Let's say the Bengals are seeing this as, Trey Hendrickson is going to be on the roster.

Let's say that's their perspective at the point of the draft. Let's assume. And we've invested a first round pick in Miles Murphy. We've brought back a couple of guys we really like in Joseph Osai and in Camp Sample on the Edge. We want to see what's going to happen with development with Cedric Johnson. We maybe come back to Edge later, but we're not considering that now. Let's just say, let's say that they like their young guys on the defensive interior

and they signed a nose tackle and they bring back BJ Hill and they're thinking, we like the depth of that position in this draft. Let's just say. Let's say that eliminates edge and defensive tackle here.

And you're not loving your offensive line options here. Maybe they do love Tyler Booker. Maybe we should be mentioning Tyler Booker as a possibility. I would have mentioned him. He is a possibility. But we might not like his testing, but the Bengals, I don't know if they're going to be turned off by it.

They're going to say, can he give Joe a firm pocket? That might be cut and dry. And if they feel that way, they may go that route. Now, it's not like they've taken a bunch of first round guards, so let's not go crazy. But could it happen? It certainly could.

And he's one of the higher regarded prospects at the guard position from a straight up film perspective. If you were to ignore the testing, if you were to ignore the athleticism questions, for Booker. He comes out great. But the data isn't great there. The testing isn't great there.

He is 21. So there's probably potentially a little bit of athletic upside sometimes with some of these younger guys. And he was playing in the SEC. He was playing in Alabama. The tape is great. And so considering Tyler Booker, I think, is fair game here. But say that they're out because they want a more athletic, player, which is not their ML.

But let's just say. And they're not ready to take Donovan Jackson here. They see him as a later round player. They don't want to reach on their board. They don't want to take Josh Simmons say because of injury issues. They don't want to take Jahat Campbell maybe because of those injury

issues as well. That leaves you with what, Jaday, Barron, Nickham and Worry as your primary options at this point, right? I wonder how they feel about Barron because he's very similar to from a prospect standpoint, like a do-it-all type guy that you can use. No, they may say, hey, that's exactly what we need.

We're going to play dacks at Boundary Corner and that's it. But I just mean coming out, Barron, Playmaker, I'm not saying that, but like, it's one of those where, all right, do you just plug them into the nickel right away? Do you play him at deep safety? Do you think he can do some of that for you? Like, that's, it's not like you're just plugging him in at outside corner if you draft Jodd A. And I think you're kind of using them all over. The difference that I well point out is that he played 679 snaps at outside corner at Texas last year,

which is, I think, more than, like, multiple times more than Dax ever played at outside corner in college. But he did play all over the place prior to that. In 2023 and 2022, he was playing a lot in the slot. He was playing a lot in the box. Almost never as a deep safety, he's kind of been an overhand guy in an outside corner. So in that sense, that that profile similar to how Dax could be seen to be used this year. If you think he can still play outside, if you think he can play that overhang position that he played at Michigan, that is where those similarities are. But if it is today, Baron, and they think he can be a top-hand corner, I wouldn't be upset of that at all because he has that kind of pedigree, that kind of prospect.

Right now, the other name that maybe we should mention here, I think you're going to cringe about it. no is Xavier Watts. And the possibility that he could be seen by some teams as the best safety in the draft and the connection to Al Golden, obviously, if that was the direction they wanted to go. Yeah, it's a reach here. If you go Xavier Watts, I would rather go, honestly, I would take Jaday Barron. I would take Nikki Munwary. I would, you could really argue that Tyler Booker would be a better pick than Xavier

Watts right here. You could. and because of how it could potentially impact things. Greg Zabel, or Gray Zabel, excuse me, and Greg Zabel. I don't even know who Greg Zabel is, but that's someone I would consider. No, I just, I think it's a little early for Xavier Watts. Now, the argument would be, and we're going to have to make our pick, but the argument would be, hey, he's not going to be there in round two.

We don't know if we're going to be able to get him, and we feel like he's going to solve all of our issues. issues and then some. Like, I get it. And by the way, if you get that right, if that's what you get, that's a hit. But I look at some of these other guys and I think, like if you're going safety, Nickyman Worry to me is the guy. If you want to go a corner, Jadae Barron, certainly would make sense. And I do think that Colston Loveland would be considered here. Not sure that the Bengals would go that route here. But I do think that they'll be discussing him at least a little bit, even though those Fanduad said otherwise. But just to get to the point, I would take Nick even more. I think

that that's the pick. I think Jaday Barron might be second for me here. And Derek Harmon would be the other one that I think would be really high in consideration. But man, the Bengals drafted multiple defensive tackles last year. And they want to see those guys. That's why they made all these changes on defense from a coaching staff standpoint. They believe these guys can help. And so if that's the case, well did you keep your safeties coach oh you did did you keep your cornerbacks coach oh you did so it you know it seems like you want to add a safety and nick even worry could certainly help there i think it was me i'm picking derrick carman here but because of those reasons you just explain okay let's go nick him and worry and we'll see where the draft takes us this is a player that

they would think would step in and be a starter for them early in safety if not day one and looking to and obviously considerable athleticism, considerable range to the position with a guy like him in O'Re, with his straight line speed. And then hopefully he has those instincts that he needs to be able to get the jump to be that sideline to sideline player. But this is another spot where, man,

you could sure talk me into Colston Loveland if there were some different players on the team than are on the team right now. But we can't even really talk about him in a great deal of depth because of where the team needs, are going into the draft. So let's take Nick Emin Worry here. We will run the draft to the second round. We'll come back and hopefully spend a little bit less time as we make our picks in the second

and third round coming up next. Ever check your bank account and wonder, where did all my money go? Between dining out, online shopping and entertainment, it's easy to lose track. And that's where Monarch Money comes in. Monarch Money is your personal CFO. It gives you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money isn't just a budgeting app. It's a complete financial command center. You can track all of your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. So you stop managing your money and start building wealth. When you use Monarch, you're going to realize how much you're spending on different things. It's going to separate it. So maybe you're spending too much on food delivery and you can budget smarter. You can save more. Maybe you're tired of having to

juggle all these different apps before Monarch money. That's what I had, all these different financial apps, well, you can track everything, all of your bank accounts, all of your investments in one place, plus you can plan ahead with long-term goals. Take control of your finances with monarch money. Use code locked on NFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's monarch money.com code locked on NFL for half off your first year. Sometimes with these simulators, James, you get absolute gifts. And here in the third, second, second round took us a lot We have three players at the top of the board that I think there's almost a zero percent chance are available to the Bengals in the second round. And Nick Scarton, the eddrusher from Texas A&M who played a Purdue as well.

Tileak Williams, one of my draft crushes, a nose tackle type from Ohio State and Kenneth Grant, another nose tackle type with perceived greater athleticism, a little bit more upside, according to many than Tileak from Michigan is Kenneth Grant. And can we even think about picking those guys when we have this dire need for a guard, a guy that can come in and play right away, be a starting guard, and there's not going to be a chance to get a guard that you feel that good about in the third round. This is where the approach to guard really comes back

and is nipping at your heels and saying, no, you need a guard now. You need to look at the guard options now. You might not get another chance if you need a guy to start right away. Yeah, you need. a they need to find a pro bowl guard in this draft and that sounds a bit dramatic because you don't need pro bowl you just want competent but if you're drafting a guard in round two you sure

is how aren't aren't doing that thinking he's going to be just okay but this bengal's team they they haven't invested a lot in guard for a reason and so if they do it really in the draft like think about it like we were talking about offensive line years ago and they went into the draft and they said we got Cordell Wilson. When most of us hadn't talked about Cordell voulson at all, and I like Cordell, but he's a fourth rounder from North Dakota State. And that was their big get to compete with Jackson Carmen. And we knew Jackson was over.

That first year, we knew it was done. It was over. And so, yeah, I think that this is a tough dilemma. And it's a position they put themselves in. And I think their debate would be, all right, do we go defensive tackle, knowing what we have in that defensive tackle room or or edge or do we go with the best guard available because we know we need a a plug and play type starter there in tate ralphletch is there like he he's a plug and play starter i think that makes sense there are other options of course but to me

if tate ratledge is there at 49 that's someone that i would be really focused in on it's not the only guy i'll let you name the other guys but it's going to be tough if they don't take a guard in round one to see Tate Ratledge, at least for me, and be like, yeah, I'm going to pass on them, especially knowing how big of it needed is right now. But how painful is it to pass on a faller? That's a lesson that I'm trying to impart here is if you get to this point and you're like, I'm not going to get a starting guard in the third round. That is too much of a gamble. And this sounds really logical. I don't want to gamble Joe Burroughs health and firmness in the middle of the pocket by waiting around when I could take

one of Tate Ratlidge, who I think we can probably pick here in the second round. This is probably where the Bengals would have to take him. Or Jonas Havanaugh, a tackle guard prospect, a Wyatt Millam, a tackle to guard convert prospect, Marcus and Boa, a tackle to guard convert prospect. But in doing that, you're now not picking one of these potential fallers, Nick Skirt and Pyleek, Williams, Kenneth Grant. I think, again, there's like a zero percent chance. Those guys are there at 49.

But if one of them is, and this is a world you're living in where you have to pass on those guys to pick a player that maybe you do see them as similar level of prospects. Maybe you love Tate Ratledge and thinks he's a borderline first round player just like these guys would be fine. This is also passing on Carson Swessinger. They have a clear need for LB2 as well. And Swessinger is the name that I think is going to be associated with the Bengals in the second round. And this is a scenario where, you know, we've just missed on Donovan. Jackson. In this particular simulator, he goes at 46, a couple picks before us at 49. And some other players that I would have liked to have considered at 49, depending on how

the first round goes, Landon Jackson, Donovan Azariakur, who gets all the way to 44 in this case, if he's falling that far, you're certainly considering him, Josh Connerly at 42, Ariante Ursari, who the Bengals have a 30 visit with, those guys don't make it to you. And I think that this is a scenario where you're kind of forced to pick a guard here and go for a positional need. Yeah, I agree to an extent. If this happens on draft night, I would, I would not do it. The Bengals might, just to be clear, I would not do it. If Kenneth Grant is there, like, or Nick Skirton, maybe you think that that's it, or maybe, you know, it's your guy.

You take one of those defensive linemen because they, like, I think Kenneth Grant comes in and starts. Like, I think he could. I think, um, why, Talik Williams, right? I think he could come in right away. I was forgetting his name, clearly. That, that gives you, can you imagine AFC North games with Talik in there? And, and you have a nose tackle that you brought in and then you have talek as well going hand in hand. Like that's, that's AFC North. That's AFC. That's stopping the run and having an elite run defense. So it would be really hard for me to pass on it. But I'm also not going to argue if you get Tate Ratlidge. So to me, that's that's kind of the debate, the back and forth. And it's, I get it. You have your nose tackle. And it'll be real nice addressing it with one more

guy. And whether it's Graham or it's Williams, I think both of those guys help right away in the trenches. Well, then talk about somebody who could more realistically be available to the Bengals of 49 in TJ Sanders, who has awesome pass rushing data, fits more of what they might be looking for, if they're looking for the past rushing juice, if they feel like they have well-rounded guys, guys that can defend the run, a nose tackle, obviously, in T.J. Slayton, then you're saying, okay, well, we're not taking a guy who can affect the opposing passer because we need to protect ours. And that is something that we talked about a lot in terms of protecting Joe Burrow, but now you're forced to do it, I think. That's the way I'm going to go here. I'm going to, I'm going to say

we're going to pick Tate Routledge, but imagine a first round pick of Kelvin Banks here, potentially, and then second round going T.J. Sanders or one of those falling defensive linemen who we talked about before, that would be okay. I feel pretty good about that then. It's just a little bit different. Then you're looking for a safety in the third round. That might actually be ideal. If you can get Banks in the first round, get one of these defensive players defensive linemen in the second round, or even Swessinger in the second round, if you think it's linebacker and get a safety in the third round where you could be talking about McCuba and potentially Winston if he gets there. I know you think he's more of a second round guy or certainly

could be. I think that would be an interesting way for things to go that would be a little bit more ideal than the scenario we're watching play out here, but we're making a sacrifice on the defensive side of the ball here to try to show things up for Joe Burr. Yeah, I think that's what our listeners are going to say. Let's go with Ratledge and see if any of these guys fall. would be great if they did. By the way, Kevin, Kevin Winston off the board one pick before, just to give you an idea. And I think that will happen on draft day. Yeah, going before the Bengals pick at 81, you could certainly see that.

That wouldn't be a remote surprise. And I think we got very lucky here, James. I don't think that we would have gotten the guard to fall. As we can see, as we look at the picks between 49 and 81, Wyatt Millum is picked. and I saw Marcus and Bo get picked. Jonas Savonaya gets picked, so it's just one more. Ozzie Tripillo gets picked at 70, and Tileak Williams makes it all the way into the third round,

which is kind of wild. Kevin Winston picked at 80 just to take a peek at the safety, still available just to explore that option. We would not have had great options at same year. Lathen Ransom is a fun player, but he's not that deep safety type. I think that you would be looking for. No real corners that you'd be.

love here. You could consider Chris Paul. You can consider Danny Stutzman. You can consider Demetrius Knight. You're seeing the dramatic difference between PFF and PFN on Demetrius Knight here. But the gift that we got is that T.J. Sanders is still available to us. And Darius Alexander, the defensive tackle for him. And if you love Omar Norman Lott, the upside there is still there. And he's a little bit lower on the PFN board at 81. But if you can get T.J. Sanders in the third round. I'm about it. This is a good way to show the depth because I do think that there's more depth. Like if you look at safety, it's like five or six guys that you're considering, assuming that they like the same guys.

And once Andrew McCuba is off the board and Kevin Winston's off the board, it feels like you're going into a far different tier. There are fallers in the defensive line room every year. Milton Williams fell to the third was a third round pick. A lot of people liked him pre-draft. Like, yeah, if you can get T.J. Sanders, Darius Alexander or Omar, Norman Lott, in this scenario where you've gotten what you're assuming is a high-end guard, a high-end playmaker on defense. And now you're getting a quality defensive lineman. I think you sign up for that all day long. I think Sanders would probably be the pick, but Norman Lott and Darius Alexander, there would certainly be a debate there.

on which route which way you go i think this is easily t j sanders for me uh i do want to shout out i don't know how to say his last name i think it's bash jack bash jack jack back do you know how that name is pronounced i'm pretty sure it's back okay let's say it's back uh would would love that as an option here as a slot guy who can block and and be that big big slot option to go along with mike kaseki i would be about that that Ashton Jolodi would also be very into that option here. These other guys weren't available. Jordan Birch as well from Oregon,

I would be interested in at least considering as an edge rusher in the third round as well. Yeah, Jolode is one of my favorite. It might be my favorite realistic pick at 81. Like if you're going Tate Ratledge at 49 and then Jolode at 81, I feel like you're getting really good. And then like you cross your fingers that the defensive tackle that you, like assuming you went a different. route in round one defensive tackle you're looking for is there in round four um and that could

happen by the way there are there are options yeah i'm walker could fall but yeah i like i really like the idea of gelote at 81 yeah jillote is is definitely a player i'd be interested in and we've picked a safety in a guard we don't have a linebacker we still need to replace jermaine pratt at some point we think that would be the bengal's plan if we're trying to do what we think the bengals might do maybe that is a conversation for for Chris Paul at this point from Ole Miss, the linebacker there, the top linebacker on. Chris Paul from State Farm.

On this board is Chris Paul. We're not sponsored by State Farm, but Ashton J.loti could certainly be a consideration here if these top guys, T.J. Sanders, J.S. Alexander, which you don't expect to have available in the third round, are not available in the third round. But in this case, I just can't not pick T.J. Sanders. And that would be the first three rounds of Nick Emondwry, Tate Ratledge, and T.J. Sanders.

A couple of South Carolina players here, all SEC players, South Carolina and Georgia, that feels very Bengalsy in a stereotypical Bengals kind of big school draft. Yeah. And it's it addresses what they need. Defensively, they need playmakers. They need guys that can make plays. and if they think Nick Iman Worry is going to be that boom I do think he can help you from a linebacker standpoint he does help the middle of your defense there and and if you could get T.J. Sanders in round three it would be wild but Tate Ratledge talk about plug and play I and talk about athleticism like he checks those boxes man and would be fun would be fun if they if they if this is their

draft I think a lot of people like are you serious a safety in the first round but this would be a heck of a draft I think on the first two days for the Bengals. I think it's for me really brought together by getting T.J. Sanders in the third round. So if you can't get T.J. Sanders in the third round, how differently do you feel? But if it's Jaloti? What if it's Jolodi there? I still think it's a good job. Which is a more reasonable guy that could be available. What if it's C.J. West. I love C.J. West out of Indiana as well, a defensive tackle.

It doesn't have the pass rush juice that T.J. Sanders has. but the reason that I would personally feel good about this set of picks is largely on the back of T.J. Sanders pass rushing upside and three down upside, honestly, in my opinion, in the third round, much later than you would expect to be able to pick him. But let us know what you think. I'm sure you'll have very different opinions. You always do.

You can roast us in the comments. It's always fun. And that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Until next time, thanks for listening. Hoot and have a good one.