Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Mock Draft Monday: Top Senior Bowl Prospects for the Cincinnati Bengals

Episode Date: February 2, 2025

With a week of Senior Bowl practices to evaluate, it's finally time for Mock Draft Monday! Jake Liscow and James Rapien are joined by A to Z Sports' John Sheeran to take a look at Senior Bowl standout...s who could fit for the Bengals in each round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Do small school prospects with some size questions make sense for the Bengals this year? From Marshall's Mike Green to North Dakota State's Grey Zabel from North Dakota State, LSU's Mason Taylor and Toledo's Darius Alexander the guys break down a full Senior Bowl mock looking for potential future Bengals.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!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.Turbo TaxReady for stress-free taxes and the most money back, guaranteed? Head over to TurboTax.com today and get matched with your Expert. Only available with TurboTax Live Full Service. Real-time updates only in the iOS mobile app. See guarantee details at TurboTax.com/guarantees.PrizePicksDownload the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelSuper Bowl 59 is here, And there’s no better way to make every play more exciting than with FanDuel Sportsbook. New customers can bet just FIVE DOLLARS, and if you win, you’ll score TWO HUNDRED BUCKS in Bonus Bets. Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started.  Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of Super Bowl Fifty-Nine.  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.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Who makes sense for the Cincinnati Bengals to target in the 2025 draft out of the 2025 Senior Bowl? Let's break it down. 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 your host, Jake Liskill, along with your host, James Rupin, joined today by A-to-Z sports, John Shearren, who did a sweet senior bowl mock draft we're going to talk through today as we talk through some of the standouts from the senior ball that makes sense for the Bengals throughout the first few rounds of the NFL draft. John went five rounds deep. Welcome back to the everydayers. Appreciate all of you who don't miss an episode of lockdown Bengals. We will, of course, talk about Joe Burroughs comments at the Pro Bowl. We will get there. We're recording this before the flag football game that will occur on Sunday. So we'll make sure that we have any interesting.
Starting point is 00:01:05 miced-up moments to talk about from that event as well. If you're new to the show, you can hit the subscribe button on YouTube or anywhere you get your podcast so you don't miss an episode of Lockdown Bengals. This will have you cover throughout this offseason. Today's episode, sponsored by LinkedIn Jobs, who helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to faster. You can post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash lockdown NFL. And if the Bengals could do that for some of these draft picks they have to make,
Starting point is 00:01:31 we make this joke all the time. Maybe it would help. couldn't hurt. They need to get better in the draft. And John, you put together a list of some players that can make sense for the Bengals. You have a five-round mock draft of all senior bowl players. Let's start by just tell me what your process was here. How did you identify the players that you thought made sense for the Bengals from the events in Mobile last week?
Starting point is 00:01:56 I did the one thing that I think a lot of Bengals fans wish the Bengals would do, and that's outsource. this took about an hour of just seeing, hey, who really stood out the Senior Bowl, who produced in college, who is likely to be a really good athlete and who, despite maybe who they played in college, who looked really good against really good college players, which is what the senior ball is all about, right? It's where you get to learn about these guys who, some of them obviously played a big programs, some of them didn't. And maybe that's an attribute to how they were recruited or were they recruited or were
Starting point is 00:02:31 they ended up, whatever the case may be, the Bengals obviously really value how these guys perform on this stage. It's one of the big stepping stones towards the draft process. So seeing where these guys are currently ranked in the general consensus in the NFL world and seeing kind of how they did if they made a positive impact on their draft stock this week. And that was kind of the whole process. It was a six round mock though, because I believe the Bengals only have six picks. So there's no sense in shortening these things when typically there's seven rounds, I guess. My bad. It was just the lack of the final round that threw me off.
Starting point is 00:03:06 It is, in fact, six picks. How weird does it feel? I haven't done a mock yet, but six picks versus 10 last year. I think everyone's like, oh, my God, they don't have any picks. And it's just a normal draft minus the seventh rounder that no one really cares about anyway. How weird was that? It's, I mean, a little bit because, oh, yeah, like the seventh round is Cleo Herbert, who you know it's going to be on this team at this moment in time. But now, you would like to think that
Starting point is 00:03:33 the Bengals wouldn't need six picks to make the team, but that's not where the roster is at this point. So this does seem at the very early point that it's a decent class to maybe trade back and gain a couple of picks, but we're not going to operate in that great of a hypothetical on believe the day is February 2nd. So, yeah, we're going to run with six picks and see what we can do. John, you had the Bengals picking Mike Green out of Marshall with the 17th overall pick. I think a lot of people would see Edge, would see pass rush, and be all in there. What did you see from him in Mobile? And what do you like what stands out?
Starting point is 00:04:11 Why would you be happy with him at 17? I don't think there was a box that he didn't check down there. There was the Oregon tackle, Josh Conner Lee or someone like that. And he just embarrassed him on both sides. And I mean, that's what you want to see because those one-on-ones between O-Lyman and D-Lyman completely favor the defensive line. Like it's more impressive when an offensive lineman wins those reps than we can talk about someone else who kind of did that here in the coming minutes. But I mean, Mike Green, he won with power. He won with speed.
Starting point is 00:04:40 He won with bend. It's what he did at Marshall. I don't know why Virginia didn't want him around, but that's where he started his college career. And once he got some playing time with Marshall, again, kind of at a lower level program, just dominated. You know, I think someone brought up the Cleo Mac comparison as a guy from that mid-major type of talent who maybe isn't the biggest edge rusher in the world. But you just wonder, like, how is an athlete this powerful and quick who's already really proficient with his hands? How is he just at this level of college and wasn't highly recruited out of high school? So I think with him talk about a fit with a Bengals.
Starting point is 00:05:15 He's like a three. He honestly didn't even know how he was recruited. He definitely wasn't a five-star, which is typically where they look at in the first round. but just produced out of his mind. He's probably going to be an elite athlete. He checks all the boxes. He won for a first round pick, and I think he was probably the most dominant player
Starting point is 00:05:29 in the entire senior bowl. And he certainly helped himself to the point where he may or may not be available, depending on what board you believe. Some boards will have him as a clear top 10 pick at this point when you combine the production profile with the athletic traits that are expected for him. The only thing with Mike Green is that he's a little bit
Starting point is 00:05:51 smaller than what the Bengals would typically draft at the position. The player that fits that mold probably best out of guys that were at the Senior Bowl would be a Shamar Stewart. It would be a very Bengalsy pick, right? He also helped himself at the Senior Bowl, I think, and is the 285-pound massive kind of defensive end mold. The problem with Shemar Stewart's profile is that he didn't produce in college. Like he has all these traits and he's a big guy and he had a good senior bowl. So he's having a good start to his draft process. We'll see how he tested the combine, but he didn't have the production in college. What were your thoughts? Did you consider Stewart here? Did you consider anyone else for the first round pick when you were thinking about
Starting point is 00:06:37 Bengals targets? Yeah, I think Stewart, like you said, he makes sense as a target. He was also a five-star recruit. Disact Hill is obviously very familiar with Texas A&M, and that's where he comes from. So I'm sure there'd be some intel that you could get there. It was just a talented defensive line, I think, a Texas aim in general because he also had Nick Scowarton on the other edge who's a player that I'm sure we're going to talk about in the coming weeks and months. But yeah, it's only 21 years old. And I think you have to look at age when you talk about lack of production. It's like the one area where it can be kind of excused. But when you're drafting someone in the first round, you want to avoid, you know, with all respect to Miles Murphy, you want to make sure that you don't have
Starting point is 00:07:14 the Miles Murphy type of risks for a first round pass rush for in that regard. So, Schmar Stewart definitely makes sense as a traditional target. But for this exercise, I wanted to go with not only the guys that prove themselves immobile, but also have the most boxes checks as prospects. For sure. Give me the production. Whatever they end up picking, I would certainly, and I hope they do. Why wouldn't you value production, even if it's at the smaller school level?
Starting point is 00:07:38 Yeah, 632.51. I do wonder that. And they definitely evaluate with all their guys and not just edge prospects or trench prospects. even receivers, they'll look at it and say, all right, well, can they handle the AFC North and the physicality that comes with it? So I think that's why they've always trended to go bigger on the edge, whether we like it or not. But we'll see maybe if having an Al Golden helps change their mold at least a little bit with what they end up targeting. Or maybe entrenches it because we're going from this age where the Bengals actually were a
Starting point is 00:08:16 three, four defense or five, two defense or whatever. you want to call it, they would often have five-man surfaces. And Al Golden has said so far that he wants to play a four-three base, which means they're going to have three linebackers on the field. And when you have smaller backers on the field and four defensive linemen instead of a five-man surface, while you're now talking about potentially needing bigger ends for those roles, because you won't have three defensive tackles on the field on base downs, as we've seen from the Bengals in the Louana Remote era.
Starting point is 00:08:43 So that could be interesting as well. The one other name, John, that I wanted to make sure we mentioned, as far as Senior Bowl first round, potential Walter Nolan, oldness defensive tackle. Sounded like he also had himself a good week. Are you assuming that he won't be available? Or what was the decision making for you when you went Edge instead of Nolan here? I think there's a wide variance with Mike Green.
Starting point is 00:09:03 It's probably the same with Walter Nolan because on paper probably shouldn't leave the top 15 picks, which is how I think a lot of us thought about Johnny Newton last year. I'm not going to say that Nolan has this mysterious injury that's going to drop him all the way to the second round. but, you know, our guy at A to Z sports, Ryan Roberts, he's very well connected in the college sphere. He said that there was, you know, some questions. I think Nolan has to kind of answer in the interview process. And it's the one thing that I can never, none of us can ever predict how these guys are going to interview and how the Bengals like these guys in the process. But Nolan is still a five-star recruit who produced at not one, but two SEC programs.
Starting point is 00:09:43 All the production profile that you could ever ask for looks like, looks like, looks like, like the part as far as athleticism ends up on the ground a little bit, I think too much for some people to prefer. But still, if you're talking about a 17th overall pick, you're not going to get a perfect prospect. And Marius Mims wasn't perfect, but he was still someone that you would have taken that risk at the 18th overall picks. So definitely worth it, in my opinion, as of now, but he's still someone that I think we're just going to have to learn a little bit more in the coming weeks. And I'm sure more will kind of come out about him in that regard. He played for two SEC schools, It was a Texas A&M, I think, first.
Starting point is 00:10:19 Anyways, that's a Jermaine Burton reference, and it probably shouldn't have made it. Up next, we'll continue with plenty of NFL job conversation with John. Today's show is brought to you by LinkedIn. If you're looking to make the right hire for your small business, well, you've got to get to LinkedIn. Because as a small business owner, the day doesn't end when the clock hits 5 o'clock.
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Starting point is 00:11:11 quality hires, post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash locked on NFL. That's LinkedIn.com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free terms and conditions apply. Let's move on to day two in the mock, John. You've got another small school, smaller school. Going back to a school that Bengals fans may be familiar with that closely track the NFL draft, certainly locked on Bengals listeners know where Cordell Wilson went to school and so did Gray Zabel. Tell me about Grace Abel. Tell me about the week he had before we talk about some of the alternatives you may have considered here in the second round. I think when you're talking about some of the Bengals would appreciate a guy coming from, you know,
Starting point is 00:11:56 that smaller level of competition to then playing all three interior offensive line positions and dominating each one. Like, again, the individual drills for offensive and defensive linemen, it greatly favors the defensive linemen. So when you have an offensive lineman who's stonewalling dudes at right guard, center, and left guard from much bigger schools. That's what Grace Abel did. He did it all week. And I think everyone kind of noticed that. And that's why people are now considering him the top center prospect in this class, someone who has an argument, I think, to be made to be drafted in the first round. We'll see if that ends up happening. But I think the comparison of the Cordo-Volson is completely unfounded because not only are they two different types of players, there are two different types of athletes.
Starting point is 00:12:37 I think Zabel doesn't have the length that Volson has. He doesn't have quite the height. So I think he's well more suited to win leverage battles, especially in the situations where Volson has struggled in his three years with the Bengals. But that might be the one thing that kind of keeps him off the Bengals radar. I think Scott Peters is someone who maybe not so quietly does prefer arm length in his prospects. And Zabel only has, I think, 32 and a quarter in Jarmes, which makes sense as to why he's being pegged as a center. And obviously, the Bengals probably wouldn't play him at center anyways because they have their guy
Starting point is 00:13:07 at the future there, Matt Lee. but just someone, if you're looking at a guy who could be a plug-and-play guy at left guard to compete with Volson at the Senior Bowl, he was probably one of the better options to take there in the second round. Yeah, I do wonder how they're, I guess this is going to be the size podcast, but how they would view it. Because historically, like you just looked back a few years ago, Tyler Lindrebaum, they were just out on it. Like, they were not going to pick Tyler Lindervaum, and obviously I hate that because it would have been good had he made it there to them in the 21st. 2022 draft. And so how do they view it? I don't think that they would want a center only. Like you said, and not really just because of Matt Lee, but just because of the need at guard.
Starting point is 00:13:49 So if they think he can play guard, then I like it. And I would love versatility. I would love a guy that you feel like can play guard and center. And I'm not sure that they feel that way. I'm pretty confident they don't feel that way about Matt Lee. And Zabel was a guy that played tackle and his thought that his best NFL position is center. did play all over the place in Mobile. He was pretty good all over the place. It sounded like his last practice wasn't quite as strong as his first couple when he made a really strong impression. But like we've talked about, when you look at these one-on-ones, typically these favor the defensive linemen. And you see the stuff like Mike Green running through somebody's face.
Starting point is 00:14:28 And you don't see, well, you do if you're really paying attention. But you don't see as often the offensive linemen winning these one-on-ones. And Gray's able won. a few of his one-on-one opportunities going against major talent in the way of bigger schools that North Dakota State doesn't have the opportunity to play every year. So there is a North Dakota State thing. The North Dakota State seems like every year or a few years has a lineman headed to the NFL, has a tight end headed to the NFL, the top of its division in college football. It's not the Big Ten or the SEC or whatever. The major conferences are in college. college football at this point. Was there anyone else, John, that caught your eye for a second round,
Starting point is 00:15:12 potential fit for the Bengals out of Mobile? Obviously, the two edges, Prince Lee from Ole Miss and Donovan from Boston College, like if the dingo edge in round one, I think those are two very strong candidates for round two. I think both of them may have some minor flaws in their profiles in regards to their fit with the Bengals, but obviously, if you've been taking Mike Green and round one, you're probably not double-dibbing at edge, even though maybe it's. that wouldn't be the worst strategy considering the fate in the situation there at that position group.
Starting point is 00:15:44 But no, there's Jonah from Arizona. I can't pronounce his last name at the moment, but he's also, I think that fits more of like, because like what James was talking about. Like I don't know if they would want a guard who can also play center. They would probably want a guard who could also play tackle. I feel like for their guards, they want the outside versatility. And I think arm length definitely factors in there. And Jonah last name redacted definitely fits that mold.
Starting point is 00:16:08 I like that. Last name redacted. Third round is weapon time, and I love it. You have them taking Mason Taylor out of LSU, the tight end, and I think this is important almost as a PSA for Bengals fans, because I think that there's a high likelihood that they take a tight end. Maybe it's on day two, day one, day two, but certainly after the Eric All injury, given how good this draft class could be at tight end,
Starting point is 00:16:36 I would expect them to take one. you have them taking Taylor, what stands out? This was funny to me because when the week started, I'm like, this tied-in class doesn't look that promising. I don't know, aside from Tyler Warren, if there's like a star here, like Harold Fanon Jr., it's obviously someone that some people knew because of how productive he was. The Mason Taylor wasn't on my radar at all because he wasn't that productive at LSU.
Starting point is 00:16:57 I think he has the box score stats that are kind of decent to look at, but he wasn't that involved in the offense from a grand scheme of things, but still just 20, 21 years old. a true third year player. And now those types of guys can go to the senior bowl and kind of show off. And that's what he did. And I don't think there was anything that he did poorly. I think he was kind of sure that he's a jack of all trades.
Starting point is 00:17:18 He can inline block. He can take on guys in one-on-one situations. And he can win as a rot runner in one-on-one situations. And I think he's got some of the best hands out of this entire tid-in class. So I think the third round is where you would typically take a flyer on guys who weren't as productive, but have the kind of the surprising athleticism upside, who are also very young and also come from a solid program. And you're right, James.
Starting point is 00:17:42 Like, I mean, this team just needs tight-end talent at the end of the day. And it's not an ideal situation that they're in. And I think there's still a lot more than we need to learn about this tight-end class because I think there's a lot of guys like Elijah Oroyo, who also has some production questions, but who are very interesting prospects that you would consider in those middle rounds. And at least with Mason Taylor, I think you can confidently say he's a quality football player
Starting point is 00:18:03 who can do a lot. of things. I think if they could find the next Eric all without the injury history, they would jump at it in round three, just to give people an idea of, so the one-on-one route running, like you said, willing blocker that's capable, I think they would for sure be in. At least some key people in that building would want them to go that route, put it that way. My takeaway of Mason Taylor was this is one of the players that I actually watched before the Senior Bowl, and it sent me back to the tape, because on tape you don't see the separation nearly as consistently, at least in the game I watched.
Starting point is 00:18:35 It was actually only one game. So in that game, my impression was such that, like, I don't really need to see this guy anymore. And then he goes down to Mobile and was much more impressive. And it might have just been that game because I think we talked about, Daniel Jeremiah had him in the top 50 of his board and was also talking about Mason Taylor and Elijah Arroyo when he's talking about the winners from the senior.
Starting point is 00:18:59 So a couple of tight ends really stood out there. And you talk about went to a good program, comes from a good program, also comes from great NFL bloodlines. And I wonder how being the son of Jason Taylor. And then he literally changed the first letter of his son's name to Mason instead of Jason, is going to impact Taylor's draft stock. Because people know who Jason Taylor is in the NFL circles. Like people that are drafting are going to hear from Jason Taylor and be like, tell me about your kid. You know? And those bloodlines can make a lot of it.
Starting point is 00:19:29 impact sometimes on where players get picked. And like you said, one of the best things about his profile is that he's young. He's going to be around 21 at the time of the draft. And when you can get a young tight end, some of those concerns about the movement ability and athleticism and stuff, you can see that improve over time at that position. Tight end, certainly a developmental position. We've got to get to day three, though, here. We'll finish up with day three of John's senior bull mock draft to finish a show coming
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Starting point is 00:21:48 these live events and go to these live events by downloading the GameTime app, creating an account and using code Locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, use code locked on NFL for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets. price guaranteed let's get to that day three of your mock draft john and another small school what are we doing here just just small school draft tell me about your your fourth round selection for the bengals darius alexander um might have been the winner of the week maybe that's exaggeration but there's a lot of a hype about him after this um i i think the chris jones comparisons going a little bit too far, but that was something that Daniel Jeremiah kind of floated out there.
Starting point is 00:22:37 And I think I saw someone else do the same thing. But when someone who's 6, 4, 305 pounds wins with his hands and his acceleration and his get off as well as Darius Alexander did, not just from the defensive tackle spot, but from the edge, I think from both edge spots, it's noticeable, right? Because again, it's someone who didn't go up against like the biggest recruits and the best players in college, but you're doing this now in this environment. and you're kind of taking notice about your versatility and putting your athleticism on display. Another guy that I think has production questions, though, at Toledo.
Starting point is 00:23:09 As far as when he has a pass rusher, I don't think that's up for debate. He won his pass rush win rate was pretty damn high there against Mac level competition. As far as everything else with his production, I think it's a little bit that's left to be desired. But again, someone who clearly is a really, really, really good athlete at that size who can win like that. Like that's notable. And I think that that's where you have to take these risks sometimes in the mid-rounds with guys who may not come from the Blue Blood programs because these are the guys that end up surprising you in the NFL down the road.
Starting point is 00:23:40 How did or how was the general response of defensive tackle in round four, not earlier? Obviously, you've gone three trench picks and four picks over the first four picks. But what was the overall response there from fans? Well, the overall response is that this mock is great, which is like, you know, the Bengals spend months, if not a full year, preparing for drafts, and they get mixed responses at best. So all you need to do is put together a mock in like an hour and then everyone will love you because you just listen to everyone else in all their evaluations, right?
Starting point is 00:24:10 But no, the Bengals, I don't really know, I don't know how aggressive they're going to be in drafting a defense attack because of how they do it in free agency. Obviously, they're going to do sign a starter, at least one in free agency. And I think they still want to give, you know, Chris Jenkins, McKinley Jackson a fair shot of competing next year. So how early a rookie kind of goes into the equation, I think is something that we should probably be talking about. And obviously, we're going to get a better indication of what that plan is after free agency. But it's not a, it's not a group where you can have, you know, six or seven guys there. Like, you only five at most will make the team.
Starting point is 00:24:43 Yeah. And it's hard to figure out how they will go about it in free agency right now. It is a strength in this draft. It appears to be at least especially relative to last year when there was like nobody. And I'm excited right now about another another senior ball stand out to me, He Caldwell, Oregon Nostacko, who played next to Derek Harmon, who had some freaky bursts for a man who's 340 pounds. And you go watch him in Oregon, and he's holding up against double teams as well. That's a player that I would certainly be interested in for the Bengals on day three as well. There are a number of other guys that you could consider at this point, though, when you start to get to day three. I can't say his name, Peebles, Virginia Tech, undersized offensive tackle with pass rush juice,
Starting point is 00:25:23 that they wanted to go that direction. But typically not a player for the size profile that they'll draft. And I think that the size issue is going to come up quite often with a number of interesting players from the Senior Bowl and throughout the draft where the question will be with the new defensive staff, do the size preferences in dirt or do those change at all? And so I think that will come up quite a lot. But we don't have a whole lot in the way of weapons so far here, John. We got a tight end. Was there anyone else you're considering in the fourth round? Any other standouts that you think are fourth round eligible before we get to your fifth round?
Starting point is 00:26:07 I think a linebacker is definitely in the consideration for this class. Jeffrey Bossa from Oregon was someone I think who was commended for his leadership ability, specifically down there in the Senior Bowl. You just look at obviously what Al Golden was able to do last time in drafting both Logan Wilson and King Davis Gather from this event as far as potentially kind of doing a soft rebuild of that position group. If Jim Marine Pride is no longer here, I don't think it can be taken off the table at all
Starting point is 00:26:37 if the linebacker is taken somewhere in between rounds three and five. Especially if they need to add two because they want to put three linebackers on the field often. James, go ahead. I like that you're going with a fifth round running back. It worked with Chase Brown. Why not work again? You got the NFL bloodlines as well with Trevor E.TN.
Starting point is 00:26:57 What went into this? And why do you think he would be a good fit? I agree with you, by the way, but why do you think he'd be a good fit here? It's another interesting position because I think a lot of fans would wouldn't mind like a Trayvon Henderson in round three. But how early are the Bengals going to take a running back, right? Henderson's there around three. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:27:15 Like it's something worth talking about. But I think with ETN, he excelled really well as a receiver in those drills this week. And I think that's something that they're obviously always going to value. Just because, like, I mean, when you're talking about replacing Zach Moss, like, what are the traits that you're looking for? How do you want to make sure that Chase Brown doesn't get, you know, completely just tired out throughout all the season? Right. You want to be able to picture that if Chase Brown is off the field, you can still operate in the passing game in a good manner. And I think ETA even had some pretty decent moments of pass blocker as well.
Starting point is 00:27:50 So that's only going to help him out. And obviously, you know, like you said, he's got a brother who's a pretty decent NFL player. And I think that's going to help him out as well. But yeah, you're someone that I think was even still in the consensus like sixth and seventh around range. And I feel like he's going to get taken a little bit, a little bit higher than that. But as far as this regime, though, in this team, I don't think the Bengals are that team that will target a second round running back anymore. I think they're pretty firmly in day three is where you find the value at this position. And if a guy like ETM is there, I think they would consider him.
Starting point is 00:28:18 I think it would depend on the player. I think if there was somebody that they fell in love with, like a Jemir Gibbs, for example. I don't do it to me. I knew you're going to bring him up. Well, I mean, we know that it's a player that Bengals liked and would have strongly considered. So I don't think that it's like never, but I think it's a specific type of player that they would consider at this point. Like the receiving ability was a big factor there with Jermil Gibbs. So I like that you're mentioning receiving ability here with Trevor Etienne as well.
Starting point is 00:28:51 And we finally get a player that Al Golden is very familiar with here to wrap it up because he didn't play in the senior bowl. We don't get to talk about Xavier Watts today, which is shocking to me because I thought we were going to be talking about Xavier Watts in every single mock draft discussion that we had on lockdown bengals between now and April. We're not doing that today, but a different Notre Dame player here, John. Yeah, Jack Kaiser finally got a linebacker. And I considered one of the defensive linemen that I think we're also down there for an underdame at the Senior Bowl. But with Kaiser, 24 years old was really obviously a focal point in what Golden liked to do at the position. He had well versed in his blitz schemes and just brushing the pass around some of those downs. And I think the biggest question is going to be how he fares in coverage.
Starting point is 00:29:39 I think he had some good moments down there against this competition. But it's NFL players talking about someone who's kind of a grown man without a growing man speed necessarily. So how obviously if there's any defense coordinator that you would trust to utilize Jack Kaiser, if you had to play him for significant snaps, you would trust out goal. Not of all those guys because he's well familiar with him. But someone who's a sure tackler and I think in time his blitz is pretty well and obviously knows where to be. So it's all like it's just what a six-round pick is at the end of the day. He's not going to have that grade of athletic upside.
Starting point is 00:30:13 Sometimes you end up finding those guys like a Yoshi here and there, but someone that Goldman is obviously very familiar with and can just fill out the back half of that linebacker room. Riley Mills, Howard Cross, and R.J. Oben, the other Notre Dame defensive linemen that are going to be in this draft that we might hear about at some point. My favorite part, John, of this mock is you clearly have the Bengals keeping their trio. So in my head, they made these picks after signing Jamar T and T. and T. Hendricks into long-term deals.
Starting point is 00:30:47 So that's a pretty good, pretty good offseason, I would say. I don't know. There's still time for Jamar Chase to be a Laker. We just don't know. That's a great note to end it on. You can find John on social media on Twitter at John underscore underscore. That's two underscores. Shearin, you can find his work at A to Z sports where he does a great job of covering
Starting point is 00:31:08 the Bengals. appreciate the time and that's going to do it for this episode of the locked on bengals podcast until next time thanks for listening hoodeh and have a good one

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