Our greatest needs are the IOL. Thereafter we probably also need an upgrade at RB. We might need to consider taking a WR, TE, and OT. The good news is that I believe that it's POSSIBLE to fill those needs through the draft in the first 4 rounds. Thereafter we can try and get lucky with a coverage LB in the 5th and then hope we can find a couple of secondary gems in the 7th.
I like Kolar when he came out in the draft and he's a FA so definitely think Cas should look at him hard.
Surprised Emmett Johnson is rated so low on most of the lists I have seen. I'd love to get him in the second round. I think he is top two running back in the draft if not the top running back.
I'm a Burrow fan, I would give up CJ and any player besides Stingley/Lassiter/WA plus a 2026 1st/2nd and a 2027 1st/2nd. Or 1-28, 2-58 and 3-68 and a 2027 1st. Burrow is a championship level QB.
I'm pretty sure Collins is pretty good and I could certainly see Higgins turning into Tee Higgins. Noel is as good as any slot the Bengals have. Just gotta add a TE/RB and the weapons while not quite as good they will still be very good, certainly good enough to win a championship with Burrow.
There are no perfect candidates out there. It is either take a pretty big gamble or live with no playoff success for the rest of CJ’s contract and more if they stupidly extend him. It would be enormously stupid not to take a gamble while we have this historic defense in place.
One concern I have is that Nick will use our first pick on a higher rated player at a non-OL position. I believe that our two top picks should be at guard and center. My fear is that Nick might take a DT such as Kayden McDonald with our first pick and then we'll miss out on getting two of the best G/C in the draft. Per PFSN mock draft, the following are who might be available when we pick at 28:
Obviously different scouting services rank players higher/lower than others. I suspect that guard candidates such as Loane, Proctor, and Lomu will be gone at 28. The guy that I presently like best (that should be available) at G is Pregnon out of Oregon. Thereafter I like Lew out of Auburn at Center. I think we can get these two with our first and second picks, unless Nick decides to pick another position at #28. I think that Nick needs to stop f***ing around and get the best available talent on the OL. We need a LOT of upgrades on the offensive side of the ball and my fear is that Nick is going to f*ck it up.
So my first 4 picks are G, C, RB, TE. I believe these 4 guys would immensely help CJ and our offense. In the 4th round I'm grabbing a LB who was outstanding in coverage, albeit slightly undersized, in Jacob Rodriguez out of Texas Tech. I'm also getting DT Zane Durant out of PSU who can develop into a good, pass-rushing DT. Then I'm getting Deon Burks, WR out of Oklahoma, who would be a STEAL if we actually get him where I picked him. He's small but very quick and dynamic!
love lew and pregnon; wish they could get either lew or slaughter at C instead of going after that Panthers C
I've mocked a lot just to get a feel for the board. Naturally reality will be far different and teams will be shockingly all over the place, but tiers can often demonstrate generally what could happen. This draft feels deep at IOL, OT, and RB. TE seems to have a lot of guys bunched in a similar tier too. WRs have a big break from the top tier to secondary tier. If we come up at 28 and there is a legit weapon on the board like Sadiq, Concepcion, or Boston.....we need to think long and hard. If we force the OL picks without playing the board, we could find ourselves reaching all draft long. What felt most curious to me, albeit fully expecting Nick to play all around with the board, is what happened in round 4. Depth is there to do whatever we want in rounds 6 and 7 so we can go for more bodies at OL to make sure we've plugged this gap. Right in the round 4 range feels like when you either grab a coveted IOL before the tier falls off or grab a LB if you haven't addressed it before here. I will do a few more mocks and share if folks are curious to see, but more often than not I liked our draft best if we start with a DT or OL and a weapon as our first two picks. Third pick was the remainder of DT or OT you didn't go in the first two picks. From there, the board played favorably for us vs. forcing only linemen up front and then chasing weapons or plugging holes later with clear tier falloffs.
Remember FA is before the draft... so we should have a better handle on our needs by the draft. I honestly think Nick signs FAs at RB, TE, & OC (while retaining our key FAs) and we hit up the draft for mainly depth pieces to replace the "expensive" vets down the road. One of our top picks will likely be an OL who is ready to contribute. Also trading is his forte so look for some incoming vets (like IOL Elgton Jenkins out until beginning of season & IDL Javon Hargrave).
