Cincinnati Bengals Must Navigate Flawed First Round in 2025 NFL Draft
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00:00I love the comments. I read one on Sunday, so yesterday, if you're watching on Monday, when we posted this video.
00:06And it said,
00:07THEY BETTER NOT DRAFT OFFENSE AT 17. IT BETTER BE DEFENSE.
00:12And there's just a lot of people that feel that way.
00:13And it's just the worst, worst thing ever.
00:16Because I have one breaking news thing to say about this draft.
00:20This draft stinks.
00:22This draft is not as good as other drafts.
00:24There aren't as many premium players.
00:27It's going to be really hard.
00:30To see an evaluator give 20, 25 first-round grades.
00:34There aren't a lot of guys with first-round grades.
00:36I've seen some have 16, some have 12, some have 10.
00:39And really, the meat of this draft, where, especially if you're drafting 17,
00:44you'd much rather be drafting 22nd, if it meant you get another day-two pick, right?
00:51The Bengals would love to trade down.
00:52And I think that that's where we'll start today, before I reveal exactly what the Bengals need to do.
00:58And honestly, what I want them to do, and quite frankly, what they better do in this year's draft.
01:03This idea, that in a crappy draft, and that's what it is.
01:08I mean, if I look, let's just look.
01:10I'm going to go through any big board you want to look at.
01:14But let's just say, all right, let's go.
01:17Will Campbell, there's question marks about him.
01:19I don't have many questions about him, but there's questions.
01:21Ashton Gente, top player in this draft.
01:23A lot of you keep saying, don't take him.
01:26Mason Graham, there's questions about him.
01:27And those are like the elite players, right?
01:30And then you go down to like the realm that the Bengals will be in.
01:34And so, Jihad Campbell, coming off of shoulder surgery.
01:37He's a linebacker, positional value.
01:39Mike Green, the edge out of Marshall.
01:40Small school, will he hold up against the run?
01:43And the off-the-field question mark.
01:44Will Johnson, health.
01:46James Pierce Jr., off the field, certainly is a question.
01:50Will he be able to hold up against the run is another question.
01:54Are you really drafting a first round, a player in the first round
01:58that's going to be a third down edge rusher only?
02:00Now, Kenneth Grant, can he give you any pass rush juice?
02:02Josh Simmons out of Ohio State, the offensive tackle.
02:04Is he going to be healthy enough to do what you need him to do?
02:08Kelvin Banks Jr., is he really a tackle or is he a guard?
02:10Is he going to project well as a guard?
02:12Or is he better served at tackle?
02:14Like there's just questions there, but he's a pretty clean prospect.
02:16Walter Nolan, didn't test, didn't go through the athletic testing,
02:19even though he's one of the cleaner options at 17 as well.
02:23Shamar Stewart, literally not close to the production you would want
02:27and prefer, but checks a lot of the other boxes.
02:29Jalen Walker, raw talent, doesn't seem realistic.
02:32Derrick Harmon, bad at tackling.
02:34Questions there.
02:34Questions about Nick Skirt.
02:36Like all of these guys, there's no, like Amarius Mims was really cut and dry.
02:40It was like, oh yeah, he hasn't played a ton.
02:42But like that was the knock, right?
02:44And outside of that, there weren't many knocks.