The Cincinnati Bengals own a top five pick and can draft the top player (arguably) on their board in this year’s NFL Draft.
The top three picks will be quarterbacks (with Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson going No. 1 and No. 2, respectively), making the Atlanta Falcons a wild card with the No. 4 overall pick.
The Falcons have plenty of options with the fourth overall pick. They could opt to trade down the board, but their asking price has been too high for teams at the moment. There’s been a lot of buzz that Atlanta could just go ahead and draft their quarterback of the future in Trey Lance or Justin Fields and let them sit behind Matt Ryan for a year or two. The more likely scenario is that the Falcons will stay at four and just draft Florida tight end Kyle Pitts, which would be head coach Arthur Smith’s preference.
Cincinnati will now have their choice of a top wide receiver for 2nd-year quarterback Joe Burrow or their top rated offensive lineman to protect Burrow blindside. Bengals GM Mike Brown has made it known that Burrow has been involved with the draft process to some degree.
The Bengals can sit at No. 5 overall and select the top rated wide receiver on everyone’s board in former LSU star Ja’Marr Chase. Chase was catching touchdown passes from Burrow in 2019 at LSU as they led the Tigers to a perfect season and a National Championship. Chase opted out of the 2020 season so his most recent tape is catching passes from Burrow.
It would be a match made in heaven for Burrow to reunite with his former college teammate, but the Bengals also drafted wide receiver Tee Higgins with the 33rd pick in last year’s draft. The expectation this year is that Higgins gets over the 1,000-yard mark — anything less would be a disappointment.
The Bengals can also target the best offensive lineman on a lot of team’s boards in Oregon left tackle Penei Sewell.
Head coach Zac Taylor, GM Mike Brown, and offensive line coach Frank Pollack all attended Oregon’s Pro Day to see Sewell. After coming off a torn ACL injury, it would be smart for the Bengals to draft one of the top offensive tackles to help protect their franchise quarterback. Sewell has told people that he has worked out as both a left tackle and right tackle to prove that he can be versatile and play both sides of the ball.
Brown has come out and said that this offensive line class is deep and that there will be guys later in the draft that have starter grades on them. Knowing this, I believe Cincinnati is going to wait and take an offensive lineman later in the draft.
Over the past week, reports have come out and continue to say nearly the same thing, the Bengals are targeting Ja’Marr Chase.
Tyler Dragon of Cincinnati.com said that he’s hearing that the Bengals are targeting Chase with the fifth pick. Peter King is also reporting that Cincinnati is leaning towards Chase.
Even Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic says all signs point towards Chase at No. 5.
The team has also mentioned that they have not received any offers for the No. five pick. Brown thinks teams are waiting to see what happens at picks three and four.
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