Bengals All-American Tight End Could Change Offense for Burrow…

Tom Brady had Rob Gronkowski. Patrick Mahomes has Travis Kelce.

Could Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow be about to get his very own wingman/tight end in the upcoming NFL draft?

The latest PFF mock draft has Georgia tight end Brock Bowers headed to the Bengals in the first round with the No. 18 overall pick. It has the potential to create a dynamic duo between quarterback and tight end to rival Brady-Gronk on the New England Patriots and Mahomes-Kelce on the Kansas City Chiefs.

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Cincinnati Bengals: In-Depth Analysis Regarding 1st Round Pick in Critical 2024 NFL Draft

While there are still several weeks to go, the next key milestone in the 2024 Offseason for the Cincinnati Bengals is the NFL Draft.  After the recent additions of offensive tackle Trent Brown and defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins, the roster doesn’t have any significant holes that require emergency service this April.  That means that the jury is out on who this team will select as they will be in a completely reactionary position in the middle of the first round.

That means that since there is a suitable starter at every position, Cincinnati has the opportunity to look for any superstars that drop into the middle of the first round based on the requirements of other teams.  After all, that is incredibly common: last season, defensive tackle Jalen Carter was widely considered the most talented player but fell all the way to the Philadelphia Eagles at ninth overall due to other positional needs.  That should be the goal for the front office in the Queen City heading into the draft at least.

Our next step will be to rule out the positions that Cincinnati won’t select in the first round.  The obvious reality is that with elite quarterback Joe Burrow, this team definitely won’t be selecting a quarterback except for maybe a potential backup on the third day of the draft.  After that, the odds of this team selecting a pass rusher in the first round appear to be fairly slim given the crop of players available

There are only two pass rushers ranked in the top 24 players by ESPN (Dallas Turner at 7th and Jared Verse at 11th) and neither of them exceeds 255 pounds.  Both players translate positional to play as outside linebackers in a 3-4 defensive scheme where they could be on the field as pure pass rushers.

Defensive ends in a 4-3 scheme typically need to weigh more (Cincinnati’s current ends are arguably underweight at 265 and 270) since they are required to play on the line of scrimmage in a 3-point stance. Due to the lower weight, neither of these players fit into the defensive scheme and the next true defensive end available (Darius Robinson, ranked 25th) would be a slight reach for Cincinnati.

It is also considered highly unlikely that the organization will select a defensive back in this draft.  This offseason, the team brought in two starting caliber players in free agency (Geno Stone and Vonn Bell) on top of four starters in the secondary that were selected in the top three rounds over the past two offseasons.  While it is possible if the team has a high opinion of a cornerback that early but the top of the defensive back class is fairly weak with only two players ranked in the top 20 players (Quinyon Mitchell at 12th and Terrion Arnold at 16th).  It is unlikely the team would settle with those picks without a positional need.

The best probability during the upcoming NFL Draft is that Cincinnati picks one of the seven offensive tackles ranked as first-round talents.  Even after the bargain addition of Trent Brown last week, right tackle is arguably the greatest need still present on the team.  Over the past few months, I have repeatedly boasted that this team should select JC Latham (ranked 17th overall) with the 18th overall pick due to his size but there is also a connection with Tyler Guyton (ranked 29th) overall and Cincinnati left tackle Orlando Brown Jr.

An argument can be made that Cincinnati should select any one of the seven offensive tackles projected to be selected in the first round.  Regardless of which one you like, this is a position that Cincinnati really couldn’t go wrong with at the 18th overall pick.