A favorite exercise for many football media outlets is their favorite pick of the draft or favorite draft class, things like that. ESPN had their own version with their writers and insiders and the Cincinnati Bengals made an appearance thanks to one writer.
ESPN senior writer Dan Graziano named Bengals’ first-round pick Daxton Hill as his favorite pick in the draft:
S Daxton Hill to the Bengals at No. 31. Look, my answer is probably Hamilton, but I have to think he’s going to be a popular one, so let’s pivot here and highlight what I thought was a really smart value pick by the defending AFC champs. The Bengals see Hill as a Swiss Army knife-type of defensive back who can play safety, slot corner and basically whatever else they need him to do in their secondary. They hit the offensive line hard in free agency, as they should have, but they had some holes to fill on defense, too. Hill can help them fill whatever those turn out to be. And he’s not a bad leverage play for the team in case Jessie Bates III’s contract dispute continues to linger.
The selection of Hill at No. 31 has gotten plenty of praise throughout the media landscape.
On top of that, the ESPN experts were also asked which pick they thought was the most head-scratching and, fortunately for Bengals fans, none of the Bengals picks made that list.
So overall, yet another positive outlook for the Bengals top draft choice.
