The Cincinnati Bengals might have made it through to the divisional round of the playoffs, but they’re in the minority — most of the NFL has already turned its attention to the upcoming NFL draft.
So we thought it would be fun to check in briefly and see what mock drafts have the Bengals doing. Notably, ESPN’s Mel Kiper just dropped his first mock draft of the year, too.
Mel Kiper has the Bengals getting some big offensive line help in the form of Northern Iowa’s Trevor Penning at 25th overall:
“There’s no way the Bengals would take back their choice of wideout Ja’Marr Chase over offensive tackle Penei Sewell in last year’s draft, but you saw this season why so many of us thought they would take Sewell. Joe Burrow was sacked 55 times — third most in the league — and the offense averaged 4.0 yards per rush, which ranked 26th. They ranked 30th in ESPN’s pass block win rate metric. This is a below-average offensive line. Luckily for the Bengals, this is a deep tackle class at the top.”
The Bengals offensive line actually dramatically overperformed in the team’s playoff win over the Raiders. But the point stands — the front office needs to add help for right tackle and guard spots.
Penning, a massive 6’7″ and 321 pounds, would have a shot as a day one starter on the right side and ideally be the long-term solution there, solidifying both tackle spots in front of Joe Burrow for a long time.
Of course, Bengals fans would like it if the Bengals kept getting a worse draft spot with more playoff wins. Either way, Penning would be a great value outside the top 20.
