The Cincinnati Bengals are stockpiling weapons at the wide receiver position in the 2023 NFL draft, using a sixth-round pick on Andrei Iosivas out of Princeton.
While fans might not know the Ivy League standout Iosivas, just know he’s another downright elite athletic tester and yet another sign coaches are tired of their non-premium guys being unable to get separation.
Last season, Iosivas (6’3″ and 200 pounds) had 943 yards and seven touchdowns on 66 catches. He was also part of the track squad in college, making him yet another multi-sport draft pick for the Bengals as they just load up on the super-athletic types.
His testing numbers were stunning:
Andrei Iosivas is a WR prospect in the 2023 draft class. He scored a 9.96 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 14 out of 3048 WR from 1987 to 2023. https://t.co/X6YqWnv4u7 pic.twitter.com/H6HY22ZS9h
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 15, 2023
It’s not all perfect, of course, as noted by NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein:
Iosivas’ size, speed and athletic ability might not overwhelm NFL opponents, but those traits do give him a very real chance of battling for an NFL roster spot. He needs to work on his catch technique and level up his aggression when competing for catch space, but his ability to become a three-level route runner should work in his favor.
But in the back end of the draft? Rolling the dice on a wideout with eye-popping athletic numbers isn’t a bad way to go. When starting wideouts have gone down in the past, Bengals backups have had hard times getting separation — Iosivas and fourth-rounder Charlie Jones aren’t going to have those problems.
That makes it a win of a pick, especially because the Bengals can still grab something like punter with their second pick in the sixth round.
