Bengals stick to their plan, get rewarded with speed

The Bengals selected Clemson defensive end Myles Murphy in the first round to add into the pass rusher rotation immediately, then picked up Michigan cornerback DJ Turner II in the second and Alabama safety Jordan Battle in the third to address depth and possibly future starting needs at two spots that saw turnover this past year. Miami cornerback DJ Ivey, picked up in the seventh round, will look to factor in as well.

It wasn’t until Day 3 that Cincinnati started adding to the offense, selecting Purdue wide receiver Charlie Jones in the fourth, Illinois running back Chase Brown in the fifth and Princeton wide receiver Andrei Iosivas in the sixth. An extra sixth-round pick, acquired in a minor trade down in the second round, was used to get Michigan punter Brad Robbins.

“It felt like we got value with all the players,” Taylor said after the end of the draft Saturday. “I’m really excited to get them in the mix, and at the same time it hit some needs that we had as well. So I feel really good about coming out of this draft how we had hoped and making our team better, and guys that can come in and compete, got great intangibles, and are all going to have a chance to provide value to our team, and that’s big.”

Two perceived needs did not get addressed in the draft as the Bengals did not take a tight end or an offensive lineman.

Cincinnati signed free agent tight end Irv Smith Jr. to be Hayden Hurst’s replacement and re-signed Drew Sample right before the draft, but with Smith’s injury history and a chance to develop someone for the long-term, many assumed the Bengals would take a tight end, and relatively early. Taylor said part of not taking a tight end came down to how the board shook out and comfortability with the group.

“We feel like we can get a lot out of that room with (tight end coach) James (Casey) leading the charge there, and at the same time, there were certainly guys that we liked in the draft, and they weren’t there when we picked sometimes, and we were comfortable with that,” Taylor said. “We were comfortable standing firm with what we had in the room if we had to.”

Credit: Jacob Kupferman

Credit: Jacob Kupferman

Uncertainty at right tackle, where La’el Collins is coming back from major knee surgery, had many believing the Bengals might take another offensive lineman. But Taylor confirmed Jonah Williams will transition to right tackle and compete there once recovered from his own offseason knee surgery, and he noted the organization still values Williams despite signing Orlando Brown Jr. to replace him at left tackle.

In that case, the Bengals have a plethora of options at right tackle, with Jackson Carman a lead candidate, and a lot of guys that can compete for backup spots inside and outside.

Some were also surprised it took until the fifth round to pick a running back considering Samaje Perine’s departure and uncertainty with Joe Mixon’s future, considering his recent misdemeanor charge, age and amount the Bengals can save by cutting him.

Asked about Mixon’s future, Taylor said it’s “here with the team.” But the third-down role held by Perine remains unsettled even after taking Brown because he still needs to work on his pass protection, Mixon isn’t strong in that area and returners Chris Evans and Trayveon Williams have limited experience.

“I think we’ll just see how that shakes out,” Taylor said. “I’m not going to say anything is set in stone. I like Joe Mixon as our starting running back. We get him the ball a lot of different ways. Just because Samaje played more on third down than he did didn’t mean that his production really wavered. We’re still going to throw him the football and hand him the football. With these three other guys, now they’re going to get more opportunities. … We’ll see how it all shakes out from a playing time, from a role standpoint, but I think we’ve got a good mixture of guys in there.”

Wide receivers coach Troy Walters noted that when Tyler Boyd went down in the AFC Championship game, it became clear the Bengals needed to add depth at the receiver position, and they addressed that with Jones and Iosivas. Cincinnati’s punter concerns also may have been more evident after that AFC Championship loss, but Robbins, a better hang-time punter, now will compete with Drue Chrisman for that job.

Battle comes in a safety position that already seemed filled but after losing Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell, the addition of Nick Scott in free agency wasn’t enough, even with the expected new role for Dax Hill.

Cincinnati also added competition on special teams, including at the kick/punt returner spots, and improved its overall team speed in this draft with a lot of guys running 40-yard dash times in the 4.5s. Turner clocked the fastest time at the Combine and Murphy was the fastest edge guy in the class.

“The players that were there that we had graded high just happened to be really fast,” Taylor said. “That’s great that shook out that way. You can never go wrong adding that kind of speed at all positions, even positions typically that aren’t talked about as much. I feel really good about where we’re at.”